Twice-Told Tales

The second story is the best, but the first one is good. If you watch this movie, do not bother viewing the third one, which is a shortened version of "The House of Seven Gables" with Vincent Price in the villain role [he was the hero in the much superior 1940 version].

Other good things about this movie are the music and the sets [especially in the first tale].

Trio of horror stories based on works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. The first story is "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," about two elderly friends, Dr. Carl Heidegger (Sebastian Cabot) and Alex Medbourne (Vincent Price) who discover magical water that they use to become young again. Heidegger decides to use the water on the corpse of his long-dead love Sylvia (Mari Blanchard), with surprising results. The second story is "Rappaccini's Daughter." Giovanni Guasconti (Brett Halsey) falls in love with beautiful Beatrice Rappaccini (Joyce Taylor) at first sight. Beatrice is the daughter of scientist Giacomo Rappaccini (Vincent Price) and, much to Giovanni's horror, her father has injected her with plant toxins that make her deadly to touch. The third, and most famous, story is "The House of the Seven Gables." Gerald Pyncheon (Vincent Price) returns to his ancestral home with his new bride (Beverly Garland). Ignoring warnings of a family curse he scours the house looking for a treasure reportedly buried somewhere inside.

All of these stories are loosely adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne stories. The segments are of varying quality but they are all watchable and enjoyable enough. The first story is probably my favorite, helped in large part by Sebastian Cabot's sensitive portrayal of Heidegger. The second is my least favorite and the third is OK. Price is in all three and, as usual, is excellent. Price was also in the 1940 film adaptation of "The House of Seven Gables." It was far superior to this version so please check it out if you can. Twice-Told Tales is an enjoyable time-killer but nothing exceptional. Vincent Price fans will love it more than most.

In "Twice-Told Tales", Vincent Price does what he does best: be mysterious. He appears in three macabre stories. In the first, he plays a man helping another man try to resurrect his dead fiancée. In the second, he plays a man who has a most unusual relationship with his plants. In the third...well, let's just say that there's a dark old house (you can figure it out from there).

I try to imagine being a horny teenager going to see these movies back when they were first released. This would have been the perfect movie to see while on a date with a girl. Thank God that even in the darkest days of "family fun", you could always count on Vincent Price!

Twice-Told Tales is a trio of horror stories based on the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Each story stars horror maestro Vincent Price, and this allows the man to show his range in a series of different roles throughout the film. All of Price's roles allow him to show his dark side, but it's the way that he is allowed to show this that makes each one stand out. Vincent Price is my favourite horror actor, and he's arguably the best ever. The fact that he stars in each segment of this film is reason enough alone to see it. The fact that every tale is good is another one. In true omnibus style, the first story is the least memorable; but it's still well worth seeing. We follow two friends who discover a virgin spring in the crypt of one of their loves. This story is good because it follows the ever-present dream of ever-lasting life. The way that the plot builds is somewhat predictable, but still good as we get to see the great horror master turn his performance around from do-gooder to something more sinister. Not the best opener to an omnibus film; but a long way from the worst.

The second story is by far the best and, in a way, it's a shame that this story was a part of the omnibus. The second tale is a fairytale horror story of love, protection and madness and follows the tale of an overbearing father that takes steps to ensure that his daughter doesn't sin like her mother did. This story is a variation on the classic 'Romero and Julliet' story, and takes in all the tragedy of that tale by its conclusion. Tale number two is highly original and would make this film worth viewing even if the other two tales were absolute rubbish (which, of course, they're not). The third and final segment is the weakest of the trio, but still manages an excellent Gothic style and a solid story. The reason it's the weakest is mainly because it's really slow; but once it gets started, this tale of greed, witchcraft and murder provides a satisfying end to this trio of stories. With a running time of two hours, Twice-Told Tales is a very long omnibus; and it could have done with being a bit shorter. However, this doesn't harm it too much, and if you're a fan of sixties horror, and/or Vincent Price, this will be a must see.

Excellent little drive-in thriller thinly disguised as a literary adaption. Seeing all-time screen scream queen Beverly Garland share the screen with the master Vincent Price is a joy to fans of hammy acting everywhere! Richard Denning is also there with very strange hair and his usual straight mannerisms.

Some pretty weird, morbid tales, done with some intelligence while still giveing lots of opportunities for gore of the hanging skeleton variety. I especially liked the second story, with the killer plant, as I thought it was a refreshing idea and that the colors in the garden were quite nice. A worthy competitor to AIP's other excellent trilogies of terror.