1940's "The House of the Seven Gables" was a fine attempt to adapt Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1851 novel by Universal, reuniting 28 year old Vincent Price in his 6th movie role with several costars from recent titles "Tower of London" (Nan Grey, Miles Mander), "Green Hell" (George Sanders), and "The Invisible Man Returns" (Nan Grey, Cecil Kellaway, and Alan Napier). The wicked Colonel Pyncheon falsely makes an accusation of witchcraft against landowner Matthew Maule in 1658, thereby stealing his property to build the titular Massachusetts abode with its many gables. Maule places a dying curse upon his persecutor, and the colonel actually drops dead after the house is finished. Several despicable generations later the year is 1828, and elderly Gerald Pyncheon (Gilbert Emery) has pacified eldest son Clifford (Price) by agreeing to sell Seven Gables to pay off his numerous debts, which does not meet with the approval of younger son Jaffrey (top billed George Sanders), who still believes an old legend that vast riches are buried somewhere on the grounds. Clifford is an aspiring songwriter fresh off his first sale, intending to wed sweetheart Hepzibah (Margaret Lindsay) for a better life in New York, but a shouting match with his father proves fatal for the old man, giving Jaffrey an opportune moment to put his own brother on trial for murder. Much to Jaffrey's horror, Hepzibah has been awarded Seven Gables in the event of Gerald's death, so she banishes her brother-in-law and shuts herself off in the house for 20 years, until the arrival of destitute cousin Phoebe (Nan Grey) precedes the return of a weary but still game Clifford, whose life sentence was merely commuted until he can legally clear himself through his ever scheming sibling. Apart from making Clifford and Hepzibah lovers rather than siblings, it's a close approximation of Hawthorne's story, and Vincent Price would have another go at it in truncated form for the 1963 anthology "Twice-Told Tales." Deputizing for an ailing Robert Cummings, Price not only makes young and old look effortless, he even gets to show off his baritone for Clifford's song "The Color of Your Eyes," yet acting honors must go to the underrated Margaret Lindsay, a shining jewel during the opening third, reduced to a haggard spinster living alone for decades.
Review of The House of the Seven Gables
