Review: Tower of London
Blu-ray & DVD: Tower of London (1962)
Roger Corman has always been the king of low budget filmmaking for me, and his name alone as either Director or Producer ensures that I’ll be watching. His skill of being able to eke out every last cent of the budget and put it on screen never fails to amaze and impress me, and in Tower of London he delivers the visual goods once again, despite this being filmed in black & white and not affording the luxury of seeing the sumptuous colours seen in previous collaborations with Vincent Price.
Loosely based on the 1939 Universal horror release of the same name (also starring Price, but in a different role), Corman’s version of Tower of London adds a little bit of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Richard III into the mix too.
Price plays Richard of Gloucester, whose dying brother is the King and whom Richard assumes that he will inherit the crown from upon his death. When the King dies and overlooks Richard in favour their sibling; the Duke of Clarence, Richard concocts and enacts various murderous ways in which all that may heed his ascendancy to the throne will be stopped once and fall all. Little does he know that the spirits of those killed by his hands will come back to haunt him and slowly drive him insane with their constant tales of vengeance.
While not as well known as the previous Price/Corman collaborations on their Edgar Allan Poe movies (House of Usher, Pit and the Pendulum and Tales of Terror), Tower of London once again displays the intrinsic chemistry between them as actor and director.
The black and white picture in no way detracts from the story and actually enhances the dark depressive atmosphere that slowly begins to shroud Richard’s mental state as his past deeds literally come back to haunt him. This is all enacted brilliantly by Price, whose sometimes excessive acting style perfectly suits the Shakespearian backdrop and dialog. Even when becoming borderline ‘hammy’, Price exudes a sinister undercurrent which conveys a far darker character lying just below what can be observed.
The deaths, while not graphic, are sometimes disturbing. Especially the scene where young innocents are killed and the fall of a small hand holding a doll hits harder emotionally than seeing the actual deed being done. A horror remake today would no doubt be more explicit with the killings and would, in my opinion, be far worse for it.
The ending is abrupt and I could certainly have done with an extra 10 minutes onto its lean 80 minute running time, but no doubt financial and time constraints meant that no more could be filmed. Having said that, Tower of London is yet another wonderful addition to the oeuvre of Price and Corman and has never looked better than in this fantastic release by Arrow Films.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM
- Original 1.0 mono audio (uncompressed on the Blu-ray)
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Brand-new audio commentary by Vincent Price’s biographer David Del Valle and Tara Gordon, daughter of actor-screenwriter Leo Gordon
- Interview with director Roger Corman
- Producing Tower of London, an archive interview with producer Gene Corman
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Fully illustrated collector’s booklet containing new writing on the film by Julian Upton
Review by Dave (host of 60 Minutes With) from a disc kindly supplied by Arrow Films.