NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Uriah43 "Ruth Rogen" (Vivienne Osborne) is a black widow serial killer who has been found guilty in a court of law and sentenced to death. Speculating that her malevolent spirit might be released upon her death and cause similar murders a psychologist by the name of "Dr. Carl Houston" (H.B. Warner) gets permission to conduct an experiment on her body immediately after her execution to prevent this from happening. Unfortunately, something goes terribly wrong and a rich heiress named "Roma Courtney" (Carole Lombard) becomes possessed with Ruth's spirit instead. Also included in the plot is a fake spiritualist who is trying to obtain Roma's fortune and who also had a relationship with Ruth just prior to her incarceration. Anyway, rather than detail the entire story and risk spoiling the film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a fairly interesting movie for the most part. Made during the Great Depression, filmed in black and white and lasting only 65 minutes this movie is obviously a product of its time. That said, while I certainly understand the limitations placed upon any film during this era I firmly believe that a bit more time should have been added to this movie in order to help clarify and establish the overall plot. In any case, I enjoyed it and rate it as slightly above average.

calvinnme ... you're expecting the Carole Lombard of those great mid-30's screwball comedies and beyond. However, she does give a great dual personality performance here. In order to make it believable that she is possessed by the more aggressive personality, she has to make the other personality extra demure and undistinguished so you can tell them apart. Believe me, you can.The film opens with Ruth Rogen being tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for strangling her three lovers with her bare hands for the fun of it all. Dr. Carl Houston (H.B. Warner) comes to visit Miss Rogen in jail and asks if he can perform some experiments on her once she is dead, since the good doctor is interested in the paranormal. She agrees only because she sees the possibility of the escape of her soul into another person's body - it seems there is one more person she wants to strangle before she closes her affairs in this world and she doesn't care whose body she uses to do it.At the same time, wealthy Roma Courtney (Carole Lombard) has just lost her twin brother, John, through death. There are some nice touches here showing the depth of Roma's grief and her close relationship with her brother including her playing some home recordings that the two had made together and their dog, confused by his master's absence, bringing John's slippers to a now all too empty chair. Slimy fake spiritualist Paul Bavian (Alan Dinehart) reads the newspapers and gets an idea. At night he slips into the mortuary where John's body is, makes a death mask of John's face, and then uses that mask to try and perpetrate a fraud on Roma, claiming that he can reach beyond the grave and contact John. Did I mention that Bavian is the one that informed on Ruth to the police when he couldn't get her to break off their affair? Did I also mention that Roma got a little too close to Ruth's body during one of Dr. Houston's experiments one night? I think you probably know where this is going.This one is very atmospheric and moves quite briskly at only 65 minutes in length. The séance scenes are not scary at all, since the audience can see how Bavian is doing his tricks, but the scene where Roma and her fiancé walk in unexpectedly to Houston's lab and see the body of Ruth Rogen sitting upright in a chair, dressed in some kind of evening gown, seeming to stare right at them - that is good precode horror stuff.

Jake Unlike a lot of reviewers here, I was quite impressed by this film. Sure it's not scary - I didn't expect it to be - but it effectively builds an unsettling atmosphere without resorting to the usual mood enhancers such as haunted houses, gloomy mansions, isolated islands, etc. Prosaic things such as a spark generated from a railway wheel, the taking of a key, have an edge to them. There are also some very nice touches along the way, eg, the dog bringing the slippers to Carole Lombard's brother. It is also interesting to see Carole Lombard this early in her career - from my point of view she acquits herself quite well in the part. And H. B Warner is also well suited to his role of Dr Houston. Randolph Scott however is wooden, and the role of Bavian could have done with a more charismatic player than Alan Dinehart. The real scene stealer in this movie however is Beryl Mercer - much better in this than anything else I have seen her in.I also find this film interesting plot-wise, as I have on occasion come across texts which refer to "The Uninvited" as the first significant Hollywood film to deal with spirit possession when clearly this is not the case. I suppose it depends on what you mean by significant.Anyway, it is certainly interesting to see what the makers of "White Zombie" came up with when they had the backing of a major studio.

tom.hamilton This is a very unusual, interesting and even pioneering horror andhaving read a number of negative comments about this film I can't help feeling people are missing the point almost as much now as audiences did in 1933. MAJOR SPOILERS AHEADTry to see this as not a Carol Lombard film but a bigger budgeted follow up from the guys who made White Zombie. It's a beautifully shot and decidedly unusual story which actually takes it's subject matter quite seriously, while providing some genuinely shocking moments and a chilling ending when the real killer returns. Whilst it's true that Lombard is pretty bland through most of this she does okay in her possessed scenes.But the performance that really stands out for me is that of little Beryl Mercer as the landlady of the faker who attempts blackmail. Mercer, most familiar as James Cagney's simple minded mother in Public Enemy, excelled at playing downtrodden yet naively positive types and always brought a touching quality of innocence to her performances. Even here, as a seedy and unscrupulous character that warmth is evident and it makes you not want to see her hurt. So her terror and disbelief when she realizes her tenant has poisoned her, makes for a very chilling and heartbreaking moment, one of the most powerful pieces of acting I've seen in an early talkie. That scene alone lifts this film far above the normal, and since then I'm always pleased to see her in any supporting cast.