A trio of tales, all starring Vincent Price, has a virgin spring that returns youth, a scientific experiment which causes an acidic touch, and a hidden vault long sought after somewhere in an old manor deemed cursed. The first tale has Vincent Price as Alex Medbourne, sharing a whiskey with long time friend, Dr. Carl Heidigger (Sebastian Cabot), as the two talk about old times while a thunderstorm stirs outside. Carl has long mourned the loss of his fiancée, Sylvia (Mari Blanchard), not knowing she was having an affair with Alex. Noticing the crypt's door open, Alex and Carl enter to see what's up, where they discover Sylvia's body as if it hadn't aged a day since her death 38 years ago—the reason is a spring that drips from a crack above her casket. Carl and Alex drink from this water and become young again, soon awakening Sylvia from her slumber. As passions reawaken, Carl will discover the betrayal and seek to get even for their sins. The second tale has Vincent Price as an embittered father, Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini, whose wife left him for another man, inflicting his daughter, Beatrice (Joyce Taylor) with an affliction where her touch is acidic, killing anyone or thing instantly. Student Giovanni Guasconti (Brett Halsey) takes a shine to Beatrice and the feelings are mutual but her affliction puts a damper on any idea of romance. Giacomo, who caused Beatrice's affliction as a means to "protect her", will try to appease her after she attempts suicide with tragic consequences. The third tale has Price portraying a scoundrel, Gerald Pyncheon, who has gambled away all his inheritance, returning to his ancestral manor, considered cursed as the past men on his family line have died in a blood-stained chair sitting near a fireplace with a portrait that bleeds from the lips. Alice Pyncheon (Beverly Garland, simply stunning) is Gerald's unhappy wife who seems to be possessed by a ghost who knows things she shouldn't. Jonathan Maulle (Richard Denning), whose family are enemies with the Pyncheons for the thievery of the ancestral home (with Maulle's ancestor said to be buried somewhere in the home), might just know where the vault resides. Alice and Jonathan seem to "connect" as if they know each other with Gerald hoping the two of them will lead him to the vault. Meanwhile Gerald's sister, Hannah (Jacqueline deWit), isn't about to let her brother get the hidden loot all for himself, constantly reminding him of her right to some of the money. In the third tale, Price is at his ghoulish best, quite a vindictive bastard concerned only with securing the missing money, willing to kill anyone who stands in his way. In the first tale, Price is simply a backstabber who seemed to be Carl's friend, for over 40 years, only to hide the fact that he was the one Sylvia truly loved. The second tale provides Price with a bitter character who causes emotional crisis to the daughter he thought he was keeping safe from sin and eventually afflicting the man she loves, resulting in tragedy. While perhaps not better or worse than Corman's Poe movies, the Hammer horrors, or the Amicus anthology movies, "Twice-Told Tales" has plenty of Price, with each tale featuring him in a role that causes turmoil and pain to those around him, particularly to the people he is supposed to care for. The third tale is the most similar to a Corman Price film as the manor collapses into ruin as the villain meets a fate most unkind (involving a severed skeletal arm!).
Review of Twice-Told Tales
