Tower of London (1939 film)

Tower of London is a 1939 black-and-white historical film and quasi-horror film released by Universal Pictures and directed by Rowland V. Lee. It stars Basil Rathbone as the future King Richard III of England, and Boris Karloff as his fictitious club-footed executioner Mord. Vincent Price, in only his third film, appears as George, Duke of Clarence. Actor John Rodion, who appears in a small role, is actually Rodion Rathbone, Basil's son.

Contents

• Plot
• Cast
• Production
• Home Video Release
• References

The film is based on the traditional depiction of Richard rising to become King of England in 1483 by eliminating everyone ahead of him. Each time Richard accomplishes a murder, he removes one figurine from a dollhouse resembling a throneroom. Once he has completed his task, he now needs to defeat the exiled Henry Tudor to retain the throne.

The exterior castle sets constructed for this film became a staple of the Universal backlot and could be seen time and time again in subsequent films (most prominently in the 1952's The Black Castle).

A 1962 film, with Vincent Price now in the lead role, borrowed the title. The newer film—not a remake—was made on an extremely low budget, with a small cast (and used stock footage from the 1939 version for the battle sequences), and placed far more of an emphasis on horror. Price later told Rathbone's biographer Michael Druxman that he felt Rathbone's performance as Richard was probably more historically genuine than either Laurence Olivier's or his own.

Plot

The plot was not derived from Shakespeare's Richard III, but rather was written by Robert N. Lee (director Rowland V. Lee's brother) after reading a great deal of British history. George, Duke of Clarence (one of Richard's brothers) is depicted as something less than the tragically noble figure found in Shakespeare. Ian Hunter portrays Edward IV, who is not depicted here as the feeble, dying King found in Laurence Olivier's 1955 film version of Shakespeare's play.

Cast

Basil Rathbone - Richard, Duke of Gloucester

Boris Karloff - Mord

Barbara O'Neil - Queen Elyzabeth

Ian Hunter - King Edward IV

Vincent Price - Duke of Clarence

Nan Grey - Lady Alice Barton

Ernest Cossart - Tom Clink

John Sutton - John Wyatt

Leo G. Carroll - Lord Hastings

Miles Mander - King Henry VI

Lionel Belmore - Beacon

Rose Hobart - Anne Neville

Ronald Sinclair - Boy King Edward

John Herbert-Bond - Young Prince Richard

Ralph Forbes - Henry Tudor

Frances Robinson - Duchess Isobel

G.P. Huntley - Wales

Rodion Rathbone - Lord DeVere

Walter Tetley - Chimney Sweep

Donnie Dunagan - Baby Prince

Production

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. Rathbone's assignment on this film also effectively prevented him from being cast on the far more prestigious The Hunchback of Notre Dame at RKO.

Home Video Release

This film, along with Night Key, The Climax, The Strange Door and The Black Castle, was released on DVD in 2006 by Universal Studios as part of The Boris Karloff Collection.