House of Seven Gables
Director– Joe May
Starring – George Sanders, Margaret Lindsay, Vincent Price, Dick Foran
Country of Origin – USA
Distributor - Kino Lorber
Number of discs – 1
Reviewed by - David Steigman
Date- 05/01/2019
The House of Seven Gables is a Gothic drama film from 1940 starring iconic actors Vincent Price and George Sanders who at the time were both on the rise. Based on the novel under the same title by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the film is the story about greed, and when being wealthy becomes more important than family.
In The House of Seven Gables, the tale is about two brothers Jaffrey and Clifford Pyncheon (Sanders and Price respectively) that have a falling out when Clifford and his father Gerald (Gilbert Emery) decide to sell the 200 year old Pyncheon house. Jaffrey, who believes that the house has a hidden deed inside that could lead to millions if found, is completely against the idea. Later, Gerald decides not to sell the house, leading to a bitter argument with his son Clifford. Gerald has a heart attack, falls down and hit his head on a table and dies. Jaffrey seeing an opportunity to rid himself of his brother so he can be alone in the house to go on his treasure hunt, charges his own brother for the murder of their father. He knows Clifford is innocent but sets him up anyway. Clifford is convicted and faced with a long prison sentence. Jaffrey is now free to find the deed leading to great wealth. But it doesn’t work out that way, as Hepzibah Pyncheon (Margaret Lindsay), Clifford’s cousin and who was to be his wife before he was convicted, inherits the house and throws Jaffrey out. But the drama doesn’t end there as the sinister Jaffrey is determined to be the owner of the house. While stewing in prison, Clifford befriends a new cellmate Matthew Maule (Dick Foran) and they plan a way to clear his name and get even with Jaffrey. When Clifford is released from prison, he plants the seeds for his vengeance.
The House of Seven Gables is a terrific atmospheric film, with top-notch acting, as one would expect, which is supported by a great story, brilliant direction by Joe May and a great musical score by Frank Skinner.
After many requests for the film to be released on Blu-ray by many of the film’s fans, The House of Seven Gables makes its high definition debut courtesy of Kino Lorber Studio Classics.
The image quality looks stunning with a balanced grey scale, with excellent details and deep textures to both the characters and scenery. Film grain is present throughout, with a minimal amount of print damage and white speckles.
English DTS-HD master audio 2.0, is used here and the audio, ranging from dialog, to the great musical scores are crisp and clear without any hissing or drop-outs detected.
An audio commentary by Troy Howarth and trailers consist of the extras for the package. The commentary is another informative rundown of the film with a great of amount of tidbits about the film, cast and crew. His commentaries are always worth a listen.
The trailers are for other Kino Lorber releases featuring Vincent Price and George Sanders, which are Tales of Terror, The Lodger, The Oblong Box, Witness to Murder and Twice-Told Tales, all of which are great films and also recommended.
Kino Lorber has done an amazing job with The House of Seven Gables not just with the superb image, but including a few extras as well, and is certainly worth picking up and adding to your Blu-ray collection!
