THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES (1940)
Article #945 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-16-2003
Posting Date: 3-14-2004
Directed by Joe May
Featuring George Sanders, Vincent Price, Margaret Lindsay

Two brothers and a cousin fight over the possession of a house which lies underneath a curse.

I’ve never really considered Nathaniel Hawthorne a horror writer; he merely used certain elements common to horror stories as background to tell his allegorical tales. I’ve also never read this particular work of his, so this movie is my first exposure to the work; if it’s the least bit faithful to the novel, it might well be worth a read sometime, and it certainly seems as if it would be an easier read than ‘The Scarlet Letter’. Both George Sanders and Vincent Price give fine early performances in this one, though I’m always a little put off by the sound of the voice of the younger Price. The aforementioned curse and the gothic feel of the house are the primary horror elements, though they don’t play out as horror. This one is of definite interest to fans of marginal horror and Price afficiandos.