#10 - Tower of London (1962)

Tower of London (1962)

(dir. Roger Corman)

In 15th century England, King Edward IV dies and names his brother George as Protector of the Realm. Their other brother Richard is not happy with this arrangement, and kills George so that he may take his place. Richard then begins killing whoever stands in the way of him becoming king, but finds himself haunted by the ghosts of his victims. This film has a lot of Shakespearean elements, perhaps obviously from Richard III and to a lesser extent Macbeth, although it is not directly based on either of those.

Vincent Price plays Richard, and he is of course excellent in the role. He has a leering and slightly deranged look about him for most of the film, and due to the character's hunchback he moves with an odd sort of swagger that I thought was pretty convincing. It's fun to see him in a more Shakespearean role - if there's one thing he's good at, it's delivering scene-chewing dramatic monologues, and he has plenty of opportunity to do that here.

Unfortunately the rest of the film isn't all that good. I thought the plot was kind of boring, and for a horror film nothing particularly horrific ever happens. I mean, he kills people, but none of the violence is very chilling or graphic. There's a scene where a woman is tortured on a rack, but it looks more like a spinal adjustment. The ghosts mostly exist to taunt Richard instead of frighten him. It's only an 80 minute film, but it felt longer to me.

This was made during the period where Vincent Price and director Roger Corman were making a string of stellar films based on the work of Edgar Allen Poe, but this one is definitely not in the same league as those films. Besides a fun performance from Price there isn't much to write home about here. I don't really recommend seeking this one out.