DR. RENAULT'S SECRET

J. Carrol Naish (center) and cast 

DR. RENAULT'S SECRET (1942). Director: Harry Lachman.

Dr. Larry Forbes (John Shepperd aka Shepperd Strudwick of All the King's Men) has come to a small European village to meet up with his fiancee, Madelon (Lynne Roberts) and her Uncle Robert (George Zucco), who is also a scientist. Others on Robert's large estate include the strange Noel (J. Carrol Naish of The Kissing Bandit), who is a manservant; the butler Henri (Jean Del Val); and the gardener, Rogell (Mike Mazurki). These last two have criminal pasts, but neither of them is as weird as Noel, who is hiding a dreadful secret along with the doctor. Then the brutal strangulation murders begin ... Dr. Renault's Secret was clearly inspired in part by H. G. Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (itself filmed as Island of Lost Souls) just as both properties inspired Captive Wild Woman and its sequels. While Renault hardly gets points for originality, it is distinguished by brisk and adroit direction, a good score (Emil Newman and David Raksin), excellent cinematography (Virgil Miller), and a terrific lead performance by Naish, who is both pitiable and menacing. The other cast members are all more than adequate, and Zucco is, as usual, perfect. Arthur Shields [South Sea Woman] plays a police inspector and Ray Corrigan is seen in flashbacks as a gorilla. 20th Century-Fox gave the pic a handsome production, and despite its inadequacies and unacknowledged debt to Wells, it is an entertaining horror flick. Harry Lachman also directed the Laurel and Hardy masterpiece Our Relations.

Verdict: One more ape-man never hurts. ***.

CARRIE (1952)

CARRIE (1952). Director: William Wyler.

"When you're poor it gets all mixed up; you like the people who are good to you."

Carrie Meeber (Jennifer Jones) says goodbye to her family and takes the train to Chicago, where she hopes to find a better life. What she finds is one man, Charles (Eddie Albert), who takes care of her but is slow to offer marriage, and another man, George (Laurence Olivier), a restaurant manager, who wants to marry her but already has a wife (Miriam Hopkins). Still, he takes steps to have Carrie for his own, leading inexorably to bitter disillusionment and tragedy. This is not a mere soap opera but a fascinating, mesmerizing drama with superb performances from all. Olivier's portrait of the manager who gives up everything for passion is brilliant and haunting. Jones gives one of her all-time best performances, right up there with Olivier from start to finish. David Raksin offers an interesting score, while Wyler's direction is as assured and compelling as ever. From the chilling early scenes showing Carrie at work in a dehumanizing sweatbox to the final devastating, deeply affecting moments, this is pure gold.

Verdict: Powerful adaptation of Drieser's Sister Carrie. ****.

FOREVER AMBER

FOREVER AMBER (1947). Director: Otto Preminger.

A foundling raised in a stifling puritan home sets out for the big city and adventure and determines to make something out of herself so that she can be worthy of the love of the nobleman (Cornel Wilde) she's fallen for heart, body and soul – she eventually winds up the lover of King Charles II (George Sanders). Linda Darnell is not at all bad in the part but she offers her trademark hard-bitten edge (which served her well in other roles) instead of the ferocious Bette Davis/Joan Crawford/Vivien Leigh intensity that is required for the role of Amber. Richard Haydn scores in a role more dynamic than what we're used to seeing from this actor, as Amber's husband, the Count of Radcliffe. Wilde is fine, and Sanders is his usual wry, competent self although he seems a bit disinterested in the material. This can certainly be said of Preminger, who directs as if he would rather be doing anything else. Whatever energy the film has is derived from David Raksin's interesting score, although most of its power is derived from the orchestrations, which were done by others. The film's most memorable sequence (one which Preminger must have been awake for) has an old lady nurse trying to strangle a deathly ill Wilde so that she can steal his watch; this culminates in a rousing cat-fight between Darnell and the feisty old woman, who winds up strangled to death by her younger adversary. If the whole picture, entertaining as it is, had been on this level, it might have amounted to something more than a mildly interesting time passer.

Verdict: Proceed at your own risk. **1/2.