The White Tower (1950) User Reviews

Because it's there

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 13 April 2006]

Because it's there - well, I suppose that's a good enough reason to climb a mountain. It was motivation enough to climb Everest. However, in "The White Tower" everyone has a different reason for wanting to climb a magnificent mountain peak in the Swiss Alps that defeated the father of Carla Alten (Valli), a young woman whose goal in climbing is closure. Glenn Ford, as Ordway, is finally convinced to take the climb - his goal is Valli. And so it goes, as six climbers start on a ascent to the top.

This is a gorgeous Technicolor film that was intended to be seen in a theater. The scenery is magnificent, and the cast of climbers is excellent: Ford, Valli, Claude Rains, Lloyd Bridges, Oscar Homolka, and Cedric Hardwicke. Like Walter Slezak in "Lifeboat," Bridges plays the Aryan Nazi, Hein, who hasn't forgotten his Fuhrer. He puts himself in competition with Ordway (Ford), the American looking for some post-war peace, and he hates Raines and Homolka for being the "weaklings" who are holding the team back. Rains is an alcoholic writer - he is unhappily married and wants to feel again; Hardwicke was a friend of Valli's father and wants to support her quest. Homolka is a reluctant guide who goes on the trip in spite of himself.

Valli is much more vivacious and outdoorsy than she was in "The Third Man" or "The Parradine Case." Ford always has such a wonderful quality - shy, with a gentle manner, beautiful smile and that disarming, soft voice - how any woman could resist him is a mystery, though I give Valli credit for trying. He'll be 90 on May 1, bless his heart. The film has some suspenseful moments and is definitely worth a watch.

My brief review of the film

[sol- · 6/10 · 15 May 2005]

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.

Help and Cooperation

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 30 March 2006]

The White Tower is an allegorical film about the need for cooperation among people and nations. It's no accident that this film was made during the early years of the United Nations when there was so much hope for its success. Maybe we will be one world, one day if we all cooperate.

The story takes place in Switzerland and the White Tower is as yet an unclimbed Alp. Alida Valli's father died making an attempt and she wants to climb it. She manages to convince five guests of the resort hotel she's staying at to climb with her.

Her party consists of Glenn Ford, Lloyd Bridges, Claude Rains, Oscar Homolka, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. The story is what happens on the mountain and what the challenging climb brings out in all of them.

Not all of them survive the trip. But you ain't gonna get me to spill the beans.

Lloyd Bridges is the most interesting of the characters. He's a former Nazi who's doing it to prove Deutscheland is really uber alles. He gets quite a reality check on the mountain.

The White Tower has some good color photography of some really fabulous mountain scenery. The story at times gets a big talky and bogs down, but the climax is both spectacular and real.

Takes on a new meaning today

[krorie · 6/10 · 19 June 2006]

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.

Good Premise, but Slack Screenplay and Direction

[dougdoepke · 17 October 2009]

It's a suspenseful premise—scaling a killer peak. The trouble is that the suspense doesn't really gel until the final few minutes. In the meantime, Valli and Ford get romantically acquainted in several over-long scenes that sap the pace. Technically, the movie combines real mountains (French Alps) with sound stage mountains in pretty effective fashion, certainly better than most process shots of the period. And that location photography of the French Alps produces some stunning shots of gorgeous alpine valleys, which, I suspect, is the real star of the movie.

The plot motivation has Valli paying tribute to her dead father by scaling the White Tower. Unfortunately, she takes along a mixed bag of male support that's none too persuasive, including a 61-year old Claude Rains and a 56-year old Cedric Hardwicke, along with a youthful Ford who nevertheless treats the project like a walk-in-the-park. Remember, this is supposed to be a peak never before climbed, and she's a girl with a mission. Nonetheless, some of the dangling-from-rocks scenes amount to good cinema. I just wish someone had told Ford or the director that you don't mountaineer without gloves, especially in snow.

The story itself shifts gears abruptly in the final few minutes when WWII is refought on a tense snow bank. Actually, Ford should have suspected Bridges' politics when he first saw that Afrika Korps campaign cap. Instead, he has to prove the advantages of a cooperative ethic (democracy) over Bridges' superman ethic; at the same time, I like the movie's surprisingly unconventional climax, which manages to reinforce Ford's ethic. Anyway, the film is spotty, at best, but those scenic shots do compensate for a lot.

Peaks And Toffs

[writers_reign · 7/10 · 7 November 2016]

Anyone old enough (say around 20) to have watched this on its initial release, five years after the end of the war would have had no problem with the subtext - for example for them the Lloyd Bridges character may as well have had a sign "Nazi Fanatic" around his neck - but 66 years later a 20-30 year old with little or no interest in history may well be content to watch it as a mild thriller in which an ill-assorted sextet pit themselves against nature in the shape of the eponymous white tower, a peak that remains unconquered. For me the cast is intriguing with only one out-and-out leading man and five top-of-the-line supporting players though not necessarily the team I would nominate to climb a mountain. The team in this case is assembled by Valli, an undoubted beauty and decent enough actress, anxious in this case to finish what her late father started and reach the summit. Oscar Homolka, a mountain guide, and Lloyd Bridges, an unrepentant Nazi, are the only ones with serious credentials and with a reasonable chance of completing the climb, the others are there for various reasons. The movie is guilty of the same errors as Black Narcissus, where David Farrar persisted in walking around naked from the waist upward in spite of being several thousand feet above sea level. Here all six climbers eschew gloves until the very last stages of the climb whilst Glen Ford never does actually don them and Lloyd Bridges wears three-quarter length pants that display his naked calves throughout. Despite all this it's a good yarn and keeps you watching.

Technicolor Tor

[richardchatten · 7/10 · 27 May 2020]

An excellent cast go through the motions (generally in an upwards direction, it being a mountaineering film) in pristine Technicolor.

As befits a film directed by a former cameraman who went all the way to Mont Blanc to shoot it (well, some of it), it's all ravishing to watch; especially a youthful Alida Valli in her one Technicolor film during her brief spell in Hollywood billed Garbo-style simply as 'Valli'.

Significantly flawed, but nonetheless interesting film

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 3 May 2013]

SPOILER ALERT Whenever I think of films about mountain climbing, the first that comes to mind is Spencer Tracy's "The Mountain". This film pales in comparison, but it's still a pretty good film. And speaking of "pales", this film desperately needs a complete restoration. The scenery of the mountains and glaciers (particularly the longer distance shots) -- actually filmed in the Alps -- would be stunning except for the extreme fading of the print that is currently being shown on TCM.

The one real problem I have with this film is the thought of Claude Rains (age 61 at the filming), Oskar Homolka (age 62 at the filming), and Sir Cedric Hardwicke (age 57 at the filming) climbing what was supposed to be the most challenging mountain in all of Europe. That's my age range, and I find it at best unlikely, and at worst preposterous. But okay...it's only a movie.

There comes a time about a third of the way into the film when suddenly the photography changes from real settings to sets, and it's startlingly obvious...perhaps a film restoration would make it less so. The melding of real shots versus sets is rather well done, however, and a word of credit should be given to some of the real climbers (whoever) they were who stood in for the actors. I do have to give the actors credit here. Although the difficult climbing scenes with the actors are clearly on sets, I think they had to expend quite a bit of energy...and they do a rather convincing job of it.

In terms of the acting, I very much appreciate the performance here of Glenn Ford. In fact, it reminds me a bit of how Spencer Tracy would approach many roles -- with subtlety, which only shows off the strengths more prominently.

Valli, whom I usually think of for her role in "The Miracle Of The Bells" does okay here, although she was not as convincing as some actresses might have been in the role because she just doesn't appear tough enough.

The role that really gets shortchanged here is that of Claude Rains. Oh, Rains is good, but the character is never developed to the extent that we understand his motivations. SPOILER ALERT -- When he is the first to die, of getting drunk in an untenable location -- why? Is it as simple as a nagging wife...whose nagging didn't seem very bad at all? Oskar Homolka as the local guide is quite good...but I wish he would have trimmed those eyebrows! Sir Cedric Hardwicke is, in my view, unconvincing here. But I think it's more the fault of the role than of his acting.

And then we come Lloyd Bridges as the German and former Nazi...at least it's insinuated since part of the conflict of the film is between a Nazi flyer and Ford, an American flyer who was shot down. I've always thought of Bridges as more an actor for the small screen, although here he does quite nicely...better than in any other big screen film in which he appeared. And it's interesting -- little mention is made of their military past...yet it's that tension that exists between them throughout the whole film...that's good screen writing and direction! This is far from being a perfect film. In fact, I find it rather flawed. But it is still very interesting, with an intriguingly strong cast, even if the roles are not always sufficiently explored.

the white tower

[mossgrymk · 5/10 · 17 May 2023]

One of your slower ascensions, made all the more lumbering by its six ascenders having to stop periodically to fight inner demons and examine consciences. And since what is on their minds are questions like "What Is Reality?" and the one that seems to occur, with weary regularity, in all mountain climbing movies, "Why Must I Challenge This Peak?", it makes for a fairly boring expedition, as well. Don't know about you but about forty per cent of the way through I felt like yelling at the screen, "Either shut up or get off the friggin mountain!" And no amount of pretty location shooting (subverted by really phony looking, sound stage "mountain" shooting) and good acting by Valli, Raines, Homolka and Bridges can withstand such a reaction. Give it a C.

Watch it for Alida Valli if for no other reason

[cmcastl · 7/10 · 17 November 2016]

As I watched it for Alida Valli and for no other reason.

I am no expert on mountain-climbing but the howlers there must be for any self-respecting mountain-climber who watches this film. They would, I imagine, be shouting at the screen! Such a rag-bag of a climbing team was setting itself up for fall, literally for a fall. And anyway, when the film was set, unlike the film suggests, just after the War, no major Alpine climbs, so far as I know, had not been achieved.

So, by way of example, Glenn Ford decides to go for the final ascent without the snow-blindness glasses that Valli offers him? What then happens to him? He almost succumbs to snow-blindness. I am no expert on mountain-climbing but just how dumb is that?

I don't know how good the source material was but the script is pretty poor and the marvellous actors, Alida Valli, Glenn Ford, Oskar Homolka, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Lloyd Bridges, and, of course, the inimitable Paul Raines struggle with it and through their combined performances something altogether better emerges.

Would you climb the highest mountain for a lady like Alida Valli? I would and I can't stand heights! Watch it for Alida Valli, one of the most beautiful ladies ever to be captured on celluloid. The majority of actresses past and present have their brief season in the sun because of their publicity departments. In the history of cinema and genuinely beautiful leading ladies, Valli, along with Greta Garbo, is forever.

Watch this film for Valli.

A pretty time-passer with an unusual cast.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 2 September 2019]

Carla's father died years ago trying to be the first to climb to the top of The White Tower, a huge peak in Switzerland. Now years later, she's trying to get together a group to attempt to conquer this peak on behalf of her dead father. So, she assembles a motley group to do just this.

I never have understood the casting decisions for films like "The White Tower" and "The Mountain". Older non-athletic actors like Claude Rains, Cedric Hardwicke, Oskar Homolka and Spencer Tracy ("The Mountain") seems ridiculous, as they'd all die the first day of the expedition! This cast made the film seem ludicrous and didn't help to make the film watchable.

Despite the odd cast, is it any good? Well, it's okay. Having a better motivation for the ascent might have helped as well as more interesting characters. What did help was the nice cinematography...and the Alps make for a nice backdrop to the story. So, overall it's a mixed bag...one that is at best a pretty time-passer and not much more.

Adventure/Romance for All

[lousvr · 9/10 · 8 July 2001]

This is one of those movies that is fitting to it's era... Actually, not a bad and personal romance and adventure with odd assortment of characters who each for their own reasons want to climb this 'White Tower' mountain... With a great cast.. Claude Rains, L Bridges, C Hardwick, etc.. but most of all VALLI, a special woman among women.. (also in the 'The Third Man')... I'm a great fan of 'The Third Man' and fell in love with her,.... and seeing Valli again was a real treat..

Great vistas (quite abit of on-location shooting in the French Alps), photography, color.... For those who know what I mean,.. this has a 'kinda' "High and Mighty" feel to it.. One other note germane to that era of film making, the ages to the characters/actors.. all older and more mature than what we're used to today... Chauk one up for the good old days.. ENJOY

It's up there..way up there..with some adventure ..but watch your step

[Xjayhawker · 7/10 · 30 April 2013]

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..

Serious, competent, yet highly dull movie about mountain-climbing...

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 26 September 2009]

Young woman returns to her Swiss hometown and is determined to climb a virgin peak, the infamous "White Tower", which even her mountaineer father could not scale. She recruits a disparate group of men to accompany her, including ne'er-do-well Glenn Ford who has love in his eyes. Screenwriter Paul Jarrico adapted James Ramsey Ullman's novel for the screen, with hardly a trace of good humor but much strenuous character interaction. The RKO production is solid, with a good deal of on-location shooting in saturated Technicolor, but there's nothing charismatic about these people. Driven into danger by different ideals, they're hardly more than stock figures. Some of Ray Rennahan's cinematography is striking (particularly at the beginning), and Roy Webb composed a lovely score, yet this is hardly a classic instance of rugged adventure. ** from ****

A canny Movie

[geordie5cs · 25 September 2005]

Which has lasted the test of time.

An odd bunch of people who come together with the goal of climbing the Alpine mountain as in the name of the movie but they make it work.

It does not use up to much time getting to know the group letting their stories unfold as the movie story unfolds.

Glenn Ford does not have much kit but he seems to scrounge it just when he needs it without ever having to ask.

As in most films there is a love story which fits right in with the plot.

A canny feel good movie and a pleasant way to spend 98 minutes of anyone's time.

The Dark Tower.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 6/10 · 30 November 2016]

After finding him outstanding in the 1934 Film Noir Crime Without Passion,I decided to keep a look out on TV for movies with Claude Rains. Returning home from a weekend in Birmingham,I took a look at the film page on BBC iPlayer,and found a rare Adventure title co- starring Rains,which led to me climbing the white tower.

The plot:

After her dad dies trying to climb the mountain, Carla Alton decides that she is going to climb "The White Tower" mountain. Finding her to completely ignore their advice to not climb it, French author Paul Delambre,US pilot Martin Ordway and "ex" Nazi Hein decide to team up and help Alton up the mountain.As they climb up the mountain,the group get caught in an avalanche of their own fatal differences.

View on the film:

Climbing the mountain in the real Swiss Alps ,director Ted Tetzlaff (cinematographer of Hitchcock's Notorious) & cinematographer Ray Rennahan ice the movie with a great frosty atmosphere,swept up in tightly held shots being covered in mountains of snowflakes.Bringing warmth to the pre-climb with Sid Rogell's light score, Tetzlaff drowns the light in a surprising amount of gloom,where a lone fire is the only sign of life in a virgin snow wilderness.

Taking on James Ramsey Ullman's novel,the screenplay by Paul Jarrico cleverly digs its heels into opening up Alton dedication to the memory of her dad,and the uneasy teamwork that sits between the heroic Ordway and "ex" Nazi Hein.Giving the team a cheerful,friendly outlook before the climb, Jarrico gives the shadow of the mountain a surprisingly sharp edge,with its sharp edges leading to an unexpected large number of the group falling to their doom.

Toning down his devilish charm, Claude Rains gives a wonderful melancholy performance as Delambre,as Lloyd Bridges gives a great boo-hiss performance as snarling "ex" Nazi Hein.Joined by a rugged Glenn Ford as Ordway,the elegant Alida Valli gives a vivacious performance as Alton,who finds the memory of her dad at the top of the white tower.

What.....no sherpas?

[Ed-Shullivan · 6/10 · 20 December 2018]

Overall this adventure was a decent time waster. Nothing more, nothing less.

I enjoy watching any film in black and white as it allows the viewer to concentrate more right on the main characters rather than on the colorful cinematography of a white covered snow mountainside.

Of course there were flaws in this film two of (many) which were just so glaring miscues that I need to mention them. First this misfit group of mountain climbers had little or no experience mountain climbing other than Lloyd Bridges. Why would the director not include one or two sherpas even if they didn't have speaking parts just to authenticate their film? Secondly the lead climber Mr. Hein (Lloyd Bridges) was leading this pack of inexperienced climbers in capri shorts! Who climbs a mountain in the high cold altitudes wearing capri shorts?

As I said, it's an okay time waster but don't look for reality or too much real and tense suspense with The White Tower. Watch it for what it's worth.

A 6 out of 10 rating. Nothing more, nothing less.

Colorful and interesting adventure film about mountaineering with attractive landscapes

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 26 October 2023]

Wonderfully photographed story dealing with adventure, survival fight, greed and selflessness. Including excellent cast with Glenn Ford and Alida Valli in the prime of their careers. Shot in the French Alps, where a group of people from different countries join their efforts to achieve their cherished dream: reaching the peak of the highest mountain. A group of people come together in the Swiss Alps to climb a previously unconquered mountain, revealing their inner selves in the process. The White Tower, a Matterhorn-like mountain in the Swiss Alps, has never been climbed. Carla Alton's father, a famous mountaineer, died in a long-ago attempt. Now, Carla, determined to fulfill her father's dream, has assembled an unusual climbing party to tackle the nearly-impossible ascent. Before the war Alessandro Alton was a mountaineer who only had one obsession: to summit the so-called white tower, a very high mountain, impressive and monstrous at the same time, in the Swiss Alps. However, he did not succeed and during the expedition he disappeared and was left for dead. After the war, her daughter Carla (Alida Valli) organizes a climb to the same mountain in tribute to her father. To do this she relies on two old friends: Andreas (Oskar Homolka), a town guide, and Nicholas Radcliffe (Sir Cedric Hardwicke). A British geologist, along with a group of adventurous mountaineers (Glenn Ford, Lloyd Bridges..) of different nationalities, who risk their lives during the expedition to the Swiss Alps. Every gasping thrill in color by Technicolor!

Sprawling adventure movie detailing the obsessive conquest of a mountain peak including spectacular scenarios, impressive images and maintains a fair degree of interest and tension. Nice film with snowbound, breathtaking scenes , thrills, emotion, piolets, ropes and piton daredevil drivel; and , of course, fight for life. Beautiful Swiss scenary fails to totally compensate for a great number of slow-moving scenes. Each person's true nature is revealed as they climb the peak, which many climbers have defied and failed in previous attempts. Top-notch Glenn Ford as an expert climber, as usual, he displays a quiet dignity. Decent acting by Lloyd Bridges as an ambitious young with a ruthless charm and Nazi thoughtful. Beautiful Swiss Alps scenery falls to partially compensate for several dreary lapses and script's shortcomings , especially the disparity of characters. The film is pretty well ; however, slightly overwrought with several dreary lapses, but exciting and stirring enough. This one belongs to ¨Climbling Subgenre¨ with important films, such as: " The Eiger sanction" with Clint Eastwood, George Kennedy, Jack Cassidy , ¨K 2¨by Franc Roddam with Michael Biehn, Matt Craven and recently "Himalaya" with Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Robin Wright , Jake Gyllenhaal , Sam Worthington and Kiera Knightley.

Behind the camera Ted Tetzlaff , a director who started in silent films and achieved great success as a cinematographer in the 30s and 40s. And he directed some decent films, such as: The Treasure of Lost Canyon, Son of Sinbad, Riffraff, World premiere, The Window, among others. Rating: 6/10. Acceptable and passable mountain film.

okay adventure film. climbing White Tower

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 18 November 2018]

The daughter of a (dead) famous climber returns to the scene years later, and wants to put together a group to get to the top of "the White Tower", a mountain peak. Her past friends and associates refuse to to it again, because its so dangerous. Carla (Alida Valli) bumps into Martin the architect, played by Glenn Ford. He was SO AWESOME in "Gilda".. watch it, if you haven't already. Herr Hein ( Lloyd Bridges) joins up with the climbing party. Claude Rains, who was just GREAT in Casablanca, and so many other films, is Delambre. He's getting too old for this. Hein keeps telling everyone that "To rest is not to conquer!". Kind of an odd collection of people, but its all quite plausible. Not much magic between the cast, though. Bridges sounds quite cardboard. Martin is torn... he really likes Carla, but doesn't always agree with her decisions. Some interesting alliances and discussions among the group, but really the most interesting features are the rocky cliff scenes and weather sequences. It's alright. maybe a different cast would have made it better.

Boring mountaineering drama

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 2 February 2017]

THE WHITE TOWER is a dullish mountaineering drama in which an all-star cast go on an ill-advised mountaineering trip only to discover conflict and treachery on the way. I don't mind these kinds of films but the more modern efforts seem to be a lot better in terms of thrills and effects; VERTICAL LIMIT and EVEREST, for example. By contrast, THE WHITE TOWER is slow, ham-fisted, and unrealistic.

There's nothing wrong with the premise so it's the execution at fault here. The character drama is never as interesting as it should be and the boring romance scenes slow things down to a crawl. Glenn Ford is the erstwhile hero but comes across as flippant and shallow, which hardly makes for a great protagonist.

Interest arises from a neat mix of talent in terms of the supporting players. Lloyd Bridges makes his mark as the antagonist while Claude Rains and Cedric Hardwicke are the old timers randomly along for the ride. There are a handful of tense moments in which the team suffer minor accidents and are trapped on sheer rock faces, but the story only really gets going in the last ten minutes and by that point you just don't care anymore.

What do we get when we get up there?

[sol-kay · 6/10 · 10 May 2013]

***SPOILERS*** It's the breathtaking photography that really makes the mountain climbing movie "The White Tower" more then worth watching. As for it's plot it seems to be fighting WII that ended five years earlier all over again in making a Nazi hiding in plain sight as its bad guy. That with one of the climbers Mr. Hein, played the alway likable Llyod Bridges, a die in the wool Nazi even going as far as exposing himself and his ideas about being an Aryan superman to those who suffered under Nazism! It's that non stop motor-mouthing on his part that well may have him suffer serious bodily harm by those around with him who aren't that kindly to his Nazi philosophy and ideas. It's Carla Alten, Alida Vaila, who organized this climb in order to finish the job that her and her father world famous Italian mountain climber Aessaword Alten started before the war. It was Pop's, Mr. Alten, hard luck to go it alone on the dangerous alpine mountain named "The White Tower" when everyone including his daughter gave up and got lost in a snowstorm just before he could make it to the top.

The movie has besides the mountain climbing in it the tensions between Mr. Hein, who's still wearing his German Army Wehrmacht uniform, and the rest of the climbers, five in all, who all especially Carla resent his constantly mouthing off about how great Nazi Germany was and soon will be again. As well his admiration of the greatness of the super Ayan race he compared to, as Mr. Hein calls them, those of low intelligence and peasant stock who are on the clime with him. Mr. Hein overdose his superior Aryan act so much that the American with them former US Army Air Force bombardier Martin Ordway, Glenn Ford, who was anything but interested of going on the climb in the first place, he was only interest in starting up a relationship with Clara, decided to go all the way just to put this arrogant creep in his place. That by Ordway getting to the top of the "White Tower" before he dose.

***SPOILERS*** As the climbers get near to the top of "White Tower" the freezing air as well as constant snowstorms makes them give up the fight or climb. It's the arrogant Aryan Superman Mr. Hein who won't let nothing stand in his way to not only make it to the top of "White Tower" but prove his superiorly to everyone else on the climb! Mr. Hein is also using the climb to fight WWII all over again and, in Hein's sick and deranged mind, win it for Nazi German this time around.

Glenn Ford looked so sleepy and out of it in most of his scenes that I thought that the thin air of the Italian Alps was beginning to affect him. Or he was so board with the part he was playing that he had trouble breathing any life into it. It was the always dependable,in him giving a good performance, Claude Rains as the alcoholic mountain climbing Frenchman suffering from writers or mental bloc Paul LeLambre who really saved the movie. That in his spectacular demise towards the end of the film with LeLambre getting himself dead drunk then tearing up his manuscript about his mountain climbing adventure and setting his camp site on fire. With nothing left to live for, he was by then all out of booze, LeLambre walked into a blinding snowstorm and, his body was never found, was never seen or heard from again!

A painfully dull formula that has dated poorly

[secondtake · 5/10 · 8 March 2014]

The White Tower (1950)

The short advice here is to read this review and skip the movie. It's almost all a mountainclimbing adventure with so-so realism, and so-so acting and script.

Even on its release, five years after the defeat of the Nazis, it must have seemed a bit stretched. The big message here is simple—there are still some bad Nazis out there, but the really cute female ones are eligible for marriage. I'm serious.

Glenn Ford is the highlight here. I've never seen him more at ease and charming, even though he has little to do. Or maybe that's why. He's a tagalong for this harrowing mountain ascent, and he jokes and seems only half interested in it all. Except for the eager Germanic blonde who really must conquer the mountain, since her father had died trying years ago. She represent the hearty German purity of many of the ordinary people (German, Swiss, Austrian), interested in loving nature and loving life in the process.

In the climbing party are a range of types, all of them stereotypes though actually none of them are stupidly exaggerated (except maybe the German who is hale and confident in an arrogant way). Most mysterious among them, from a movie-lover's point of view, is Claude Rains, who does and says almost nothing in the movie. I expected eventually to have him break out into a meaningful scene, and in fact that's one reason I kept watching.

So this ship of fools on foot and with ropes makes its way up the steep and sometimes snowy mountain. It's super windy and cold but they seem pretty comfy in ordinary clothes, even sleeping without sleeping bags. Well, whatever works! But it's silly. There are some rock climbing maneuvers that will send shivers down even novice spines, but it's clear after awhile it's not really about the mountain or the climbing.

The romance does bud, of course, and there is a predictable ending, which is kind of the resolution to Europe all in one simple swoop. Well, there you have it! What an awful simplifying mess. Is it horrible? Not quite. It has good intentions. It feels honest and much of the acting is at least sincere, too, if not inspired. But, really, your time is better spent elsewhere unless there is some detail here that will suck you in.

My excuse? I didn't read any reviews beforehand. Or I could say, "Because it was there."

One of the better mountaineering films

[Sevenmercury7 · 8/10 · 8 November 2017]

Old-fashioned in the best sense, this mountaineering adventure boasts a stellar cast--Glenn Ford, Alida Valli, Cedric Hardwicke, Claude Rains, Lloyd Bridges, and Oskar Homolka--and a simple premise: a young woman (Valli) returns to the Swiss Alps to conquer the eponymous mountain that claimed her father's life years before. But she has to persuade several other climbers to brave the perilous ascent with her. Each has his own reason for accepting, while the lone American member (Ford), at first tagging along just to spend time with the beautiful Valli, gradually finds a deeper reason of his own.

The recent Second World War looms large over the story. Indeed, the White Tower itself is a clear metaphor for it: the three main characters all have something left to prove, and the higher they climb, the more the reveal about themselves, the more fractured the team becomes. It's not as psychologically complex as it sounds, though. You can easily work out who's who and how the relationships are going to develop as the story unfolds.

The joys here are the cast, the scenery, several gripping climbing sequences, and a lush score that evokes that aching sense of something lost that's also somehow within reach again...if only love can prevail.

Corny, maybe, but if you like old Hollywood and adventure films, this one will work like a charm.

no drama

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 2 February 2021]

Carla Alton arrives at a Swiss Alps town which she hasn't been since before the war. She intends to conquer The White Tower, a mountain climb which has never done and which took her father's life. She is joined by Martin Ordway (Glenn Ford), Mr. Hein (Lloyd Bridges), Andreas (Oskar Homolka), Dr. Nicholas Radcliffe (Cedric Hardwicke), and Paul Delambre (Claude Rains).

There are some nice mountain climbing vistas. When it's the actors, it's artificial sets. The story doesn't have much tension. It takes too long for the group to get into danger and a lot is self-inflicted. Somebody should fall into a hole in the first half. The group can rescue him and heighten the drama for the rest of them. I also hate that some of them never wear gloves. It's frustrating. At least, they could wear the fingerless gloves if they need the fingers for grip. The only interesting parts are the two-second-snippets of the real climbers on the side of the real mountain. There are some nice climbing footage. Otherwise, this doesn't have the drama needed to propel the movie.

No, I don't know what you mean...

[Inkwell765 · 27 May 2002]

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.