When poor Robert Hutton gets pressure from his mistress Jean Wallace, he's desperate to gain a fortune. He has a rich aunt, and through a chance meeting in a café, he hires psychopathic criminal Franchot Tone to murder her in hopes of getting an early inheritance. Burgess Meredith gets framed for the crime, but with detective Charles Laughton on the case, will he find the real killer in time?
The Man on the Eiffel Tower isn't a very suspenseful movie, because we know who the killer is right away. During the murder scene, we see the murderer from the neck down, but since Franchot Tone has a very distinctive voice, it's not a mystery! I'm not spoiling anything, by the way; his identity gets revealed very shortly afterwards. I have a soft spot in my heart for Franchot, so in his scenes when he's supposed to be a madman, I kept hoping he'd snap out of it and return to his delightful persona I was used to from his Jean Harlow movies.
The only real reason to watch this movie is if you are a total Francophile and adore watching movies that were filmed in Paris. The city is highlighted and shown at every angle, even-as you might guess-from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
The Man on the Eiffel Tower isn't a very suspenseful movie, because we know who the killer is right away. During the murder scene, we see the murderer from the neck down, but since Franchot Tone has a very distinctive voice, it's not a mystery! I'm not spoiling anything, by the way; his identity gets revealed very shortly afterwards. I have a soft spot in my heart for Franchot, so in his scenes when he's supposed to be a madman, I kept hoping he'd snap out of it and return to his delightful persona I was used to from his Jean Harlow movies.
The only real reason to watch this movie is if you are a total Francophile and adore watching movies that were filmed in Paris. The city is highlighted and shown at every angle, even-as you might guess-from the top of the Eiffel Tower.