I noticed this 1942 SF horror movie on Netflix a while back, put it in my queue, and it finally arrived in the mail today. Dr Renault's Secret was written by William Bruckner and Robert F Metzler and directed by Harry Lachman. It was the last feature film for William, he would go on to direct a lot of TV, including episodes of The Lone Ranger, The Loretta Young Show, Maverick, Surfside 6 and Bonanza. Robert didn't write much else and I haven't seen any of it. It was the last feature from Harry, he'd direct a short in 1953 and pass away in 1975. Before Dr Renault's Secret Harry directed a few of the Charlie Chan pictures but nothing else I recognize as having seen, except possibly one of the George White's Scandals.
The story is set in France. Dr Larry Forbes, played by Shepperd Strudwick, visits the home of his fiancée Madelon, played by Lynne Roberts, and her father Dr Renault, played by George Zucco. They have a servant named Noel, played by J Carrol Naish, who lives in the house, and a gardener called Rogell, played by Mike Mazurki, who lives in a shed. Dr Renault is a bit secret of his work. Noel is a bit jealous of Forbes taking Madelon away from the house. Rogell is up to something on top of that. A giant stay Great Dane mauls Noel's hands and winds up hung in the night. There's a couple of murders and some creepy folk running about. Noel's big secret comes out and more sad shit happens. There's a stack of corpses when it finishes up, a lot of strangling going on.
It's a good solid piece of entertainment. It looks pretty good for fairly low budget 58 minute B-picture, it was part of a double bill with The Undying Monster. Some say Fox was trying to cash in on the money that Universal, and some of the other studios, were making from horror pictures. Good for them for taking advantage of public whim, it certainly can change at a moments notice. I'm certainly pleased to see good films being made in a genre I like. Dr Renault's Secret might not be more than a B-movie but it delivers a good story and I was glad to have taken a look.
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