Twice-Told Tales (1963)

Touches You

Too much of everything

Overrated

Just perfect...

Another triple play of Poe/Price, like Tales of Terror, but without Corman, and not quite as good. The stories are a bit too nice... a bit melodramatic and drawn out. The tales are Heidegger's Experiment, Rappaccini's Daughter and The House of Seven Gables, and the stories are really the stars. Heidegger's explores that nugget of eternal life, Rappaccini's is about the relationship of poison and purity and Seven Gables is a twisted ghost/blood feud with lots and lots of blood. All three are certainly unusual topics, but I'd say Heidegger's and Rappacini's were my favourite. Again, the sets and design were fantastic, if limited in scope and the actresses beautiful (especially Garland and Taylor). The attention to detail is remarkable. Still, it's something only a Price/Poe fan will love, which is fine by me.

A watchable, sometimes colorful, well-cast - though overlong, talky and set-bound - three-part anthology from the same guy who would go on to make the more-famous Price vehicle THE LAST MAN ON EARTH just a year later. All three of the tales here are based on the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne (best known for his dramatic novel THE SCARLET LETTER) and provide horror spins on everything from the fountain of youth to the touch of the death to the centuries-old family curse. Each story runs about 40 minutes, which is very close to being a feature-length film in an of itself, so in a way watching this is almost feels like watching three different complete films back to back. Unfortunately, thanks to leaden pacing and flavorless, almost anonymous direction from Sidney Salkow (Corman would have handled all this much better), this project never seems to fulfill its full potential.Story #1 is "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," which doesn't following the source story very closely and stars Vincent Price and Sebastian Cabot as elderly best friends who get a second chance at life. Kind Dr. Carl Heidigger (Cabot) is approaching the twilight of his life and was so entranced with the memory of this late wife Sylvia (Mari Blanchard), who died thirty-eight years, that he was unable to marry or move on with his life after her passing. Dr. Heidegger, along with his heavy-drinking best friend Alex Medbourne (Vincent Price), accidentally knock over Sylvia's coffin and find that her corpse has been perfectly preserved. Somehow the water that's been filtering through the ground to her tomb has the power to preserve life and restore youth. Both Carl and Alex drink the water and become young again, then inject the water into Sylvia and bring her back. Things don't smoothly however as the effects of the water prove to only last temporarily and some past secrets come to the surface that threaten to spoil the fortunate turn of events. Reasonably entertaining segment; Cabot steals it with his charming and sympathetic performance.Next up is "Rappaccini's Daughter," which was by far my favorite of the tales. Vincent Price is an Italian scientist living in complete seclusion with his beautiful daughter Beatrice (Joyce Taylor). Handsome med student Giovanni (Brett Halsey) sees Beatrice from his balcony and instantly falls in love with her, but the closer he tries to get the further she pushes him away. You see, Beatrice cannot be touched, because she was an unwitting guinea pig to her father's experiments and now anything she comes into contact with smokes, withers, dies and becomes purple. It has something to do with a toxic plant and Price's character being scorned by a woman and going to great lengths to try to protect his own daughter from a similar heartache. Instead, he's all but ruined her life. A very intriguing little tale (which actually does stick close to the original story), this is well-done, interesting and comes with a nicely tragic ending, though there's not even the slightest attempt to make this feel like it's set in Italy and, once again, Price is relegated to more of a less-colorful supporting role.Finally we have "The House of the Seven Gables," which had already been filmed several times at feature length, including once in 1940 with Vincent Price playing a completely different role. Here Vinnie gets to play the heavy - lecherous, greedy, abusive Gerald Pyncheon, who is driven back to his ancestral home after an eighteen-year absence because of gambling debts. He drags his lovely wife Alice (Beverly Garland) along and is confronted with hostility by his bitter sister Hannah (Jacqueline de Wit). Legend has it that there's a hidden vault somewhere on the premises containing millions, which no one has been able to find. The trouble is that the Pyncheon men all have a strange habit of dying in the same exact chair near a bleeding portrait. Hmmm... Richard Denning shows up as descendant of the Maulle family, who have a long-standing feud with the Pyncheon's over some land, and possibly more. Definitely the least successful of these tales, which is a shame because I love both Price and Garland to pieces and was looking forward to seeing them on-screen together. This tries to cram way too much plot into 40 minutes and becomes both dull and ponderous, though it does pick up a bit at the end with a surprising pick-axe to the head murder, a silly reanimated skeleton hand and a model of the home crumbling to the ground.It's worth a look to fans, but there are much better examples of the anthology format out there, as well as much better usage of horror legend Price in dozens of other films.

Three tales from Nathaniel Hawthorne are shown each starring Vincent Price. The first is "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" with Heidegger (Sebastian Cabot) and an old friend (Price) discovering the fountain of youth...at a terrible price. Next is "Rappaccini's Daughter" played by Joyce Taylor. Drop dead handsome Giovanni (Brett Halsey) loves her--but her touch can kill--literally. Price plays her mad father. Last is "The House of the Seven Gables" involving ghosts and possession. It's billed as a horror film but only the last tale can qualify as that.Pretty bad movie. It was made on a very low budget that shows. A garden in the second story and the house at the end are laughably obvious miniature models. Special effects are lousy too. The stories are all slow, obvious and heavy-handed. Basically they're all far too long for their own good. All in all the movie is very dull. There's good acting in it--especially by Price--but it's not enough to save this. This is pretty much unknown--there's a reason for that! You can skip this one. Gets a 6 for Price and Halsey.

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.