Un trío de terror

So what was my main attraction to Twice-Told Tales? Vincent Price, one of my favourite actors and one who brings 100% no matter what the movie is like. Nathaniel Hawthorne is another good reason also. I actually enjoyed Twice-Told Tales. It does have some sparse production values, has moments where it is very stagy and talky and has ponderous pacing. It is in the third segment The House of the Seven Gables where these problems are especially prominent. The photography, some good effects and the acting, especially from Price, make the segment worth the watch at least, but it felt dull to me and tries to cram far too much in, which undermined the story-telling severely. Thankfully the other two segments really made up for it. On the whole the photography is lush, the dialogue provoking more thought and the stories much more interesting. Sidney Salkow's directing does show signs of efficiency, particularly in Rappacinni's Daughter. I wholly concur with the general consensus that the second segment Rappacinni's Daughter is the best one of the three, it is creepy and atmospheric, the most lush in look, is the most emotionally complex and has a really well-told story(it is also the most faithful to Hawthorne's writing). The first segment Dr. Heidegger's Experiment also has an effectively macabre feel, and I liked its more hopeful ending. The cast are very good in what are essentially examples of ensemble acting. Beverly Garland doesn't have a lot to do but makes the most of it. Richard Denning plays it straight and he is also not so bad. Sebastian Cabot brings to the table a very sympathetic performance, even if he has been better before, his rapport with Price is beautifully and subtly done. Jacqueline De Wit is a joy here, and the best of the support cast for me. Vincent Price is the film's best asset, he commands the screen effortlessly and all three of his roles play to his strengths. Overall, has a weak final third but two thirds of it, especially the second segment, are excellent. 7/10 Bethany Cox

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!

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.

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.

"Twice-Told Tales" is a movie composed of three timeless shorts based on horror tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne with Vincent Price.

(1) "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment": In 1859, Alex Medbourne (Vincent Price) and Dr. Carl Heidigger (Sebastian Cabot) have been best friends for decades. Carl has been grieving the loss of his beloved bride Sylvia Ward (Mari Blanchard) for thirty-eight years, on the eve of their wedding, and misses her. In a stormy night, her crypt opens and Carl and Alex find her corpse preserved. Carl notes a drop of liquid on her coffin and he collects a sample. Carl discovers that the water is a virgin spring and he restores his and Alex's youths. Further, he resurrects Sylvia with the water and plans to immediately marry her. However, he discovers a dark secret about Alex and his beloved Sylvia.

This is a tragic and dramatic story about the dream of the fountain of youth and restoration of the eternal youth, obsession and betrayal, with great special effects for a 1963 movie.

(2) "Rappaccini's Daughter": In Padua, the young Giovanni Guasconti (Brett Halsey) meets the gorgeous Beatrice Rappaccini (Joyce Taylor) in the garden and they immediately fall in love for each other. However, Giovanni learns that Beatrice is cursed, poisoning everyone and everything that she touches with her hands. Further, she was inoculated with a potion of poisonous plants by her insane father, the brilliant scientist Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini (Vincent Price) that wants to avoid that she makes the same mistakes her mother did, abandoning him. Giovanni meets Dr. Giacomo and opens his heart about his love for Beatrice, and the scientist promises to let him be closed to Beatrice forever.

This is another tragic and dramatic story about impossible love and madness visibly inspired in "Romeo and Juliet".

(3) "The House of the Seven Gables": In 1841, Gerald Pyncheon (Vincent Price) arrives with his wife Alice Pyncheon (Beverly Garland) to The House of the Seven Gables, where Gerald's sister Hannah Pyncheon (Jacqueline deWit) lives. The Pyncheon family has been cursed for one hundred and fifty years, when the blacksmith Mathew Maulle (Floyd Simmons) was murdered and buried below the house. Gerald comes to the house to seek a vault with the family fortune, and Alice is haunted by ghosts in the moment that she arrives in the house.

This is another tragic story of greed, injustice and curse, with an ambitious man returning to the family house and awaking powerful forces from the past.

My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Nos Domínios do Terror" ("In the Domain of the Terror")

Note: On 12 April 2015, I saw this movie again.