Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

morrison-dylan-fan 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.

cmcastl 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.

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."

geordie5cs 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.