Many of you may be familiar with the TV series "Supernatural" starring Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, but there was a "Supernatural" 72 years before them.
In the 1933 version a woman named Ruth Rogen (Vivienne Osborne) was slated for execution because she'd killed several men. She was asked by a psychologist named Dr. Carl Houston (H. B. Warner) if he could use her body for science. Her natural response was "no," however when she was led to believe that there was a possibility she could be returned to life, she assented. She had some unfinished business to take care of with a fellow named Paul Bavian (Alan Dinehart), a fake psychic who pretends to commune with the dead.
Dr. Houston posited that a powerful malignant personality (spirit) without a body of its own could possess others and make them do evil. Dr. Houston wanted to prevent Ruth's "personality" from escaping and causing others to do similar crimes as she'd committed.
Dr. Houston failed to contain Ruth's spirit after her execution and she possessed the body of Roma Courtney (Carole Lombard), a rich woman who went to Bavian in hopes she could find out who killed her brother John. Looking out for Roma was Grant Wilson (Randolph Scott). She was a damsel in distress after all.
This was the second movie from the 30's that I've seen in which the supernatural did occur ("The Mummy" being the first). Every other movie with supernatural occurrences wound up being explained away by science or trickery. I was glad to see an actual possession, it added a layer of horror, excitement, and suspense. If every spooky occurrence is always wires, projections, and gadgets, then it takes away most of the fear factor.
Free on Internet Archive.
In the 1933 version a woman named Ruth Rogen (Vivienne Osborne) was slated for execution because she'd killed several men. She was asked by a psychologist named Dr. Carl Houston (H. B. Warner) if he could use her body for science. Her natural response was "no," however when she was led to believe that there was a possibility she could be returned to life, she assented. She had some unfinished business to take care of with a fellow named Paul Bavian (Alan Dinehart), a fake psychic who pretends to commune with the dead.
Dr. Houston posited that a powerful malignant personality (spirit) without a body of its own could possess others and make them do evil. Dr. Houston wanted to prevent Ruth's "personality" from escaping and causing others to do similar crimes as she'd committed.
Dr. Houston failed to contain Ruth's spirit after her execution and she possessed the body of Roma Courtney (Carole Lombard), a rich woman who went to Bavian in hopes she could find out who killed her brother John. Looking out for Roma was Grant Wilson (Randolph Scott). She was a damsel in distress after all.
This was the second movie from the 30's that I've seen in which the supernatural did occur ("The Mummy" being the first). Every other movie with supernatural occurrences wound up being explained away by science or trickery. I was glad to see an actual possession, it added a layer of horror, excitement, and suspense. If every spooky occurrence is always wires, projections, and gadgets, then it takes away most of the fear factor.
Free on Internet Archive.