The Cruel Tower (1956) User Reviews

Riotiously campy soap opera adventure

[arode · 7/10 · 13 March 2006]

A group of steeplejacks led by Charlie McGraw bounce around in a trailer with statuesque Mari Blanchard and fight over women, booze and the danger of their profession.

This film is so over the top with corny dialogue and clichéd situations that you have to love it. Only McGraw at 5'10' could credibly play a character named 'Stretch'. Blanchard, whose character is aptly named, 'The Babe', evidently digs men risking their lives while hanging off of water towers and vying for her attentions. Add in a witches brew of jealousy, adultery, drunkenness and attempted murder along with Steve Brodie, Alan Hale Jr. and the usual suspects and you have one of the classic 1950's schlock dramas courtesy of that eminent low budget helmsman of "B" programmers and serials, Lew Landers. The producer, Lindsley Parsons Sr. spent his most of his long career at Monogram and then Allied Artists cranking out pictures of this quality and production value.

McGraw is at his best: double-crossing, mashing a cigarette out on his hand, drinking and fighting.

The musical score for "The Cruel Tower" has to be a classic of cornball overkill. The soundtrack trumpets the same, annoying signature theme every time an ominous water tower looms into the camera frame.

Lovers of 1950's films, Charlie McGraw and camp classics shouldn't miss this one.

The (not too) Cruel Review

[boblipton · 6/10 · 12 September 2021]

Drifter John Ericson picks up a job with Charles McGraw's crew of steeplejacks: Steve Brody, Alan Hale Jr, and Peter Whitney. There's also McGraw's girl,, Mari Blanchard, for whom he falls hard, and her loyalty waves. When McGraw finds himself losing control, people beginning dying in accidents. Is it the dangerous job, or is McGraw a madman?

It's not a great movie, with a story told many times, and director Lew Landers is not the man to get anything extra out of it, but as usual, McGraw gives a performance that is great, and Ernest Haller's neck-craning shots of the high towers induces a sense of vertigo. The result is a pretty good programmer.

Determined to Remain Unexciting

[evanston_dad · 5/10 · 6 September 2022]

This "noir-stained" (as Noir City film festival host Alan K. Rode put it) romantic triangle about men who work at high altitudes and the women, or in this case woman, who watches them from the ground is determined to remain pretty unexciting. John Ericson had a pretty face and looks decent without a shirt on, but he's not much of an actor. The drama never generates much heat, save for a mildly suspenseful climax.

The film does have three things going for it: Mari Blanchard, who the word vivacious was created to describe; the crusty performance of Charles McGraw as the psycho leader of the pack; and some dizzying POV shots from the top of one of the cruel towers that gives the film its name. None of those things make this a good movie, or even a very watchable one, but they prevent it from being a total wash.

I will say I'm glad to have seen it though, because it sounds like I'm one of the few people in the world who have. Its screening in Chicago was apparently only the second time, aside from its initial theatrical run, that it's been shown in a theater ever, and it isn't available to see anywhere else.

Grade: C.

Been There a Few Too Many Times

[Michael_Elliott · 23 August 2012]

The Cruel Tower (1956)

** (out of 4)

Often told tale of a drifter (John Ericson) who picks up work with a skyscraper crew but quickly falls in love with a girl (Mari Blanchard), which doesn't sit too well with her boyfriend (Charles McGraw) who just happens to be a crazy psycho. This is basically a low-budget remake of a group of films (TIGER SHARK, SLIM, MANPOWER) that were made at Warner Brothers and they did the story much better justice. Whereas those films dealt with power wires, this one here changes the setting to hundreds of feet up in the air and director Lew Landers really gets to do some magic with this. Some of the best moments in the film deal with people dangling off this high spaces or either falling. It appears the director really enjoyed these scenes and he managed to make them feel quite tense and at times you too feel as if you're falling. I really enjoyed the cinematography during the scenes with people falling as the camera perfectly captured the violence of the fall and i was surprised at some of the sound effects used for the bodies hitting. Considering this was 1956, the violence is a little bit stronger than you might effect. The biggest problem with the film is that we've simply seen this type of story way too many times and there's really nothing fresh or new done with it here. The performances by the three leads are enjoyable enough as they each fit their roles just fine. The screenplay isn't all that original and there's a tad bit too much hatred between rival workers to be believable. I mean, these guys all want to kill one another, which is a tad bit too far fetched to really work. Still, fans of "B" movies might want to check it out but others will probably want to stay clear.

Disappointing

[mls4182 · 5/10 · 4 September 2021]

I didn't go into this expecting a good story or good acting. I thought a movie with Mari Blanchard would have a lot of va va voom camp. She is wasted. Strictly for John Erickson fans. He shows off his great body and complete lack of talent.

The plot is a bore.

It's okay....nothing more.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 11 November 2021]

I must admit...this is the only film I've ever seen about steeplejacks. These are folks who make a living climbing very high structures in order to fix or service them...such as water towers.

When the story begins, Tom (John Ericson) is hitching a ride on a boxcar. However, the other three beat him up, steal his wallet and toss him off the train car! Nice guys, huh? Well, Tom is badly injured and is soon discovered by Joss and taken back to be cared for by Mary and Stretch (Charles McGraw). Days pass and soon Tom is hired by Stretch to be on his steeplejack crew. But unfortunately, guys in Stretch's crew keep having accidents...which leads you to wonder what is really going on here.

This is only a fair time-passer....mostly because the script isn't all that interesting and seems inspired by many previous films. It's not terrible but it's one that seems very ordinary, at best.

Another misfire from the desperate Allied Artists.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 23 January 2019]

It is my prayer that after you see this film, you do not have that repetitive music theme going through your head overnight. The music even appears over a jukebox in a dive bar as a song and is completely unmemorable. If that isn't ridiculous repetition, the site of John Ericsson constantly climbing up the giant power plant that he is apparently afraid of over and over will have you rolling your eyes over and over as well. At one point, he is seen climbing up it late at night with femme fatale Mari Blanchard behind him, apparently trying to help him over his fear of heights as a result of a memory of having witnessed someone killed on it earlier on.

In the 1930s and early 40s, Warner Brothers film a similar version of this story three times, and at least they had a decent script and memorable actors. Edward G Robinson appeared in two of those versions ("Tiger Shark" and "Manpower"), the last of which is now considered a classic thanks to the presence of George Raft and Marlene Dietrich in creating a truly memorable triangle. Ironically, Alan Hale Jr. appears in this film, pretty much playing the same role that his father Alan Hale Sr. played in that version.

The general story has Erickson coming onto the crew of Charles McGraw and basically being seduced by his gal, the trampy Mari Blanchard, and when everything is revealed, becoming the attempted victim of McGraw's wrath. The men in this job seem to be interested in doing nothing but drinking and fighting and the violence of the film is overwhelming and unpleasant. Blanchard's character to has no real motivation and that makes her actions truly unbelievable.

As a result of pretty much the same set being used over and over, even though this is filmed outdoors, it feels very static. I would not call this film a remake of the other three unrelated films at Warner Brothers, but I wouldn't put it past the desperate Allied Artists to do what they could to rush out a thriller like this and change the details without doing anything really to come up with a decent script.

"Wake me when it's over..."

[zetazap8 · 1/10 · 7 September 2021]

This popped up on my YouTube, because I like older movies. I knew nothing about the plot before watching it. This movie is fine if you have insomnia and are trying...to go...to sleep...!

It was mildly interesting for the first 15 minutes or so, but the characters were almost caricatures of themselves. One-dimensional. Very little drama, although there were some interesting camera angles of the tower which threatened vertigo.

However, when one of the characters, Joshua--apparently not playing with a full deck--advised the drifter (John Ericson), "Get out now, while you still can!!", I took his advice, and bailed out of the movie right then and there. Good advice-- saved me some time!

Good Lew Landers' gem

[searchanddestroy-1 · 18 July 2023]

At first, before ordering this film from the USA, I thought it was a medieval, adventure, costume story, involving a castle - because of the tower - but how wrong I was. But that doesn't mean I was deceived. Not a all. It was not a cheap Sam Katzman costume historical agreeable garbage stuff. This is an adventure drama, involving romance, thrill and about an unusual topic. There are not villains here, just characters maybe more sympathetic than others, good but predictable relationships between those same characters. It is really enjoyable to discover, bringing good sequences. I would have not expected such a film from Lew Landers from whom I have seen numerous movies.