Movie, 1963

Anthology of Nathaniel Hawthorne stories, all starring Vincent Price. As a collection, they hang together, or least sit together quite well – the best is the last, The House of the Seven Gables, while the silliest is Rappaccini’s Daughter. Lurid colour fits in well with the acting and a sense of daftness, intended or not, which is ramped up by a bizarre-looking killer plant and the repeated and over-used skeletons. For all the unrequited love and human tragedy, particularly in the first two stories, the colour and kitsch make the film hard to take seriously. The running time, too, could maybe have done with a trim. Price is predictably wonderful, and the whole thing is pleasing, if very disposable.