Supernatural

Supernatural (1933)

Leave Your Love Secrets At Home!

After her brother's death, Roma Courtney becomes the heiress to his fortune. When a fake psychic claims to have a message from her dead brother, he coaxes her into participating in a séance. While her fiancé first believes the séance is nothing more than a scam, he eventually realizes that the vengeful spirit of an executed murderer has possessed Roma's body.

Date of release
1933-04-21
TMDB
6.1 / 10 (35)
Runtime
1h 4m
Genres
Mystery, Thriller, Horror
Director
Victor Halperin

Casting

Interesting facts

Supernatural is a 1933 American pre-Code supernatural horror film directed by Victor Halperin, and starring Carole Lombard, Alan Dinehart, Vivienne Osborne, Randolph Scott, and H. B. Warner. The film follows a woman who attends a staged séance only to find herself possessed by the spirit of an executed murderess.

Production

Production development of Supernatural began around January 1933, with screenwriters Brian Marlow and Harvey Thew completing a screenplay from a story by Garnett Weston. Both Thew and Weston were reported to have attended real séances and interview spiritualists while gathering research to write the film.

Supernatural reunited the Halperin brothers with their crew they had on White Zombie. This included writer Weston and cinematographer Arthur Martinelli. Oliver Lodge, a British spiritualist and parapsychologist, was asked to serve as a technical director on the film, but declined.

Madge Bellamy wrote in her autobiography that the Halperin Brothers tried to get her from Paramount Studios for the lead role, but the studio insisted on signing Carole Lombard from Fox Studios. According to Bellamy, Lombard resented her role in the film as "her forte was comedy." Prior to Lombard's casting, Pola Negri was also considered for the lead role, with Ricardo Cortez playing a male lead, though neither were ultimately cast due to schedu…

H. B. Warner was cast in the film after Lombard's attachment, which was announced on February 9, 1933.

Principal photography took place on the Paramount Studios lot in Los Angeles, California, commencing on February 20, 1933. Lombard's resentment towards the film often led to arguments on the set with Halperin. The 1933 Long Beach earthquake hit while filming which caused the cast and crew to run from the studio set shrieking in fright.

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