Leofwine_draca 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.

writers_reign 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.

secondtake 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."

Inkwell765 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.