Upon first viewing, I didn't warm up to "Tower of London" much. The story of 15th century political intrigue wasn't exactly what I was looking for when popping in a quote-unquote Universal Horror movie. This is, after all, the same historical material that inspired Shakespeare's "Richard III" and modern soap opera "The Tudors." Rewatching this movie tonight, I discovered, surprise surprise, it is a horror movie, at least parts of it anyway.
Granted, a large portion of the film revolves around royal politics. There's lots of talks of familial relations, of marrying the right people, of who's next in line to the throne. As generally accepted by fiction, but not necessarily history, Richard III murdered his way up the royal line, all the way to the king's throne. In tradition with Shakespeare, Basil Rathbone's portray of Richard includes a hunchback. After the exile of Henry Tudor and the death of his mingling brother Edward, the film shows Richard's inclinations for murderous conspiracies kick in.
And that's were the film's horror elements come from. The film invents the character of Mord, a royal executioner with a clubfoot, childhood friend of Richard, played by Karloff. Mord is one of Karloff's most sadistically evil characters. Karloff's head is shaved and his all ready imposing frame is further padded out, making him look especially intimidating. This is a man who gleefully grinds an axe before the gallows, has no qualms about stabbing an old man while he prays. Interestingly enough, Mord is also responsible for spreading rumors, gossip that slowly erodes at the public's trust of Prince Edward V and his brother. Richard's manipulation of the boys takes up a large portion of the film's middle section. The moment Rathbone first considers murdering the children even causes Karloff's totally immoral character to pause for a second. The scene where the boy princes are killed has got to be one of the darkest moments in Post-Code thirties cinema.
This is largely an actor's film. Rathbone gives an interesting performance. Richard III is never more then a calculating villain. Even his generous public area or the scenes with the woman he plans on marrying are never more then mechanical moves towards power. It's still a very good performance, strictly because Rathbone imbues every line and turn with a sinister attitude. Among the supporting cast is a very young Vincent Price as Duke George, played here as a foppish alcoholic. The best scene in the movie is the drink-off, like a duel but with booze, between Rathbone and Price. Another example of two great actors playing it over the top against one another. There's some dark comedy sprinkled throughout too, most of it coming from Mord's causal brutality, such as opening a iron maiden and letting a body fall out as calmly as you and I take the garbage out.
The horror content peaks during the scene where a prisoner of the Tower is tortured for information. Whipping, hot irons, the rack, all of it displayed in as much graphic detail as 1939 would allow. (Which might be more then you'd think.) Could the roots of post-millennial torture horror be in this little seen period drama? Probably not, but it's fun to think so. The story climaxes with a huge battle scene, which is fine but marks the end of the horror elements. Rathbone is given a surprisingly lackluster death scene but Karloff's dramatic dive off a cliff makes up for it. After 90 minutes of brutality and darkness, the overly up-beating ending is a real tone breaker. "Tower of London" honestly isn't pure horror but, every time I see the film, I'm surprise at how closely it skirts up against the genre.
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