The House of the Seven Gables (1940)

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Movie
Original title The House of the Seven Gables
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1940
length 89 minutes
Rod
Director Joe May
script Lester Cole ,
Harold Greene
production Burt Kelly for
Universal Studios
music Frank Skinner ,
Charles Previn
camera Milton R. Krasner
cut Frank Gross
occupation

The House of the Seven Gables (German House of the Seven Gables is) an American film drama of Joe May of 1940, which on the same 1851 published in Boston novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne is based, however, in all material passages from the original differs. The main roles act George Sanders , Margaret Lindsay and Vincent Price as well as in supporting roles Dick Foran , Nan Gray , Cecil Kellaway and Alan Napier . The film is about two brothers, one good and the other bad, and about a curse from the past that is pronounced against their family and which is related to their estate "Seven Gables".

action

Colonel Jaffrey Pyncheon falsely accused Matthew Maule, a poor carpenter, of witchcraft in the late 17th century in an attempt to land on his land. There he built "Seven Gables", the house with the seven gables, a luxurious property. Maule placed a curse on the Pyncheons at the hour of his death, saying that God ordered them to drink blood. On the day the property was completed, the Colonel was found dead in his library - blood dripping from his mouth. The curse haunted the Pyncheons, who lived in constant fear, for decades. About 160 years later, Colonel Pyncheon's great-great-grandson was just starting his career as a lawyer, while his brother Clifford, a talented composer, had stayed at home with his father Gerald.

Jaffrey Pyncheon is obsessed with the idea that there is a fortune hidden in "Seven Gables," as legend has it. When he receives a message from his brother Clifford ordering him home, he is told that the house is to be sold in order to be able to use the proceeds to pay off his father's debts. Jaffrey gets into the idea of ​​losing the fortune hidden in the house and searches desperately for the treasure at night. His brother Clifford doesn't want to hear about Jaffrey's idea because he doesn't believe in the legend. Clifford is about to marry his cousin Hepzibah and plans to move to New York with her after the house is sold. Surprisingly, Gerald Pyncheon then decides not to want to sell the house after all, which leads to a heated argument between him and Clifford. Gerald suffers a fatal heart attack and hits his head while falling. Although Jaffrey knows that his brother can do nothing for the death of his father, he accuses him of murder and takes the appropriate steps, which ultimately leads to a conviction of Clifford to life imprisonment. Before he is taken away, Clifford utters "Maules Curse" against his brother.

Gerald Pyncheon's will is a huge disappointment for Jaffrey, although his father, like his brother and Hepzibah, has a considerable annual income at his disposal from now on, but the house so much sought after by Jaffrey has already passed into the possession of Hepzibah, to withdraw it from his father's creditors. The young woman throws her brother-in-law, who has made sure that the man she loves is in prison, immediately out of the house. She has doors and windows sealed so that no light can enter the house. She rarely leaves home for the next few years. She is busy trying to obtain Clifford's pardon. In 1841, Clifford received a new cellmate, named Matthew Maule. The two men become close friends. Maule, who has shortly served his sentence for abolitionist activities, takes on the name Holgrave after his release. The man who joined an anti-slavery movement rents a room in Hepzibah Pyncheon's home. Phoebe Pyncheon, the daughter of a distant cousin who has died, has now taken in Phoebe Pyncheon and allowed her to set up a fragrance shop in the house. Phoebe's lively, lovable manner is well received by the people, so the store is a complete success.

When the governor surprisingly orders Clifford's early release from prison, rumors spread throughout the town that Clifford was rummaging through old documents, found a secret staircase in the house, and was looking for the assets suspected in Seven Gables. These also reach Jaffrey, now a wealthy judge who has invested money from wealthy abolitionists in risky transactions relating to the slave trade. He is more anxious than ever to take control of the house and as he gets closer to that goal, he accuses his brother of madness. Hepzibah has now discovered Holgrave's true identity, but is reassured by Clifford that he knew this from the start and that he and Maule are pursuing a plan. Clifford tries to get his brother to sign a document in which the latter admits to having falsely accused him. Jaffrey refuses, but Clifford and Maule put him in a situation in which Hepzibah in turn accuses him of the murder of deacon Arnold Foster, who financed Jaffrey's transactions together with other abolitionists, as he received all of the money through his ruthless ones Has lost investment. Clifford also admits to his brother that there are no hidden stairs and no gold. He and Matthew Maule just made it up. When Jaffrey hears that name, he collapses dead.

Clifford can now prove that he is not to blame for his father's death and can clear his name again. He can finally marry Hepzibah, who has been waiting for him for so long, and Maule and Phoebe also tie the knot. The house of the accident is being restored and then offered for sale.

production

Production notes

The shooting took place between December 29, 1939 and the end of January 1940. Despite the low budget, production designer Jack Otterson went to Salem, Massachusetts, to check out the Turner-Ingersoll mansion that inspired Hawthorne's novel. A facade of the house was then recreated on the ground on Colonial Street in Universal Studios. Universal Studios kept preproduction for the film a secret, fearing that a bigger studio could produce the film before Universal released its version. The budget at that time was around 153,000 US dollars, which would correspond to around 2.8 million US dollars in 2019. The final cost of the film was around $ 161,625, up from $ 178,000 according to other sources.

Screenwriter Lester Cole made considerations that the studio might have chosen this film because the book was in the public domain. However, film historian Don G. Smith believed that economic considerations were the reason as horror films had just become popular again. Lester Cole, who was enforced and not cheap by producer Kelly, cut down the lengthy Hawthorne novel extensively to create a film-ready script. The beginning of the novel fell victim to the scissors and much of the plot was changed - but the spirit of the novel was preserved. Cole added political views from the left to the script, however, turning the character of Matthew Maule / Holgrave into an abolitionist and sketching capitalists like Jaffrey Pyncheon and Arnold Foster as illegal slave traders.

Rod

Vera West was responsible for the costumes, while Jack P. Pierce was responsible for the make-up design for the actors, who grew considerably older in the course of the film . Vincent Price sings the song The Color of Your Eyes in the film , music and text by Frank Skinner and Ralph Freed . Originally, the role of Clifford Pyncheon should be filled with Robert Cummings , who had to give up the role due to illness.

Joe May was chosen to direct because he had made a number of horror films for Universal in 1939, all of which did well at the box office. May's own résumé influenced the film to the extent that it had fled Austria in 1934 due to the rise of Austrofascism . He let his negative attitude towards fascism flow and promoted freedom of thought. Lester Cole had to act as a dialogue director due to May's heavy German accent and his problems with making himself understood in English. George Sanders, a very own actor, did not get along well with May and openly mocked him. Alan Napier, on the other hand, had problems with Sanders. Price and Sanders are also said to have argued with each other on the set. Price himself didn't want to know that his relationship with Sanders had been difficult. He later wrote about him that Sanders was a lovely and wonderful man who only pretended to be terrible.

Turner Ingersoll mansion

Inspiration "Seven Gables"

Hawthorne's novel was inspired by the Turner-Ingersoll mansion, popularly known as the House of Seven Gables because of its gable roof . Built in 1668 in Salem , Massachusetts , the home has expanded several times over the next three centuries. In the 19th century it was inhabited by Susannah Ingersoll, a cousin of Nathaniel Hawthorne. So it became a historical monument and a popular tourist attraction in Salem.

publication

The film premiered on February 29, 1940 in Chicago , Illinois, before it premiered in New York on April 12, 1940 and was generally released in cinemas in the United States on the same day. Vincent Price was present at the premiere. The film was released in Argentina and Mexico in July 1940 and in Sweden in October 1940. It was first seen in Hungary and Portugal in 1941, in Madrid in Spain in February 1943 and in Barcelona in April 1943. The film was also released in Brazil, France, Italy and the Soviet Union. The film was not shown in Germany. There is also no DVD release dubbed in German.

Differences between book and film

Book cover "The House of the Seven Gables"

In the book, Clifford and Hepzibah Pyncheon are not lovers, but rather brother and sister. Gerald Pyncheon is not the father of Jaffrey and Clifford in the book, but their uncle. In the book, Clifford is serving a thirty-year prison sentence and comes back to his sister a broken man, who has no strength left to find his way back to life and watches what is going on outside through a window upstairs. In the book, Hepzibah unsuccessfully opens a store shortly before Clifford's return. In the book, the siblings isolate themselves more and more from the outside world. Jaffrey Pyncheon is the son of the late uncle in the book and thus the cousin of Clifford and Hepzibah. In the book, Jaffey is chasing a deed of ownership for a valuable piece of land. This is found after Jaffrey's death (through the family curse) behind a portrait of Colonel Pyncheon, but it turns out to be worthless in the meantime, as the land in question has long been settled. That Holgrave is Maule is only revealed at the end of the book. A marriage between him and Phoebe also takes place in the book, which means that the old feud between the families is settled and the house loses its dark atmosphere. Clifford, Hepzibah as well as Phoebe and Matthew don't want to stay there anymore. Having inherited Jaffrey's entire fortune, they move to the country with an uncle Venner, who appears only in the book.

Further films

As early as 1910, an early adaptation of Hawthorne's novel was filmed by Edison Studios - a silent film version in which Mary Fuller played the leading role. In the 1963 horror film Twice Told Tales , this story was one of the three Nathaniel Hawthorne stories on which the film was based. In a 1963 film, Vincent Price portrayed Gerald Pyncheon.

reception

criticism

Contemporary reviews

The film received mostly good reviews after its premiere. Lester Cole himself thought the script was one of the best he had ever written. The good performances of Price and Sanders were praised, who were still relatively unknown at the time and who were able to accelerate their careers considerably through the film. The film historian Thomas S. Hischak found that Margaret Lindsay had also played the role of Hepzibah Pyncheon very well.

The film's reputation suffered in the 1950s as criticism that Kelly and Cole introduced radical politics to the script and direction.

BR Crisler took the film in the New York Times and spoke of a dark and eerie drama in a strangely haunted house. For devoted readers of Hawthorne, the film adaptation should prove to be a bit of a shock, the critic suspected, since some changes within the family structure of the Pyncheons had been made for reasons of romantic complications. Crisler said to Price and Lindsay that they appeared in the perfect tradition of lavender and old lace with a lot of sigh and sadness in their eyes. George Sanders is more acceptable than brutal Jaffrey, which is his profession. Nan Gray, Dick Foran and Cecil Kellaway played their smaller roles appropriately, but they did not bring much benefit. The house of seven gables offers bleak and slightly stale fare.

The United States Bishops' Conference (USCCB) said that director Joe May had a certain preference for such films. The best scenes are the ones that thematized the love between the imprisoned brother and his slowly aging bride. Rather hard fare for children.

Later reviews

Modern reviews were mixed. Denis Meikle, Vincent Price's biographer, found the film to be overly sentimental and bothered by the “aging make-up” that he felt was not well done. The film itself is exciting, but at the same time typical of the mild and harmless images of the era.

On the Allmovie side , Patrick Legare took on the film and spoke of a beautiful adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic story about a cursed family. The second version of the film (the first was a silent film from 1910) offers a dark, haunting story that is supported by the strong performance of the actors and excellent source material. The house, which is at the center of the conflict, leaves a lasting impression, especially when shown from a distance. Vincent Price in the hero role of Clifford and George Sanders as usual as the devious villain are both excellent, while Margaret Lindsay undergoes a subtle change from a perky girl to a bitter hermit. Director Joe May keeps the pace at a good level in this solid universal production, even if the film does not achieve the timeless status that a better director could have got out of the film.

The At-A-Glance Film Reviews page said it was a good cinematic adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic novel. The acting of the actors, it was said, is characterized by dramatic large gestures, but with one or two small exceptions they are convincing. A gothic atmosphere creates a mood that goes well with black and white photography.

On the dvdbeaver page, there is talk of a beautiful adaptation that shows how the Pyncheon family stole, cheated, lied and murdered on their way to prosperity. The beautifully staged Gothic story with the always fascinating actors George Sanders and Vincent Price is quite impressive with little and many details, which is worth the time to look at and highly recommended.

Dennis Schwartz wrote on his Ozus World Movie Reviews page that the book was great, the film wasn't - except for the fine performances. The film is difficult to enjoy because it is so bleak.

Award

1941 was Frank Skinner in the category "soundtrack original best" for his music for The House of the Seven Gables for an Oscar nomination, but had a disadvantage compared to Leigh Harline , Paul J. Smith and Ned Washington with their music for the animated film Pinocchio .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The House of the Seven Gables (1940) see Screenplay Info at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English)
  2. ↑ The House of the Seven Gables see page derekwinnert.com (English).
  3. ↑ a b The House of the Seven Gables (1940) see Articles at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English)
  4. ↑ a b Lester Cole: Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos, Palo Alto, California 1981 (English)
  5. ↑ a b c The House of the Seven Gables (1940) see page catalog.afi.com (English). Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  6. ↑ a b The House of the Seven Gables (1940) see Notes at TCM - Turner Classic Movies (English)
  7. ^ Br Crisler: The Screen: New Films by Rialto and Globe - The House of the Seven Gables (1940) In: The New York Times , April 15, 1940.
    Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  8. ↑ The House of the Seven Gables see page archive usccb.org (English). Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  9. ↑ The House of the Seven Gables (1940) see page allemovie.com (English, including the film poster). Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  10. ↑ The House of the Seven Gables (1940) see page rinkworks.com (English). Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  11. ↑ The House of the Seven Gables see website dvdbeaver.com (English, including numerous film images and illustrations of film posters).
    Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  12. ↑ The House of the Seven Gables see page dennisschwartzreviews.com (English). Retrieved January 5, 2020.