Tower of London (1939 film)

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Tower of London
Directed by	Rowland V. Lee
Produced by	Rowland V. Lee
Written by	Robert N. Lee
Starring	Basil Rathbone Boris Karloff Vincent Price
Music by	Ralph Freed Hans J. Salter Frank Skinner
Cinematography	George Robinson
Editing by	Edward Curtiss
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	November 17, 1939 June 1948 (rerelease) April 16, 1944 September 5, 1952
Running time	92 minutes
Language	English
IMDb profile

Tower of London is a 1939 black-and-white historical horror film released by Universal Pictures and directed by Rowland V. Lee. Based on the story of Richard III, it stars Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff. Rathbone plays the part of the 15th century Richard, the Duke of Gloucester and Karloff plays his club-footed executioner, Mord. The film depicts Richard and his attempts to eliminate everyone ahead of him so he can become the King of England. Once he has completed his task, he now needs to defeat the exiled Henry Tudor to retain the throne. Each time Richard accomplishes a murder, he removes one figurine from a dollhouse resembling a throneroom.

This film is considered by most more of an historical drama than a horror film. It was, however, well-acted and inspired a 1962 remake starring Vincent Price (who plays the Duke of Clarence in this version).