The title seems a little distracting, I imagine it refers to Nathaniel Hawthorne's original works and this Vincent Price adaptation. Hawthorne's writing style was more darkly romantic than overtly macabre, but the transition seems to work well enough. The picture follows an earlier Price trilogy in the prior year's "Tales of Terror". Fans of the actor will probably want to catch both.Of the three entries, I liked 'Dr. Heidegger's Experiment' the best. Price and Sebastian Cabot portray long time friends who eventually find themselves at odds over Heidegger's fiancé (Mari Blanchard), who died thirty eight years earlier. She's revived by a mysterious mineral water that also acts as a fountain of youth for Heidegger and Alex Medbourne (Price). 'Tales From the Crypt' fans will probably see the ending coming, not very surprising but satisfying enough to conclude this chapter."Rappaccini's Daughter" has some creative and novel elements at work, but strains one's credibility to learn that Beatrice (Joyce Taylor) has never ventured outside the garden gate that surrounds her home. The toxic plant business is a bit of a stretch too, making Dr. Rappaccini (Price) it's final victim in this story of unrequited love and it's tragic aftermath.The third part of the trilogy is a much condensed version of Hawthorne's 'House of the Seven Gables', and mysterious enough to recommend that I get the source material to check it out in novel form. Once Alice Pyncheon's (Beverly Garland) role in the story is established, it takes a fair amount of concentration to follow the family's sordid history. It comes to a rather rushed conclusion, evidenced by some glaring continuity errors. For example, after Gerald Pyncheon (Price once more) discovers the cellar vault, he has the lid to the vault almost back in position, and after a quick cutaway, he's shown with the lid standing up once again about to place it. Then, as the Pyncheon mansion is beginning to implode, Jonathan Maulle (Richard Denning) attempts to remove the same slab, but it's thicker than the one Price's character dealt with. I don't think the ghosts at work in the house would have bothered.But all in all, not an altogether bad bit of fun for Vincent Price fans. You have to give any actor credit for allowing himself to be killed off so many times for the sake of his craft.

Here we have yet another film I have not seen in years, watching it again after all these years I found the film quite good - even better than I recalled it to be. Three stories based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales - all three a excellent! Dr. Heidegger's Experiment - I quite enjoyed Sebastian Cabot heartbreaking performance as Dr. Carl Heidigger. It is a sad romantic tale of a man who was to be married but his wife died the night before the wedding. He remained in-love with her for 38 years. One night he and his long time friend Alex Medbourne (Price) discover a secret - a type of fountain of youth. That same night Dr. Heidegger also discovered another secret - a 38 year old dark secret.Rappaccini's Daughter - Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini (Price) wife was an adulteress - he only wanted to protect his daughter from the pains of adultery and to make sure she did not make the same mistake her mother did. Rappaccini's Daughter, Beatrice (Taylor), falls for a young man and he falls for her. But how can they marry when Beatrice can kill him with one touch of the poison her father inoculates her with? The House of the Seven Gables - Gerald Pyncheon (Price) and his sister Hannah Pyncheon (deWit) have inherited the haunted house and a family curse. There is more to their inheritance than this if they can find the vault. But will Mathew's ghost allow them to? All three of the tales are good but of the three it is Dr. Heidegger's Experiment that I found was the best, saddest and most horrifying of all.9/10

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.

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.