"The House of Seven Gables" had been standing on my personal must- see list for more than 10 years now; ever since I saw a heavily shortened and altered version of the same tale in the sixties' horror omnibus "Twice-Told Tales". During this decade of abstinence, my admiration for the fantastic Vincent Price only increased and likewise also my passion for macabre stories about cursed mansions and family feuds. Needless to say I highly anticipated my viewing of "The House of Seven Gables" (and thus I'm probably biased and unreliably partial), and it promptly became one of the finest film experiences of the year. What a wonderful movie!
I haven't read Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel on which the movie is based, so I'll restrain from making references towards that, but it's fairly obvious (and confirmed in reviews by people around here who have read the book) that the script is a lot less detailed than the book. Even though its running time is slightly under an hour and a half, "The House of Seven Gables" often still resembles more of a soap-opera rather than a feature film, what with the many supportive characters that are introduced in the middle of the story, convoluted structure and several sub plots that largely remain undeveloped. The story takes place near Salem, Massachusetts (where novelist Hawthorne originates from) but for once there isn't a direct link with the infamous 1692 witch trials. In 1828, Jaffrey Pyncheon is summoned to his family estate and the legendary parental house of seven gables. The Pyncheon family is in deep debt and the younger brother Clifford insists on selling the house, much against the will of his older brother Jaffrey because he's secretly convinced there's an enormous fortune hidden somewhere in the house, as according to an old legend. When their father Gerald suffers from a stroke and dies during a heated discussion with Clifford, Jaffrey sees the opportunity to cowardly accuse his brother of murder and thus become the sole heir to the house. This doesn't turn out too well for Jaffrey, since in an attempt to protect himself from his debtors, Gerald changed his testament and donated the house and the estate to their cousin Hephzibah
and she also happens to be Clifford's devoted lover! For more than 20 long years, Hephzibah waits for her man to get released from prison, and only towards the end of this period she decides to flourish up the decaying house by taking in a lodger and opening a shop together with the newly arrived and beautiful younger cousin Phoebe. All these years, Jaffrey has been repeatedly trying to take ownership of the house at last, but he shouldn't have underestimated his brother, as he has had twenty long years in prison to carefully study the Pyncheon's cursed family history and develop a slick plan to get revenge.
"The House of Seven Gables" has everything I could possibly look for in a classic horror/mystery tale. The film benefices from a totally absorbing and intelligent screenplay, also filled with supremely written dialogues and continuous new dimensions added to the plot. The atmosphere is unsettling and tense throughout, even though the pacing slows down a little bit during the middle-section. Director Joe May ("The Return of the Invisible Man") makes supreme use of the sober decors and set-pieces, and he can also safely rely on his downright fantastic ensemble cast. Vincent Price is my favorite actor of all times, although admittedly this is largely based on the immortal horror roles he played as per the 1950s and onward. Still, in his earlier and more dramatic 40s roles like "Laura", "Dragonwyck" and definitely also this "The House of Seven Gables", Vincent Price certainly proved that he's a magnificent all-round actor! And here he even sings! Price isn't the only one responsible for the stellar performances in "The House of Seven Gables". George Sanders is also amazing as the arrogant and emotionless Jaffrey. He also had a very rich and versatile career, including genre highlights like "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "Village of the Damned", and he committed suicide in 1967 allegedly because he was bored. Last but certainly not least, Margaret Lindsay truly gives away one of the most remarkable female performances of the classic film era. Her character Hephzibah undergoes a metamorphosis from a cheerful and optimistic young girl into a stoic and frustrated spinster waiting for her lost lover. Without exaggerating, she honestly deserved at least an Oscar for her role.
