Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Boring

The acting in this movie is really good.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Gothic melodrama from Universal, adapted from the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel (with significant changes) about the cursed Pyncheon family and one brother framing another for murder. Often included in Universal horror discussions, though it's not a horror film. It does have some nice atmosphere in keeping with that genre, though, particularly given that it shares the same look and feel of the Universal horror films being made around that time.Margaret Lindsay, an often underrated actress who never really hit it big, isn't entirely convincing in the early scenes as the innocent young Hepzibah. She really brings it when the plot moves forward and she becomes older and more jaded. Vincent Price does well in one of his earliest big roles. George Sanders reportedly didn't care for his role or the film but you would never know it by his great turn. Dick Foran holds his own against far more talented co-stars.None of the changes to the novel seem to hurt it, in my opinion. It's a very enjoyable film. Even though it's not a horror movie, I do think it will appeal to people who like those Universal classics. Some nice atmosphere, a good story, and a great cast.

Yes Margaret Lindsay appeared to me as Pauline Goddard at first when she played the young Hepsidah ; so much so that I had to check the cast list as I did not know what Margaret Lindsay looked like but had seen Pauline in several early 1940s films.Reading other user reviews it is evident that many have read "The House of the Seven Gables" perhaps in American schools and they therefore noticed when the film and novel diverged.Perhaps it is more familiar to American reviewers but it came to me fresh so I had no preconceived ideas.I immediately noticed the actor who played the father Pyncheon in the first reel was the actor who played the First Lord of the Admiralty in "That Hamilton Woman" (1941) starring Larry & Viv.I agree with the user comment above about unnecessary histrionic melodramatic acting which I find so unconvincing.This was especially true and ironic of the demise in the last reel of George Sanders whose character died in the same way as his father along with the cry of "Murderer" uttered by Hepsidah rather than by the George Sanders' "Jaffrey".There is a Jane Austen like happy ending where there is a double marriage.I have never seen this film before but it held my interest to the end and I awarded it 6/10.

Despite the fact that this is a compressed and revised version of the Hawthorne novel, THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES manages to overcome its budget limitations (on a B-film scale) to become an interesting, if over-plotted version of the original story.Margaret Lindsay, who usually had second femme leads at Warner Brothers during the '30s, is the central character here and acquits herself admirably. She's so good as the repressed Cousin Hepzibah, a bitter woman who becomes a reclusive owner of the house, that's it's a wonder she didn't have a bigger career. Others in the cast, including George Sanders, Vincent Price, Nan Grey, Dick Foran and Cecil Kellaway, perform admirably too. In fact, the acting is on the strong side and better than the script deserves.But for all its strengths, the story is too complex to be told in 90 minutes and much had to be handled too swiftly to give any of the characters real depth. It's a nice try, and the film itself is worth seeing as a product of its time.

I didn't notice the knuckle-biting faux pas noticed by the last commentator, but agree with him that the acting is very well done. Margaret Lockwood is outstanding! I disagree that the book is better. The movie is far better. This is House of the Seven Gables as if it was written by Nat's buddy, Herman Melville--it's got some real romance and intensity about it as a result of changing the relationships around. It also has some anti-racist, anti-slave politics completely absent from the book. When is it going DVD--I'll scoop it right up!Now if only somebody would get around to filming Melville's PIERRE!