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The White Tower
Mountain climbers in the Swiss Alps mull over past problems while trying to conquer a perilous peak.
Release : | 1950 |
Rating : | 6 |
Studio : | RKO Radio Pictures, |
Crew : | Camera Operator, Director of Photography, |
Cast : | Glenn Ford Alida Valli Claude Rains Oskar Homolka Cedric Hardwicke |
Genre : | Adventure |
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best movie i've ever seen.
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
As a film buff,I enjoy who is in this..but as a film lover, I just have to forget some illogical situations..a part played by Lloyd Bridges which may or may not have influenced his acting in High Noon two years later..young gun..so to speak..a young guy who thinks he is superior to the older guy or anyone else..and in each film..gets his comeuppance..albeit in two different ways..but still..beaten..charming Glen Ford..really was a subdued scene- stealer..Valli..the beauty..used here as an anchor of sorts..she's doing it for her dead father..Ford is doing it for her..and everyone doing this climb for their own reasons..but I do have a problem with the climb itself..Swiss Alps?..blowing..snow..near-blizzard conditions..cold..oh so cold..cold enough that you can sit outside in the night cold..just sitting and thinking about your life or lack of one..or later..climbing without your glasses because they are broken and you don't have another pair along for the climb..climbing without gloves in the freezing Alps..with your bare hands while circumventing the dangerous narrow path..getting snow blindness in the process and lest I forget..two people falling in love and getting hitched..see it for the cinematography..not for the plot holes..Oscar Holmolka..Sir Cedrick Hardwick..what's not to like..but I would only say see this when there's not much else on..it's a diversion and you can come up with your own plot holes..and Claude Raines..who shouldn't be climbing any mountains at all and you have a somewhat disjointed movie..unlikely team of climbers doing implausible things..but individually..you know you like the characters from what they did before and after this..and you are hoping this is a good outing..but overall you will be dis-appointed with this..but the high up there scenery is worth looking at..Nuff said..
It takes a while for "The White Tower" to take off. After the long, slow start, this film keeps picking up speed until the surprise ending (or near the end), which takes on new meaning today as a result of the recent controversy concerning Mt. Everest and comments by Sir Edmund Hillary. I don't want to give away the ending of the film, but be sure and read what Sir Edmund Hillary had to say a few days ago about the peak he conquered in 1953, three years after "The White Tower" was released and relate his words to what happens in the picture.In beautiful Technicolor but before Cinemascope, it is easy to spot the interior sets, yet the exterior ones are breathtaking, even on a small screen. The cinematography is first rate. Too bad the script and direction weren't as effective. The script attempts to work a soap opera romance into the proceedings which becomes so melodramatic and naive that the viewer is asked to believe that attractive and likable Glenn Ford as Martin Ordway would risk his life and limb for the loves of a woman, even the vivacious Alida Valli as Carla Alton. The performers do the best they can with what they're given. Lloyd Bridges as Hein, the never-say-die Nazi, makes a hearty effort to bring his despicable character to life as does Claude Rains in the somewhat nondescript role of Paul DeLambre. Enjoy the scenery, the fine cast, and the excitement of the last fifteen minutes or so of the show and maybe you'll forget about the tired, hackneyed beginning and middle.
Beautiful scenery and intensely colourful Technicolor sets and costumes highlight this mildly interesting mountain-climbing production. The performances feel rather restrained, with none of the actors really fleshing out their characters, and there is a dead-on typical romance to weigh the whole thing even further down. The film can be positively credited however for its attempts to show the motivations behind mountain climbers, although it is still a bit dull either way. The final few scenes are great though: very suspenseful and rather intense, but in the middle section the film tends to sink, amidst a few other minor problems. But those to whom the material appeals will probably get a kick out of it either way, and it certainly is a delight on the visual scope.
About the color anyway. I enjoyed this movie, especially Lloyd Bridges Nazi mountainclimber. But I only saw it in black & white, on video yet! That's right my Turner Home Entertainment copy (out of print apparently) of this film is black & white, and them being the Colorizaion Kings! Go figure.