This is a stately, intelligent, three part horror omnibus feature adapted from stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It's good enough to compare favourably with the best films in the Price / Roger Corman / A.I.P. series of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations. The slow pacing and length of the film may not sit well for some people, but others will take delight in the atmosphere, the performances, the story telling, and all the trappings of the genre. This also benefits from some decent special effects and capable direction by Sidney Salkow (who also guided star Vincent Price in "The Last Man on Earth").In "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", Price stars with Sebastian Cabot as they play elderly friends Alex Medbourne and Dr. Carl Heidegger. One dark and stormy night, they enter the crypt of Carls' long dead wife Sylvia Ward (Mari Blanchard), who is restored to life and youth by some miraculous, strange liquid seeping into the crypt. It also restores youth to Alex and Carl when they sample the liquid, but there are consequences for their actions - as well as some secrets that will be exposed. The single most enjoyable aspect of this segment is Cabots' wonderful, heartfelt performance.Price plays Giacomo Rappaccini in "Rappaccini's Daughter". In addition to his lovely daughter Beatrice (Joyce Taylor), Giacomo has a rather lush garden - and Beatrice has something in common with the dangerous plants and flowers in this garden. Well intentioned young Giovanni Guasconti (Brett Halsey) yearns to be her suitor, but Giacomo seeks to interfere. This portion of the picture can boast a clever and interesting premise.Price is the villain, Gerald Pyncheon, in an abbreviated version of "The House of the Seven Gables". (23 years earlier, he'd played the hero in a feature length adaptation of this story.) Gerald and his younger wife Alice (Beverly Garland) arrive at the family home so he can search for the treasures hidden on the premises. Alice is witness to supernatural phenomena and learns of a feud between the Pyncheon and Maulle clans. Handsome Richard Denning co-stars as the heroic Jonathan Maulle. Garland is very appealing, and Price has fun just as he always did with his villainous roles.Fans of old school horror, anthologies, and the actors involved will likely have a good time with "Twice-Told Tales". While Salkow and company dare to take their time with the pacing, patient viewers will be pleased with the results.Eight out of 10.

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

Sidney Salkow directed these three adaptations of Nathanial Hawthorne stories starring Vincent Price & Sebastian Cabot: "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" - A rejuvenation formula has unforeseen consequences in this nicely produced but routine story, with Price & Cabot in good form at least."Rappaccini's Daughter" - A man with an elaborate garden poisons his daughter so that she will never leave it, though it doesn't go according to plan... Ineffectual and forgettable."The House Of The Seven Gables" - A cursed family home brings about its inhabitants destruction in this ho-hum version; not bad, but not particularly memorable either.

Vincent Price stars in three effectively eerie and engrossing tales of terror based on the short stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. First and most touching vignette, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" - Price and Sebastian Cabot are superb as a couple of elderly old friend physicians who discover the secret of immortality in this thoughtful and moving meditation on death, aging and mortality. The gorgeous Mari Blanchard is radiant and ravishing as Cabot's deceased wife who's resurrected from the grave. Second and most original segment, "Rappaccini's Daughter" - The strikingly comely Joyce Taylor is enchanting as Beatrice, a lovely young lass with a lethal poisonous touch. Brett Halsey is likewise charming as the nice young man who falls in love with Beatrice while Price delivers a marvelously hateful turn as Beatrice's domineering and overprotective father. Third and most horrific episode, "The House of the Seven Gables" - Price hams it up nicely as a wicked wealthy swine who returns to a creepy crumbling family mansion that has a 150 year old curse on it to find a buried hidden fortune. Beverly Garland as Price's fetching wife, Richard Denning as a dashing, handsome rival and especially Jacqueline de Wit as Price's greedy sister lend sturdy support in this shockingly violent and gruesome yarn. Capably directed by Sydney Salkow (who reteamed with Price for the excellent "The Last Man on Earth"), with an intelligent and elegant script by Robert E. Kent, a spare, shivery score by Richard LaSalle, vibrant, richly saturated bright color cinematography by Ellis W. Carter, plenty of brooding, eerie, melancholy atmosphere (the second story is particularly sad and haunting), a slow, stately pace and uniformly fine acting from a tip-top cast, this fright feature overall rates as a solid and satisfying omnibus outing.