Twice-Told Tales is a 1963 American anthology horror film directed by Sidney Salkow, featuring three stories based on the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Vincent Price narrates and appears in all three segments, while the supporting cast includes Sebastian Cabot, Brett Halsey, Beverly Garland, Richard Denning and Joyce Taylor.
In "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", an elderly doctor attempts to restore himself, his fiancée, and his best friend to youth. In "Rappaccini's Daughter", a demented father inoculates his daughter with poison so she may never leave her garden of poisonous plants. In "The House of the Seven Gables", the Pyncheon family suffers from a hundred-year-old curse and the Pyncheon brother returns to his home to search for a hidden vault. (Price had previously costarred in a feature adaptation of "Gables" in 1940.)
Tropes
- Alliterative Title: Twice-Told Tales
- Bloody Horror: In "The House of Seven Gables", the walls and ceiling start of the Haunted House start bleeding. Hannah says that this is because the house was cursed by Matthew Moll and that the plaster on the walls was mixed with water from the well where Moll's forge used to stand. Later, Gerald tries to pour a glass of water, only to have it turn into blood.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Taken to psychotic levels by Giacomo Rappaccini in "Rappaccini's Daughter". Many years ago, Rappaccini abruptly quit academia and became a recluse after his wife ran away with a lover. Rappaccini has treated his daughter 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.
- Buried Alive: In "The House of Seven Gables", Gerald traps Alice in the basement grave of Mathew Maulle, then goes to the study to find the vault.
- Curse: In "The House of Seven Gables", Hannah tells Alice about the curse put upon Pyncheon men by Matthew Moll (Maulle), who used to own the house but lost it in a shady deal to the Pyncheon family. The curse states that every male Pyncheon will die in the house with blood on his lips.
- Driven to Suicide: In "Rappaccini's Daughter", Giovanni consumes the antidote in front of Beatrice, but it kills him. Beatrice then drinks it also, killing herself. On seeing Beatrice die, Giacomo grabs the exotic plant with both hands and its touch kills him.
- Elixir of Life: In "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", Heidegger believes that the water dripping into Sylvia's 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.
- Find the Cure!: In "Rappaccini's Daughter", Giovanni goes to his chemistry professor in the hopes of finding a cure after Rappaccini turns him into a Poisonous Person.
- Fountain of Youth: In "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", Heidegger believes that the water dripping into Sylvia's 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.
- Garden of Evil: In "Rappaccini's Daughter", Giacomo Rappaccini keeps his daughter Beatrice in a garden full of toxic plants. Rappaccini has treated Beatrice with an exotic plant extract that makes her touch as deadly as that of the plants in the garden; he does this to keep her safe from unwanted suitors, but it makes her a prisoner in her own home.
- Haunted House: In "The House of Seven Gables", the eponymous house is haunted because it was cursed by Matthew Moll after he was cheated out of the property by the Pyncheons. After he was executed, Matthew's body was interred in the basement of the house.
- Helping Hands: In "The House of Seven Gables", Gerald is strangled by the skeletal hand of Matthew Moll which launches itself out of the safe and clamps itself around his throat.
- In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: On the posters, the film is identified as Nathaniel Hawthorne's Twice Told Tales.
- Knight Templar Parent: Taken to psychotic levels by Giacomo Rappaccini in "Rappaccini's Daughter". Many years ago, Rappaccini abruptly quit academia and became a recluse after his wife ran away with a lover. Rappaccini has treated his daughter 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.
- The Lost Lenore: In "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", Dr. Heidegger is still mourning the love of his life, Sylvia, who died on the eve of their wedding 38 years earlier.
- Load-Bearing Boss: In "The House of Seven Gables", the eponymous house starts to collapse as the ghost of Matthew Moll strangles Gerald Pyncheon. As Gerald, the last Pyncheon, dies, the house collapses completely, thereby completing Matthew's vengeance and ending the curse.
- Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: In "Rappaccini's Daughter", Giacomo Rappaccini 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.
- Non-Indicative Name: Of the three Hawthorne stories featured in this film, only "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" actually appeared in the collection Twice-Told Tales.
- No Ontological Inertia: In "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", the effects of the youth-giving water wear off after Alex kills Carl. Sylvia is reduced to a desiccated skeleton, Carl's body returns to its original age, and Alex reverts to his true age. Alex returns to the crypt to find more of the water, but it no longer flows.
- Poison Is Corrosive: In "Rappaccini's Daughter", one of the plants in Rappaccini's poison garden is so toxic that it burns a hole in his glove when he attempts to take a cutting from it.
- Poisonous Person: In "Rappaccini's Daughter", 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.
- Powerful Pick: In "The House of Seven Gables", after Gerald discovers the map to the vault in the basement, he murders his sister Hannah with a pick so he will not have to share the inheritance with her.
- Reincarnation Romance: In "The House of the Seven Gables", Jonathan Maulle and Alice Pyncheon are implicitly the reincarnations of Matthew Moll and Laura Holbrook who were engaged but whose marriage never happened because Matthew was executed on trumped-up charges. They are reunited to end the curse of the house and allow them to finally be together.
- Rustproof Blood: In "The House of Seven Gables", a chair in the study still bears a bright red bloodstain from the first of the male Pyncheon's to die in the house: 150 years earlier.
- Slipping a Mickey: In "Rappaccini's Daughter", Rappaccini drugs Giovanni's drink to knock him out then, while he is unconscious, treats him with the same extract he gave Beatrice, turning Giovanni into a Poisonous Person as well.
- Storybook Opening: Each of the segments begins with a pair of skeletal hands opening a book to reveal the title of the story while Vincent Price starts a narration as the page fades into the actual scene.
