TOWER OF LONDON [1962 / 2017] [Blu-ray + DVD] [UK Release] Do You Have the Courage to Spend 79 Minutes in the TOWER OF LONDON!
Having made their mark on American horror cinema with three colourful adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher,’ ‘Pit and the Pendulum’ and ‘Tales of Terror’ starring Vincent Price, director Roger Corman enjoyed a brief hiatus from the macabre author with ‘TOWER OF LONDON.’ Shot in black-and-white, and the film was loosely based on the original 1932 Universal Pictures horror picture of the same name as well as two Shakespeare plays: a dash of Macbeth and a dollop of Richard III.
Vincent Price plays Richard of Gloucester, brother to a dying king and eager to take his place on the throne. When he is overlooked in favour of their sibling, the Duke of Clarence, things take a murderous turn. Richard goes on a murderous rage, only for the ghosts of those he has slain to return from the grave and haunt him . . .
Less well-known than the Edgar Allan Poe films, ‘TOWER OF LONDON’ is no slouch. Vincent Price relishes the opportunity to flex his Shakespearean muscles, just as he would eleven years later with ‘Theatre of Blood,’ and Roger Corman works wonders, as usual, with his low budget. If you’ve ever wondered what a drive-in William Shakespeare film would look like, you’re in the right place! Narrated by Paul Frees.
FILM FACT: The film was budgeted at $500,000 but went $80,000 over budget. Vincent Price admitted that when his character got drunk with wine in the film, it was actually Coca-Cola. Basil Rathbone was forced, due to scheduling conflicts, to simultaneously work on the film Rio during the first week of production. Basil Rathbone's assignment on this film also effectively prevented him from being cast in the far more prestigious ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ film at RKO. Edward Small had been impressed by Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe adaptations and approached him with the idea of making a story about Richard III. The film was shot in fifteen days. Francis Ford Coppola worked on it as dialogue director
Cast: Vincent Price, Michael Pate, Joan Freeman, Robert Brown, Bruce Gordon, Joan Camden, Richard Hale, Sandra Knight, Charles Macaulay, Justice Watson, Sarah Selby, Donald Losby, Sara Taft, Eugene Mazzola, Morris Ankrum (uncredited), Paul Frees (uncredited), Gene Roth (uncredited) and Jack Tornek (uncredited)
Director: Roger Corman
Producers: Edward Small and Gene Corman
Screenplay: F. Amos Powell, Leo V. Gordon and Robert E. Kent
Composer: Michael Andersen (uncredited)
Cinematography: Archie R. Dalzell (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audio: English: 1.0 LPCM Audio Mono Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH
Running Time: 79 minutes
Region: Blu-ray: Region B/2 and DVD: PAL
Number of discs: 2
Studio: Admiral Pictures, Inc. / United Artists / Arrow Video
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘TOWER OF LONDON’ [1962] was an attempt by director Roger Corman to do a more horrific portrayal of Richard III, the infamous Duke of Gloucester, who was nicknamed "Crookback" due to his misshapen anatomy. A potential heir to the throne of England, Richard [Vincent Price] proceeds to remove any obstacle in his path to the monarchy through murderous acts; one victim is locked into an iron mask with a live rat, another is drowned in a vat of wine. Madness eventually clouds the duke's judgment and brings about his demise.
With the film ‘TOWER OF LONDON’ you found Roger Corman and Vincent Price saw them take a break from their gruesome Edgar Allan Poe adaptations and is an enjoyable “Grand Guignol,” thanks to Vincent Price's flamboyantly villainous performance and the atmospheric cinematography which favours dank corridors and secret passageways lined with cobwebs. Most interesting is the fact that Vincent Price also appeared in the 1939 version of ‘Tower of London’ but as a victim and the ill-fated Duke of Clarence. The William Shakespearean plot sees a battle for the English crown take place as Vincent Price’s Richard of Gloucester is overlooked as heir in favour of his brother. As he kills his way to the throne, he finds himself haunted by those he left for dead.
In England in 1483, Richard Plantagenet, the Duke of Gloucester and brother of King Edward IV, is shocked when just before he dies King Edward IV appoints his other brother George, the ineffectual Duke of Clarence, as Protector of his two young sons Edward and Richard, King Edward IV being the heir to the throne. Richard then stabs and drowns Clarence in a barrel of wine and, backed by his wife, sets out to kill all those who question or stand in the way to his becoming the king. However, his mind begins to give as he starts to see the ghosts of those he has killed.
Richard, the Duke of Gloucester [Vincent Price], is dismayed when his dying brother King Edward IV names their brother George, Duke of Clarence as Protector to his young son and heir, Prince Edward. Richard wants the position himself, to become de facto ruler after his brother’s death. He secretly stabs George to death with a dagger bearing the crest of the Woodville family, framing the dying king’s in-laws. Richard is now named Protector. His wife Anne approves of his crime and encourages him to take the throne for himself.
Originally planned in colour, but kept in black-and-white and with repeated budget cuts by executive producer Edward Small, but despite this the film ‘TOWER OF LONDON’ does actually look very good. While Roger Corman shot his AIP Gothic films 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 noticeable 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 Pictures ‘Tower of London’ [1939]. Going for all out theatrics, Vincent 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 William Shakespearian performances and Vincent 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 William Shakespeare fans looking for something a little different, then this film will definitely satisfy all fans of Vincent price.
The quote from William Shakespeare for Richard III says it all for me, where he says, “Now is the winter of our discontent. Made glorious summer by this son of York; and all the clouds that loured upon our house. In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths? Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings. Our dreadful marches to delightful measures. Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front. He capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber. To the lascivious pleasing of a lute. But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks. Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass.”
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Arrow Video once again brings us a stunning 1080p black-and-white encoded image of the highest quality. ‘TOWER OF LONDON’ is presented with a 1.66:1 aspect ratio. It was taken from a 35mm fine grain positive and was scanned and graded by Fotokem, with restoration High Definition master that was overseen and supplied by Shout Factory. All material was accessed from M-G-M. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Arrow Video presents us with just one 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio track. The sound presentation is a suitably high definition, with an uncompressed 1.0 mono audio on this Blu-Ray disc and a compressed version on the DVD that allows you to hear every thunder clap and musical sting with great clarity. What was equally good sound effects is when the ghosts come back to haunt Richard III and you get a really spooky echo effects, that really makes you experience what Vincent price is experiencing in a very spooky atmosphere to good effect. Everything is presented cleanly and clearly with no overt damage. It is a resolutely dialogue driven film.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
High Definition Blu-ray [1080p] and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by M-G-M.
Original 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio [uncompressed on the Blu-ray].
Audio Commentary by David Del Valle and Tara Gordon: Here we have a brand-new audio commentary by David Del Valle, Vincent Price’s biographer and Tara Gordon, daughter of actor-screenwriter Leo V. Gordon. Here we are welcomed to the audio commentary to the film ‘TOWER OF LONDON,’ starring Vincent Price and first to speak is David Del Valle, who to my mind is extremely camp and over the top in his comments, and sitting next to him is Tara Gordon who he welcomes, who you already know is related to screenwriter/actor Leo V. Gordon, and also tells us stories of her father’s involvement in films in general, but especially the film ‘TOWER OF LONDON,’ especially insider gossip. We find out that the film sets for this film were originally used in the film ‘The Pit and The Pendulum.’ Tara talks a lot about her father, who always looked upon by the public in general as a tough guy in all of the films he appeared in, but of course no one really had any idea he was a screenwriter behind the scenes and also had very gentle side to his personality. Vincent Price felt at the time that he felt he never gave his best performance in this film, but when Vincent read and heard the critic’s positive view on this film, he changed his view of his performance, especially when he read the review in The Hollywood Citizen News in 1962, when they said, “And what would they do without Vincent Price, leering his way through epics. He is getting so good at his macabre portrayals, I am afraid I would jump if he would suddenly smile a nice clean wholesome smile that is. Oh well with all the stereotype characteristics, low budgets, small cast, big castle, one expression “malevolent,” in other words “having or showing a wish to do evil to others.” I kinda get a kick out of these pictures, and I am not the only one that feels that way. If past box office figures are any criteria, then city wide theatres would do a whale of a business, and Mr. Price has a field day, as this miserable monarch, particularly when the ghostly pals return to haunt him, and there is a strong possibility you might chuckle here and the historic goings on, but the died in the wool horror devotees will have a quivering good time.” Both of the commentators praise greatly all the other actors in the fil, but say they were is total awe working with Vincent Price. They talk extensively about the other screenwriter Amos Powell, who was involved with this film and a very great friend to Leo V. Gordon, but they also mention that over time he got more and more eccentric, who at times have very dark mood swings, and use to like to talk about the old days in Hollywood, but one day he was so depressed, walk into a hospital and ended his life in a very nasty way. They both talk about when Vincent Price went to England to make all his later extensive Roger Corman horror films, especially appearing in the film ‘Theatre of Blood,’ but in these later films hated how gory they were, and tended to get upset by them, but Vincent said that making horror films in England, they did them so much better. As we get to The End credit of the film, David Del Valle says, “Terra Gordon, it has been a pleasure to watch this fun movie with you, and I hope you have enjoyed in watching the ‘TOWER OF LONDON’ film,” which Terra Gordon declares she did enjoy seeing it again after all this time. And finally David Del Valle says, “This is David Del Valle wishing you all, your nightmares be in 70mm.” As to the actual audio commentary, some of it was quite interesting, but David Del Valle in his camp manner, tended to waffle on too much about other subjects relating to films in general, and I personally started to get bored at these moments, then when he talks about information about this film, I tended to perk up. So all in all, have a listen to this audio commentary and decide to see if you have the same opinion as me. Happy viewing.
Special Feature: Interview with director Roger Corman [2016] [1080p] [1.78:1] [7:11] Here we get a very personal interview with the director Roger Corman in his home in America, and here he talks about the film ‘TOWER OF LONDON.’ Roger informs us that the original project for the film, originated with his brother Gene Corman and the veteran producer Edward Small, who use to make films for United Artists, and because of Roger Corman films of Edgar Allen Poe and they suggested they would like to make the film ‘TOWER OF LONDON’ in the style of the AIP films, but was told that they had to make the film in Black-and-White and also have Vincent Price playing the part of Richard III. Unfortunately Roger Corman and his brother wanted to film in colour, but Edward Small and United Artists insisted that it had to be filmed in black-and-white film stock, as it would save a considerable amount of money and especially with the film distribution, but now in 2016 Roger Corman was very pleased with the result and feels the film turned out really well and also realised making it in black-and-white turned out to be a great success. When it came to invite Vincent Price to play the main character, he was very surprised to be asked, but despite being slightly reluctant, eventually Vincent came round to the idea and was very keen to play the part of Richard III because of Vincent had played parts in Shakespeare stage plays. Another bonus for having Vincent Price on-board because he contributed greatly towards the screenplay, especially after the second draft. When it came to the battle scenes with Richard III in full flow, Roger had a very limited budget and there was quite a challenge and part of it had to be filmed on a sound stage, whereas Roger wanted it filmed on location. On top of all that, the ground got very wet and slippery and the horses had lots of problems and Roger informs us that those particular scenes had take after take after take. Roger says that no one really knows what the real truth is behind the thrown of Richard II and all his dirty deeds he was supposed to of committed, apart of course there are a few historical documents, and of course there has been a Shakespeare play, and Roger felt he could have some licence to expand on the story without too detriment towards the real historical facts to make the film more interesting, because Roger wanted to stay as close to the real facts as best as possible, and assume what actually happened. Roger also says that Vincent Price really revelled in the challenge of taking on the role of Richard III and definitely gives his best Shakespearian performance, combined with the horror genre aspect of the film. Where you get stock shots of the Tower of London, Roger was able to use clips from the original 1939 ‘Tower of London’ black-and-white film starring Basil Rathbone. Commenting at the end of this special, Roger was extremely pleased with the results, despite the very limited budget.
Special Feature: M-G-M Home Entertainment Presents Producing Tower of London, an archive interview with Producer Gene Corman [2003] [1080p] [1.37:1] [14:04] Here we are introduced to director Roger Corman again and gives great praise about his brother Gene Corman in being the professional producer for the film ‘TOWER OF LONDON.’ Roger Corman also praises his brother for being the most efficient producer he has ever worked with, so making Roger’s hands free to just concentrate of directing the film. Now at this point we finally get to see Gene Corman and hear his side of the story about the filing of the film ‘TOWER OF LONDON.’ We are informed that the Corman Brothers moved to California from Detroit and none of them ever thought they would end up in the film industry, but Gene’s introduction into the film industry was reading short stories in the New Yorker publication, about a very talented agent, who played tennis at the Beverley Hills Club and because Gene Corman was a keen tennis player, he thought this was the ideal opportunity to meet this very colourful agent. As for Roger Corman, he eventually went onto 20th Century Fox to be a reader, as he was not keen on any kind of run of the mill mundane job. The first introduction into film for Gene Corman was being involved with the film ‘The Cat Burglar,’ and at the time Leo V. Gordon was the Screenwriter, who also worked on the ‘TOWER OF LONDON’ film. After the great success of the film ‘The Cat Burglar,’ Leo V. Gordon and Gene Corman got together for their next project, and after a lot of discussions they decided to hopefully come up with making a film about Richard III, with a big slant on the genre of Shakespeare, and with Roger Corman making all of his Gothic Horror AIP films, eventually everything came together and that is how they finally got round to making the film ‘TOWER OF LONDON,’ and of course the biggest bonus was to have Vincent Price on board as the main character. But two days before shooting was about to proceed, both Roger and Gene Corman were called into Edward Small at the United Artists office, who informs them that the film has to be made in Black-and-White, which caused both brothers to go dumb struck in silence, but then commented to Edward that all of Roger Corman AIP films were shot in colour, but despite this, Edward Small inform then unless the film was shot in black-and-white, then the deal would be off, plus it would be much cheaper to film and cut down on the cost of distributing the film and publicity material. But despite the Corman Brothers being totally despondent and reluctant to proceed with the filming, they decided to go ahead with the project after much deliberation in wondering if their pet project would be a success, and as things progressed, the film started to become a life of its own. But when it came to filming the battle scene at Bosworth, big problems started to happen, because the Corman Brothers had their own idea on how to film the battle scene, especially on location, but to cut cost down, Edward Small suggested it had to have scenes in a montage scenario, and informed the Corman brothers to use scenes from the 1939 stock film footage from the original ‘Tower of London,’ which again starred Basil Rathbone, as the ambitious Richard III, Duke of Gloucester. When the 1962 ‘TOWER OF LONDON’ film was released, the critics gave it a very good review, which helped seal the approval of the auteur director Roger Corman and especially the thespian actor Vincent Price. As the credits come to the end, suddenly Roger Corman appears and states, “Never make a picture in Black-and-White like the ‘TOWER OF LONDON,’ because people thought we were making a silent film, when everyone was using sound.”
Special Feature: Slideshow: Tower of London Photo Gallery [2016] [1080p] [1.78:1] [4:31] Here we get a great selection of film posters relating to the film ‘TOWER OF LONDON.’ We also several film promotion photographs of scenes from the film and also behind-the-scene filming, and most of what you view is in black-and-white. While viewing all of the images, in the background you get to hear the dramatic composed film music. Some of the photos were courtesy of Brett Cameron.
BONUS: Stunning reversible printed sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford. Dan Mumford is a freelance illustrator working out of Studio100 in central London, UK. Over the past 10 years, Dan has worked within the pop culture and music scene creating everything from album covers, branding and screen-prints to new interpretations of classic film posters and albums. Clients include Walt Disney, Sony, Iron Maiden, Wizards of the Coast, Icon Motoports, CBS and many bands and record labels from around the world.
PLUS: FIRST PRESSING ONLY: A Stunning Fully illustrated Collector’s 20 page Booklet containing new writing on the film by Julian Upton entitled SHAKESPEARE AT THE DRIVE-IN. It has some stunning black-and-white photographs from the film. Other items include ABOUT THE TRANSFER; PRODUCTION CREDITS and SPECIAL THANKS. Julian Upton was born on 23rd April, 1921 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada as William Julian Upton. He is an actor, known for ‘To Hell and Back’ [1955], ‘Quick, Let's Get Married’ [1964] and ‘The Ten Commandments’ [1956].
Finally, ‘TOWER OF LONDON’ [1962] is pure Vincent Price and he was allowed a free reign to indulge all his thespian dreams. Roger Corman lets him loose, combining the plots of Shakespeare’s Richard III and Hamlet to whip up all manner of intrigue, betrayal and carnage and works as a foremost curiosity piece. It’s also a fairly solid film that’s carried by a great, smarmy performance by Vincent Price, who spends most of the time enjoying the fact that he likes to kills people and he is even tricked into killing people he doesn’t want to! Obviously, it slightly lacks the elegance of the Bard William Shakespeare, but it is one of the classier pictures Roger Corman ever produced. The low budget cult film is all too apparent, and despite a transfusion of graphic violence and ghostly apparitions, Roger Corman hits the mark. Legendary producer Roger Corman remains a name truly independent, with an output that would be the envy of most mainstream Hollywood Studios. His productions were the fertile training ground for many of today’s top film-makers. The ‘TOWER OF LONDON’ is full of scheming and plotting and it is a fun time experience and watching Vincent Price tear up the screen is worth every penny. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
