La montaña trágica

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.

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.

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.

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.