La tour blanche

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.

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

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.

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.

I was fortunate enough to see it in the 1950-51 time period in color. The heroine played by "Valli" (who used only that one name that I knew of at that time) wore tight sweaters, and was at least as spectacular as the mountain they were going to climb. The story stayed fairly close to the book. One line that we used for quite a while after that was "To rest is not to conquer", said by the "villain" when they stopped en route to the mountain. After all of these years, I was rereading the book for the umpteenth time, and thought it might be fun to see the movie again. It seems to be out of print. For a complete description of the plot and the characters go to "RKO movies", and look for the title..