La tour blanche

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.

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.

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.

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.

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..