User reviews

Because it's there - well, I suppose that's a good enough reason to climb a mountain. It was motivation enough to climb Everest. However, in "The White Tower" everyone has a different reason for wanting to climb a magnificent mountain peak in the Swiss Alps that defeated the father of Carla Alten (Valli), a young woman whose goal in climbing is closure. Glenn Ford, as Ordway, is finally convinced to take the climb - his goal is Valli. And so it goes, as six climbers start on a ascent to the top.

This is a gorgeous Technicolor film that was intended to be seen in a theater. The scenery is magnificent, and the cast of climbers is excellent: Ford, Valli, Claude Rains, Lloyd Bridges, Oscar Homolka, and Cedric Hardwicke. Like Walter Slezak in "Lifeboat," Bridges plays the Aryan Nazi, Hein, who hasn't forgotten his Fuhrer. He puts himself in competition with Ordway (Ford), the American looking for some post-war peace, and he hates Raines and Homolka for being the "weaklings" who are holding the team back. Rains is an alcoholic writer - he is unhappily married and wants to feel again; Hardwicke was a friend of Valli's father and wants to support her quest. Homolka is a reluctant guide who goes on the trip in spite of himself.

Valli is much more vivacious and outdoorsy than she was in "The Third Man" or "The Parradine Case." Ford always has such a wonderful quality - shy, with a gentle manner, beautiful smile and that disarming, soft voice - how any woman could resist him is a mystery, though I give Valli credit for trying. He'll be 90 on May 1, bless his heart. The film has some suspenseful moments and is definitely worth a watch.

Beautiful scenery and intensely colourful Technicolor sets and costumes highlight this mildly interesting mountain-climbing production. The performances feel rather restrained, with none of the actors really fleshing out their characters, and there is a dead-on typical romance to weigh the whole thing even further down. The film can be positively credited however for its attempts to show the motivations behind mountain climbers, although it is still a bit dull either way. The final few scenes are great though: very suspenseful and rather intense, but in the middle section the film tends to sink, amidst a few other minor problems. But those to whom the material appeals will probably get a kick out of it either way, and it certainly is a delight on the visual scope.

The White Tower is an allegorical film about the need for cooperation among people and nations. It's no accident that this film was made during the early years of the United Nations when there was so much hope for its success. Maybe we will be one world, one day if we all cooperate.

The story takes place in Switzerland and the White Tower is as yet an unclimbed Alp. Alida Valli's father died making an attempt and she wants to climb it. She manages to convince five guests of the resort hotel she's staying at to climb with her.

Her party consists of Glenn Ford, Lloyd Bridges, Claude Rains, Oscar Homolka, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke. The story is what happens on the mountain and what the challenging climb brings out in all of them.

Not all of them survive the trip. But you ain't gonna get me to spill the beans.

Lloyd Bridges is the most interesting of the characters. He's a former Nazi who's doing it to prove Deutscheland is really uber alles. He gets quite a reality check on the mountain.

The White Tower has some good color photography of some really fabulous mountain scenery. The story at times gets a big talky and bogs down, but the climax is both spectacular and real.

It takes a while for "The White Tower" to take off. After the long, slow start, this film keeps picking up speed until the surprise ending (or near the end), which takes on new meaning today as a result of the recent controversy concerning Mt. Everest and comments by Sir Edmund Hillary. I don't want to give away the ending of the film, but be sure and read what Sir Edmund Hillary had to say a few days ago about the peak he conquered in 1953, three years after "The White Tower" was released and relate his words to what happens in the picture.

In beautiful Technicolor but before Cinemascope, it is easy to spot the interior sets, yet the exterior ones are breathtaking, even on a small screen. The cinematography is first rate. Too bad the script and direction weren't as effective. The script attempts to work a soap opera romance into the proceedings which becomes so melodramatic and naive that the viewer is asked to believe that attractive and likable Glenn Ford as Martin Ordway would risk his life and limb for the loves of a woman, even the vivacious Alida Valli as Carla Alton.

The performers do the best they can with what they're given. Lloyd Bridges as Hein, the never-say-die Nazi, makes a hearty effort to bring his despicable character to life as does Claude Rains in the somewhat nondescript role of Paul DeLambre.

Enjoy the scenery, the fine cast, and the excitement of the last fifteen minutes or so of the show and maybe you'll forget about the tired, hackneyed beginning and middle.

It's a suspenseful premise—scaling a killer peak. The trouble is that the suspense doesn't really gel until the final few minutes. In the meantime, Valli and Ford get romantically acquainted in several over-long scenes that sap the pace. Technically, the movie combines real mountains (French Alps) with sound stage mountains in pretty effective fashion, certainly better than most process shots of the period. And that location photography of the French Alps produces some stunning shots of gorgeous alpine valleys, which, I suspect, is the real star of the movie.

The plot motivation has Valli paying tribute to her dead father by scaling the White Tower. Unfortunately, she takes along a mixed bag of male support that's none too persuasive, including a 61-year old Claude Rains and a 56-year old Cedric Hardwicke, along with a youthful Ford who nevertheless treats the project like a walk-in-the-park. Remember, this is supposed to be a peak never before climbed, and she's a girl with a mission. Nonetheless, some of the dangling-from-rocks scenes amount to good cinema. I just wish someone had told Ford or the director that you don't mountaineer without gloves, especially in snow.

The story itself shifts gears abruptly in the final few minutes when WWII is refought on a tense snow bank. Actually, Ford should have suspected Bridges' politics when he first saw that Afrika Korps campaign cap. Instead, he has to prove the advantages of a cooperative ethic (democracy) over Bridges' superman ethic; at the same time, I like the movie's surprisingly unconventional climax, which manages to reinforce Ford's ethic. Anyway, the film is spotty, at best, but those scenic shots do compensate for a lot.

An excellent cast go through the motions (generally in an upwards direction, it being a mountaineering film) in pristine Technicolor.

As befits a film directed by a former cameraman who went all the way to Mont Blanc to shoot it (well, some of it), it's all ravishing to watch; especially a youthful Alida Valli in her one Technicolor film during her brief spell in Hollywood billed Garbo-style simply as 'Valli'.

One of your slower ascensions, made all the more lumbering by its six ascenders having to stop periodically to fight inner demons and examine consciences. And since what is on their minds are questions like "What Is Reality?" and the one that seems to occur, with weary regularity, in all mountain climbing movies, "Why Must I Challenge This Peak?", it makes for a fairly boring expedition, as well. Don't know about you but about forty per cent of the way through I felt like yelling at the screen, "Either shut up or get off the friggin mountain!" And no amount of pretty location shooting (subverted by really phony looking, sound stage "mountain" shooting) and good acting by Valli, Raines, Homolka and Bridges can withstand such a reaction. Give it a C.

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.

Carla's father died years ago trying to be the first to climb to the top of The White Tower, a huge peak in Switzerland. Now years later, she's trying to get together a group to attempt to conquer this peak on behalf of her dead father. So, she assembles a motley group to do just this.

I never have understood the casting decisions for films like "The White Tower" and "The Mountain". Older non-athletic actors like Claude Rains, Cedric Hardwicke, Oskar Homolka and Spencer Tracy ("The Mountain") seems ridiculous, as they'd all die the first day of the expedition! This cast made the film seem ludicrous and didn't help to make the film watchable.

Despite the odd cast, is it any good? Well, it's okay. Having a better motivation for the ascent might have helped as well as more interesting characters. What did help was the nice cinematography...and the Alps make for a nice backdrop to the story. So, overall it's a mixed bag...one that is at best a pretty time-passer and not much more.

This is one of those movies that is fitting to it's era... Actually, not a bad and personal romance and adventure with odd assortment of characters who each for their own reasons want to climb this 'White Tower' mountain... With a great cast.. Claude Rains, L Bridges, C Hardwick, etc.. but most of all VALLI, a special woman among women.. (also in the 'The Third Man')... I'm a great fan of 'The Third Man' and fell in love with her,.... and seeing Valli again was a real treat..

Great vistas (quite abit of on-location shooting in the French Alps), photography, color.... For those who know what I mean,.. this has a 'kinda' "High and Mighty" feel to it.. One other note germane to that era of film making, the ages to the characters/actors.. all older and more mature than what we're used to today... Chauk one up for the good old days.. ENJOY

Young woman returns to her Swiss hometown and is determined to climb a virgin peak, the infamous "White Tower", which even her mountaineer father could not scale. She recruits a disparate group of men to accompany her, including ne'er-do-well Glenn Ford who has love in his eyes. Screenwriter Paul Jarrico adapted James Ramsey Ullman's novel for the screen, with hardly a trace of good humor but much strenuous character interaction. The RKO production is solid, with a good deal of on-location shooting in saturated Technicolor, but there's nothing charismatic about these people. Driven into danger by different ideals, they're hardly more than stock figures. Some of Ray Rennahan's cinematography is striking (particularly at the beginning), and Roy Webb composed a lovely score, yet this is hardly a classic instance of rugged adventure. ** from ****

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.

Overall this adventure was a decent time waster. Nothing more, nothing less.

I enjoy watching any film in black and white as it allows the viewer to concentrate more right on the main characters rather than on the colorful cinematography of a white covered snow mountainside.

Of course there were flaws in this film two of (many) which were just so glaring miscues that I need to mention them. First this misfit group of mountain climbers had little or no experience mountain climbing other than Lloyd Bridges. Why would the director not include one or two sherpas even if they didn't have speaking parts just to authenticate their film? Secondly the lead climber Mr. Hein (Lloyd Bridges) was leading this pack of inexperienced climbers in capri shorts! Who climbs a mountain in the high cold altitudes wearing capri shorts?

As I said, it's an okay time waster but don't look for reality or too much real and tense suspense with The White Tower. Watch it for what it's worth.

A 6 out of 10 rating. Nothing more, nothing less.

Fresh off her triumph in "The Third Man" (1949), Alida Valli starred as an empowered woman, determined to avenge the death of her father by the Swiss mountain that claimed it. In a script by the soon to be blacklisted Paul Jarrico, she was supported by a strong international cast, including Glenn Ford as the love interest, Lloyd Bridges, still devoted to Nazi ideology, Claude Rains as the debased writer, June Clayworth (Mrs. Sid Rogell) as his wife, Sir Cedric Hardwicke and stolid, sensible Oskar Homolka. The mountain challenges them until the fundamental character of each is revealed. Will they make it to the top or die trying?

Wonderfully photographed story dealing with adventure, survival fight, greed and selflessness. Including excellent cast with Glenn Ford and Alida Valli in the prime of their careers. Shot in the French Alps, where a group of people from different countries join their efforts to achieve their cherished dream: reaching the peak of the highest mountain. A group of people come together in the Swiss Alps to climb a previously unconquered mountain, revealing their inner selves in the process. The White Tower, a Matterhorn-like mountain in the Swiss Alps, has never been climbed. Carla Alton's father, a famous mountaineer, died in a long-ago attempt. Now, Carla, determined to fulfill her father's dream, has assembled an unusual climbing party to tackle the nearly-impossible ascent. Before the war Alessandro Alton was a mountaineer who only had one obsession: to summit the so-called white tower, a very high mountain, impressive and monstrous at the same time, in the Swiss Alps. However, he did not succeed and during the expedition he disappeared and was left for dead. After the war, her daughter Carla (Alida Valli) organizes a climb to the same mountain in tribute to her father. To do this she relies on two old friends: Andreas (Oskar Homolka), a town guide, and Nicholas Radcliffe (Sir Cedric Hardwicke). A British geologist, along with a group of adventurous mountaineers (Glenn Ford, Lloyd Bridges..) of different nationalities, who risk their lives during the expedition to the Swiss Alps. Every gasping thrill in color by Technicolor!

Sprawling adventure movie detailing the obsessive conquest of a mountain peak including spectacular scenarios, impressive images and maintains a fair degree of interest and tension. Nice film with snowbound, breathtaking scenes , thrills, emotion, piolets, ropes and piton daredevil drivel; and , of course, fight for life. Beautiful Swiss scenary fails to totally compensate for a great number of slow-moving scenes. Each person's true nature is revealed as they climb the peak, which many climbers have defied and failed in previous attempts. Top-notch Glenn Ford as an expert climber, as usual, he displays a quiet dignity. Decent acting by Lloyd Bridges as an ambitious young with a ruthless charm and Nazi thoughtful. Beautiful Swiss Alps scenery falls to partially compensate for several dreary lapses and script's shortcomings , especially the disparity of characters. The film is pretty well ; however, slightly overwrought with several dreary lapses, but exciting and stirring enough. This one belongs to ¨Climbling Subgenre¨ with important films, such as: " The Eiger sanction" with Clint Eastwood, George Kennedy, Jack Cassidy , ¨K 2¨by Franc Roddam with Michael Biehn, Matt Craven and recently "Himalaya" with Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Robin Wright , Jake Gyllenhaal , Sam Worthington and Kiera Knightley.

Behind the camera Ted Tetzlaff , a director who started in silent films and achieved great success as a cinematographer in the 30s and 40s. And he directed some decent films, such as: The Treasure of Lost Canyon, Son of Sinbad, Riffraff, World premiere, The Window, among others. Rating: 6/10. Acceptable and passable mountain film.

Old-fashioned in the best sense, this mountaineering adventure boasts a stellar cast--Glenn Ford, Alida Valli, Cedric Hardwicke, Claude Rains, Lloyd Bridges, and Oskar Homolka--and a simple premise: a young woman (Valli) returns to the Swiss Alps to conquer the eponymous mountain that claimed her father's life years before. But she has to persuade several other climbers to brave the perilous ascent with her. Each has his own reason for accepting, while the lone American member (Ford), at first tagging along just to spend time with the beautiful Valli, gradually finds a deeper reason of his own.

The recent Second World War looms large over the story. Indeed, the White Tower itself is a clear metaphor for it: the three main characters all have something left to prove, and the higher they climb, the more the reveal about themselves, the more fractured the team becomes. It's not as psychologically complex as it sounds, though. You can easily work out who's who and how the relationships are going to develop as the story unfolds.

The joys here are the cast, the scenery, several gripping climbing sequences, and a lush score that evokes that aching sense of something lost that's also somehow within reach again...if only love can prevail.

Corny, maybe, but if you like old Hollywood and adventure films, this one will work like a charm.

The daughter of a (dead) famous climber returns to the scene years later, and wants to put together a group to get to the top of "the White Tower", a mountain peak. Her past friends and associates refuse to to it again, because its so dangerous. Carla (Alida Valli) bumps into Martin the architect, played by Glenn Ford. He was SO AWESOME in "Gilda".. watch it, if you haven't already. Herr Hein ( Lloyd Bridges) joins up with the climbing party. Claude Rains, who was just GREAT in Casablanca, and so many other films, is Delambre. He's getting too old for this. Hein keeps telling everyone that "To rest is not to conquer!". Kind of an odd collection of people, but its all quite plausible. Not much magic between the cast, though. Bridges sounds quite cardboard. Martin is torn... he really likes Carla, but doesn't always agree with her decisions. Some interesting alliances and discussions among the group, but really the most interesting features are the rocky cliff scenes and weather sequences. It's alright. maybe a different cast would have made it better.

Carla Alton arrives at a Swiss Alps town which she hasn't been since before the war. She intends to conquer The White Tower, a mountain climb which has never done and which took her father's life. She is joined by Martin Ordway (Glenn Ford), Mr. Hein (Lloyd Bridges), Andreas (Oskar Homolka), Dr. Nicholas Radcliffe (Cedric Hardwicke), and Paul Delambre (Claude Rains).

There are some nice mountain climbing vistas. When it's the actors, it's artificial sets. The story doesn't have much tension. It takes too long for the group to get into danger and a lot is self-inflicted. Somebody should fall into a hole in the first half. The group can rescue him and heighten the drama for the rest of them. I also hate that some of them never wear gloves. It's frustrating. At least, they could wear the fingerless gloves if they need the fingers for grip. The only interesting parts are the two-second-snippets of the real climbers on the side of the real mountain. There are some nice climbing footage. Otherwise, this doesn't have the drama needed to propel the movie.