Coventry Review of Twice-Told Tales

Twice-Told Tales (1963)

Vincent Price can tell me whatever he wants and how many times he wants!

[9/10 · 17 April 2006]

"Twice-Told Tales" is a wondrously fascinating horror omnibus and probably one of the most underrated genre efforts of the entire sixties. I'm ashamed to admit that I wasn't really familiar with Nathaniel Hawthorne's writings before (apart from multiple adaptations of "the Scarlet Letter") but, even though he's not as prominent as Edgar Allen Poe or H.P Lovecraft, his stories are pure Gothic goodness and morbidly poetic horror material. Each of the three tales told here are magnificent, albeit slightly suffering from their shortage and I'll definitely continue to look for the long-feature film version of "The House of Seven Gables", as I know it's available somewhere. The first tale; Dr. Heidegger's Experiment, is an atmospheric appetizer handling about an ancient horror topic, namely the search for eternal youth. Life-long friends Alex and Carl fortuitously discover that the water dripping on the coffin of Carl's dead bride contains the power to restore their own youth and even to resurrect the unfortunate Julie. But the revival of old friendships sadly also emerges hidden secrets and forbidden passions from the past. There are some excellent set pieces used in this first episode and the brief use of special effects is well-staged and definitely ahead of its time. Vincent Price shines as the initially reluctant guinea pig and his sudden transformation into deceptive Adonis is believable. Sebastian Cabot and Mary Blanchard are very adequate in their supportive roles. The second story is arguably the best and unquestionably the most ingenious one of the three. "Rappacchini's Daughter" also is one of the few horror tellings that ever managed to frighten me with its content. Price this time stars as the tormented scientist Rappaccini, who pumped his poor daughter Beatrice so full of poison that she absorbs the color and life out of everything she touches. Supposedly to protect her from all the evil in this world, but now the young beauty can't return the honest love of new student in town Giovanni. This particular tale is haunting, saddening and petrifying all at once! No matter how selfish and monstrous the crimes of Price's character are, he's a hurt soul and you're more likely to pity him rather than to loath him. The flower garden, where most of the story is filmed, is truly enchanting and Joyce Taylor is simply mesmerizing as the poor Beatrice. The tragic climax to this tale could have come straight from Shakespeare's repertoire. The third and final tale in this marvelous horror anthology is called "The House of Seven Gables" and revolves on a feud between two families that still lives on after several generations. Gerald Pyncheon and his sister Hannah desperately seek a hidden vault in their family mansion and the only person who knows where it might be located is Jonathan Maule, descendant of the architect who originally designed the house. But Jonathan won't help, because his ancestor was cowardly killed by the Pyncheons for falling in love with the wrong girl. Gerald's attractive wife Alice turns out to be a spiritual link between the two families and able to clear up several ancient mysteries. As mentioned above, this tale suffers the most from being part of an omnibus. The screenplay was adapted from an entire novel and thus a lot of Hawthorne's thoughtful sub plots and character drawings were lost in the 45 minutes tale. Still, it's a very decent 'haunted house' premise with nice scenery and a handful of genuinely suspenseful moments. Vincent Price is at his most fiendish here and there's quite a lot of bloodshed. Perhaps I'm over-rating this film slightly, but it deserves a bit of extra attention! It's a wonderful film, rich on symbolism and Gothic charm and it would be a damn shame if true horror fans let it pass by them.