220 Twice-Told Tales ( 1963 )

Vincent  Price  must  have  been  a  serious  workaholic  the  rate  at  which  he  churned  these  out. This  is  another  portmanteau  film  comprising  three  stories by  Nathanael  Hawthorne. I don't  know  about  twice  but  they're  very  laboriously  told  and  at  nearly  two  hours  the  film  is  far  too  long.

In  the  first  story,  Price  plays  Alex, an  old  friend  of  Karl  ( Sebastian  Cabot )  who  discovers  that  a  dripping  liquid  has  preserved  the  corpse  of  Karl's  fiance  who  died  on  the  eve  of  their  wedding  thirty-eight  years earlier. In  the  second,  he's  a  mad  scientist who's  keeping  his  daughter  close  by  making  her  poisonous  to  touch. In  the  third,  he's  a  newly-wed  returning  to  his  ancestral  home  despite  a  family curse  on  the  property.

Beverly  Garland ( as  Alice  Pynchon )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Beverly  was  a  very  successful  TV  actress  whose  film  career was  a  bit  disappointing. She  had  a  long  stint  as  Kate  Jackson's  mum  in  The  Scarecrow  and  Mrs  King.  In  later  life  she  combined  acting  with  running  a  hotel. She  died  in  2008  aged  82.

Mari  Blanchard  ( as  Sylvia  Ward )

Sex : Mammoth cleavage

Death : Originally poisoned  then  turns  into  a  skeleton  when  the  liquid's  effects  wear  out

Mari  was  working  mainly  in  TV  by  this  point  having  been  something  of  a B-movie  queen  in  the  fifties. Ill  health  forced  to retire  in  the  late  sixties  and  she  died  in  1970  aged  47.

Joyce  Taylor  ( as  Beatrice  Rappacini ) 

Sex : No

Death : Commits  suicide  by  taking   a  lethal  potion.

|\Joyce  was  from  a  working  class  background  and  started  out  as  a  singer. She  was  signed  by  Howard  Hughes'  RKO  Pictures  but he  rarely  used  her. She  did  more  TV in  the  sixties  before  retiring  on  marriage  to  a stockbroker. She  is  now  84.