‘A trio of terror!’
Twice-Told Tales is a 1963 American supernatural horror film directed by Sidney Salkow (The Last Man on Earth) from a screenplay by producer Robert E. Kent (Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome; The Werewolf; Diary of a Madman).
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.
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“All the familiar thrills are here in this marathon shocker, but the interests are varied and the effects quite often startling. The more avid seeker after the gruesome class of fare should be amply awarded.” Kine Weekly, 1967
“Triple-layered ‘spine-chiller’, based on the stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne; flatly directed and scripted, but spiritedly acted and climatically thrilling.” The Daily Cinema, 1967
“Price’s performance in the third tale is even an improvement on his The House of the Seven Gables (1940). However, production values – miniature work and makeup – leave something to be desired in places.” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Encyclopedia of Film: Horror book
Cast and characters:
Vincent Price … Alex Medbourne / Dr Giacomo Rappaccini / Gerald Pyncheon
Sebastian Cabot … Doctor Carl Heidigger
Brett Halsey … Giovanni Guasconti
Beverly Garland … Alice Pyncheon
Richard Denning … Jonathan Maulle
Mari Blanchard … Sylvia Ward
Abraham Sofaer … Prof. Pietro Baglioni
Jacqueline deWit … Hannah Pyncheon, Gerald’s Sister (as Jacqueline de Wit)
Joyce Taylor … Beatrice Rappaccini
Edith Evanson … Lisabetta, the landlady
Floyd Simmons … Ghost of Mathew Maulle
Gene Roth … Cabman
Alternate titles:
Twice Told Tales
Nights of Terror
Censorship:
In the UK, the United Artists release was cut by the BBFC censors for its 1967 release.
