THE WHITE TOWER is a dullish mountaineering drama in which an all-star cast go on an ill-advised mountaineering trip only to discover conflict and treachery on the way. I don't mind these kinds of films but the more modern efforts seem to be a lot better in terms of thrills and effects; VERTICAL LIMIT and EVEREST, for example. By contrast, THE WHITE TOWER is slow, ham-fisted, and unrealistic.
There's nothing wrong with the premise so it's the execution at fault here. The character drama is never as interesting as it should be and the boring romance scenes slow things down to a crawl. Glenn Ford is the erstwhile hero but comes across as flippant and shallow, which hardly makes for a great protagonist.
Interest arises from a neat mix of talent in terms of the supporting players. Lloyd Bridges makes his mark as the antagonist while Claude Rains and Cedric Hardwicke are the old timers randomly along for the ride. There are a handful of tense moments in which the team suffer minor accidents and are trapped on sheer rock faces, but the story only really gets going in the last ten minutes and by that point you just don't care anymore.
There's nothing wrong with the premise so it's the execution at fault here. The character drama is never as interesting as it should be and the boring romance scenes slow things down to a crawl. Glenn Ford is the erstwhile hero but comes across as flippant and shallow, which hardly makes for a great protagonist.
Interest arises from a neat mix of talent in terms of the supporting players. Lloyd Bridges makes his mark as the antagonist while Claude Rains and Cedric Hardwicke are the old timers randomly along for the ride. There are a handful of tense moments in which the team suffer minor accidents and are trapped on sheer rock faces, but the story only really gets going in the last ten minutes and by that point you just don't care anymore.