Twice-Told Tales (film)
| Twice-Told Tales | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Sidney Salkow |
| Produced by |
Robert E. Kent Edward Small (executive) |
| Written by | Robert E. Kent |
| Based on | novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne |
| Starring |
Vincent Price Sebastian Cabot Brett Halsey Beverly Garland Richard Denning Joyce Taylor |
| Narrated by | Vincent Price |
| Music by | Richard LaSalle |
| Cinematography | Ellis W. Carter |
| Edited by | Grant Whytlock |
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Production
company |
Admiral Pictures / Robert E. Kent Productions
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| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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120 minutes |
| Language | English |
Twice-Told Tales (1963) is an American horror film directed by Sidney Salkow and starring Vincent Price.
The film is based on two of Nathaniel Hawthorne's stories, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" (1837) and "Rappaccini's Daughter" (1844), and the novel The House of the Seven Gables (1851), which had previously been adapted in 1940 also starring Price. Only "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" was actually published in Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales, which supplied the film's title.
Each of the three sequences is introduced by Vincent Price (in a voice-over). Price also stars in all three narratives.
Two elderly friends, Carl Heidegger (Sebastian Cabot) and Alex (Price), meet to celebrate Heidegger's 79th birthday. They discover that Heidegger's fiancée from 38 years before, Sylvia, is perfectly preserved in her coffin. Heidegger believes that the water dripping into the coffin has the power to preserve. He tries it on a withered rose and it comes back into full bloom.
Carl and Alex drink it and become young again. Carl injects the liquid into Sylvia and she comes back to life. Sylvia reveals that she and Alex were secretly lovers. Carl attacks Alex, but Alex kills him in the struggle. The effects of the water wear off. Sylvia is reduced to a desiccated skeleton, Carl's body returns to its original age. Alex returns to the crypt to find more of the water, but it no longer flows.
In Padua, Giacomo Rappaccini (Price) keeps his daughter Beatrice in a garden. A university student next door, Giovanni, sees her and falls in love. One of Giovanni's professors says that he used to teach with Rappaccini. Many years ago, Rappaccini abruptly quit academia and became a recluse after his wife ran away with a lover. Rappaccini has treated Beatrice with an exotic plant extract that makes her touch deadly; he does this to keep her safe from unwanted suitors, but it makes her a prisoner in her own home.
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Wikipedia