Tower of London ** (1962, Vincent Price, Michael Pate, Joan Freeman, Robert Brown) – Classic Movie Review 4,439

Vincent Price has a grand old time as Richard Duke of Gloucester, who kills those in his way to become King Richard III, in Roger Corman’s cheap and cheerful 1962 American historical gothic horror film Tower of London.

Director Roger Corman’s typically cost-cuttingly cheap and cheerful 1962 American historical gothic horror film Tower of London is a largely unconnected remake of the 1939 film Tower of London. This time it stars Vincent Price, who has a grand old time as Richard Duke of Gloucester, who kills those in his way to become King Richard III. Price is promoted to King from playing the Duke of Clarence in the original, the role then played by Basil Rathbone.

Though there are some aspects of the movie that are undeniably entertaining, some poor sets and some weak supporting performances hold it back. Price apart, Corman has not got the exciting kind of cast of the original to work with.

[Spoiler alert] Apart from the title, historical setting and characters, as well as elements from the plots of Shakespeare’s play Richard III, the highly fictionalised story has otherwise no further connection with the 1939 film, though it does reuse some of its battle scenes.

In the new storyline, Richard of Gloucester is made guardian of the late King Edward IV’s young sons, the two English princes, Edward V and the younger Prince Richard, whom he murders in the Tower. He goes mad, kills his wife and is murdered himself in turn.

Despite the exciting highly fictionalised historical murder story, this is an often rather vapid and empty costume drama-horror thriller. It is far from an improvement on the original 1939 film and is not even in the colour that the subject and the film-making era both seem to demand.

The great Gothic tale goes for precious little in a script by Leo V Gordon, F Amos Powell and James B Gordon [aka Robert E Kent] that does not seem to know quite what to do for the best. Maybe part of the problem is that it was filmed in 15 days, though that is typical of Corman. Francis Coppola was dialogue director.

‘I think it suffered from the lack of colour,’ reflects Corman. ‘It was of the Edgar Allan Poe style, but, again, I found myself working on a movie with a weak script.’

However, despite the lack of colour and a weak script, Vincent Price was right to be pleased with his rather spectacular performance. It is his brio that carries the film.

Also in the cast are Michael Pate, Joan Freeman, Robert Brown, Justice Watson, Sarah Selby, Charles Macaulay, Bruce Gordon, Sandra Knight, Joan Camden, Eugene Martin [Eugene Mazzola], Richard Hale, Donald Losby and Sara Taft.

The film was produced by Edward Small’s Admiral Pictures productions with a $200,000 budget, which was high for a Corman movie of this period. In February 1961 Roger Corman signed a contract with Edward Small to make a series of films for United Artists. Small was rightly impressed by Corman’s Poe film adaptations and Corman said he pitched him the idea of filming a Richard III story. However, Corman’s brother Gene Corman, who co-produced the film, said the idea came from him and writer Leo Gordon. 

The script combines elements derived from the plots of William Shakespeare’s plays Richard III and Macbeth. Gene Corman said the producers were trying to come up with a fresh take on Poe film adaptations. They considered Nathaniel Hawthorne and three or four other ideas before deciding on Shakespeare.

An infuriated Roger Corman said: ‘Tower of London is the most foolish thing I’ve ever filmed. Every night Eddie Small would come to see me or call me. The script was changed, reworked without my consent. Lots of strange things were happening all the time, and finally I asked him to tear up our contract. He realized he wouldn’t get anything worthwhile out of me and tore it up.’

But Gene Corman said: ‘I kind of liked that film and I know Vincent was always pleased with that performance.’

The problem is that period films were costly. Gene Corman said the main cost was the sets, built at the old Producer’s Studio in Hollywood (now Raleigh Studios). He added that the crucial decision to shoot the film in black and white came from Eddie Small because of  cost. Small informed them of this only shortly before shooting, leading to a big argument between Roger Corman and Small. Gene Corman: ‘What Eddie obviously decided was that Vincent Price had a built-in audience and they would not realise up front that they were buying a black and white Price film. They’d take it for granted that this was in colour. So it opened big for that kind of film, but the down-the-line play was not what it should have been, because at that point the distributor knew he didn’t have a colour film.’

Tower of London is directed by Roger Corman, runs 79 minutes, is made by Admiral Pictures and American International Pictures, is released by United Artists, is written by Leo V Gordon, F Amos Powell and James B Gordon [Robert E. Kent], based on a story by Leo V Gordon and F Amos Powell, is shot in black and white by Floyd Crosby and Archie L Dalzell, is produced by Gene Corman, is scored by Michael Anderson, and is designed by Daniel Haller.

Robert E Kent became a producer for Edward Small, often using the pseudonym James B. Gordon. He later formed his own production company with Edward Small and Grant Whytock, Admiral Productions, who produced two horror films with Vincent Price and four Westerns with Audie Murphy.

The cast

The cast are Vincent Price as Richard Duke of Gloucester, Michael Pate as Sir Richard Ratcliffe, Joan Freeman as Lady Margaret Stanley, Robert Brown as Sir Justin, Bruce Gordon as the Earl of Buckingham, Joan Camden as Anne Neville Duchess of Gloucester, Richard Hale as physician Tyrus, Sandra Knight as Jane Shore, Charles Macaulay as George Duke of Clarence, Justice Watson as Edward IV, Sarah Selby as Queen Elizabeth, Donald Losby as Prince Richard, Sara Taft as Duchess of York, Eugene Martin [Eugene Mazzola] as Edward V, Morris Ankrum as Archbishop of Canterbury, Gene Roth as tailor, Paul Frees (voice) as Opening Narrator.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4,439

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