The daughter of a (dead) famous climber returns to the scene years later, and wants to put together a group to get to the top of "the White Tower", a mountain peak. Her past friends and associates refuse to to it again, because its so dangerous. Carla (Alida Valli) bumps into Martin the architect, played by Glenn Ford. He was SO AWESOME in "Gilda".. watch it, if you haven't already. Herr Hein ( Lloyd Bridges) joins up with the climbing party. Claude Rains, who was just GREAT in Casablanca, and so many other films, is Delambre. He's getting too old for this. Hein keeps telling everyone that "To rest is not to conquer!". Kind of an odd collection of people, but its all quite plausible. Not much magic between the cast, though. Bridges sounds quite cardboard. Martin is torn... he really likes Carla, but doesn't always agree with her decisions. Some interesting alliances and discussions among the group, but really the most interesting features are the rocky cliff scenes and weather sequences. It's alright. maybe a different cast would have made it better.
Review of The White Tower
