" Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this son of York;
And all the clouds that lower'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with vitorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alrums chang'd to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures."
William Shakespeare - Richard III
The
Tower of London, 1483 - King Edward IV is on his death bed. Passing the
Throne to his oldest son, he names his youngest brother Clarence as the
Lord Protector of England instead of the expected Richard (Vincent
Price). Seeing his chance to take the throne escaping him, Richard
murders Clarence, placing the blame of the family of Edward's wife.
Duly, Edward names Richard as the protector and in time dies.
Meanwhile, Richard finds himself haunted by the spirit of Clarence, who
pledges that he will die by the hand of a dead man. With the young
Edward V now King, Richard tries to sieze the throne, arousing the
suspicious of the former Queen's family, and they desperately try to
save the young King from his Uncle...
Despite appearances, The Tower of London is not an AIP Gothic, but was actually produced by Roger Corman's brother Gene, for Edward Small's Admiral Pictures. Inspired by the 1939 Universal Horror film of the same name, the script is based on William Shakespeare's Richard III, which in turn is loosely based on history. As far as Shakespeare
adaptations go, the script here presents a very much abridged take on
preceedings, but provides a basic over-view of the story, Richard
himself retains the clever and scheming characteristics from the play,
and the misshapen appearance that Shakespeare bestowed upon him - although noticably none of the
play's humour is attempted (not necessarily a bad thing), nor the distinguishing between Richard's
motivated anti-hero persona before his crowning, and his nearing
paranoia afterwards. Ignoring ties to the play, however, Tower of London's script is strong and has a good theatrical atmosphere, retaining the Shakespearian
dialect even down to soliloquies. The film's low budget keeps most of
the action within the Tower itself, and the script is largely dialogue
based, but especially for theatre fans this is very enjoyable - the
short (80 minute) run-time keeps the pacing brisk, although the climax
is very rushed and disappointing (largely due to budget cuts).
Originally planned in colour, but kept in black and white and with repeated budget cuts by executive producer Edward Small,
Tower of London
does actually look very good. While Corman shot his AIP Gothics in
colourful, scope widescreen, here he uses a much more open format, that
suits the dialogue based, theatrical nature of the film better. The
black and white photography does it no harm either, giving the film a
very dark and menacing feel, which combined with the strong set designs
and costumes, helps to make the film look very good, although the small
scale of the production is noticable throughout, despite the best
efforts of the script. The climactic battle of Bosworth Field is
largely edited from footage shot for Universal's 1939 film, which works
to a point, but does lead to the rushed conclusion. An effective
orchestral soundtrack helps to give the film a solid backing.
Vincent
Price was obvious casting for the lead role, incidentally he had made
one of his first film appearances in the earlier Universal
Tower of London
(1939). Going for all out theatrics, Price's performance here is very
different to his usual, often casually understated cinema villains, and
he is often criticised for hamming it up - however, overacting is often
seen as part of the fun of Shakespearian performances, especially
onscreen (see Kenneth Branagh) and Price certainly seems to be entering
into the spirit of the piece. There are no other memorable names in the
cast, but there are generally strong performances all round.
Tower of London is
nicely written, and well produced, considering the low budget, with a
good central performance from Vincent Price. A real contrast to the AIP
Gothics it is not for everyone, but fans of Vincent Price should
certainly enjoy, and it might well prove of interest to Shakespeare
fans looking for something a little different. Partly recommended.
