Twice Told Tales (1963)

Three short stories from the pen of Nathaniel Hawthorne: in DR. HEIDEGGER'S EXPERIMENT, two aging friends (Vincent Price, Sebastian Cabot) discover an opportunity to turn back the clock and become young again. In RAPPACCINI'S DAUGHTER, a father (Vincent Price) keeps his daughter (Joyce Taylor) a prisoner in an enchanted garden through a diabolical experiment. In HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES, a man (Vincent Price) and his bride (Beverly Garland) return to his ancestral home that has a 100 year old curse placed on it. Only the first story is actually from Hawthorne's TWICE TOLD TALES, the other two Hawthorne tales came elsewhere. It's a rather turgid affair with no true sense of horror or the supernatural. The best of the trio RAPPACCINI'S DAUGHTER should have been a corker but it's hampered by its low budget, inferior dialog and a terrible performance by Brett Halsey as the daughter's suitor. The destruction of the house in SEVEN GABLES is well done, however. It's a nice looking film thanks to Ellis W. Carter (INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN) and Richard LaSalle's score is nice but overall, a disappointment. Directed by Sidney Salkow. With Mari Blanchard, Richard Denning and Jacqueline DeWit.