Grade: D+
Synopsis: Richard III (Basil Rathbone) murders his way to the throne of England with the help of his executioner, Mord (Boris Karloff).
Tower of London tries to be a bit of everything, but really succeeds at nothing.
First, it tries to be a political drama, yet the plot is so by the numbers, there’s little in the way of intrigue. Further, Basil Rathbone’s Richard III is fairly dry, lacking the edge necessary to make him truly menacing. Perhaps this was a concession to Karloff’s character, but whatever the cause, it hurts the film.
Tower of London also tries to be a gothic horror. To some extent, it succeeds here, largely due to the presence of Boris Karloff, whose hulking executioner is a more than suitable boogeyman. His performance, combined with the dungeon sets, gives the film a nice atmosphere.
Finally, Tower of London tries to be a swashbuckler, throwing in a couple of large-scale battle sequences to get the point across. While these bits are okay, the choreography is a bit weak, and they don’t stir much in the way of emotion.
An interesting side note about the film is that Vincent Price, who has a supporting role as the Duke of Clarence, would later play the lead in Roger Corman’s remake 23 years later.
Bottom Line: Tower of London is a movie that probably looked very good on paper, but the actual execution leaves something to be desired.
One Response on “Tower of London (1939)”:
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Robert Gilmore said:
Grade: B
The Tower of London is a very interesting artifact of the studio era. While it is made on what seems to be a fairly large budget, it does not really have an “A” cast. With the exception of the Sherlock Holmes cycle, Rathbone was more of a supporting actor and Price, Leo G. Carrol and Karloff were anything but headliners. (Though Price would go on to become a legend of Horror films) What is interesting about the film is why such top notched production values were employed absent a big named star in the lead. The story of Richard III has been filmed many times (my favorite was the British version from the 90’s that starred Ian McKellon)and the film takes for granted that you know your English history. Those that don’t will be terribly lost early on. Overall I was quite pleased with this DVD, as I was with all of the entries in Universal’s Boris Karlof collection
