King Richard III of England is a very tough guy to understand today because the truth about him is hopelessly muddled. Most of what we THINK is true about him comes from Shakespeare's Richard III--which is very entertaining but Skakespeare was probably no better a historian than Paris Hilton! His histories are based on both traditional tales AND an effort to make the Tudor dynasty look good (after all, Elizabeth was queen while many of his plays were produced and if they were critical of her family, he would have likely been beheaded). So, considering that Richard III was murdered by her grandfather (Henry VII), it's not surprising that in the play he's a scheming and deformed jerk. This film also is based somewhat on Shakespeare's tradition, though he's far crazier. Whether Richard actually killed his nephews, walked like a hunchback or was so untrustworthy and stupid is up for debate--and many historians do question the traditional view of the king.

Now, if you aren't a history teacher or a member of the Richard III Society (www.richardiii.net), most of this probably won't matter very much to you. My advice is to just watch the film for it's entertainment value--not historical.

As entertainment, it's not bad. Fans of Vincent Price will especially enjoy his way over the top and highly emotional re telling of the reign of Richard. Seeing his face contort and ghosts popping in and out certainly is fun to watch, as is the nasty scene involving dropping a rat in a cage on a man's face! Obviously, this is NOT a Merchant-Ivory production!! No, in many ways it's highly reminiscent of director Roger Corman's other forays with Price (such as his Poe "inspired" films). And so, if you like them, you'll love this homage to insanity and evil. If you are looking for something more...well, you won't find it.

23 years before when Universal Pictures made Tower Of London, Vincent Price was featured as the luckless Duke Of Clarence who was as legend has it drowned in a vat of Malmsey wine. In 1962 Price took center stage in this Roger Corman adaption of the Richard III story. No flowery Shakespearean dialog here, this is a prose adaption heavily influenced by Edgar Allan Poe.

Price plays Richard III as Shakespeare has sent him to us through history as an evil monster and child killer. The film follows along the lines of the adaption done by Universal in 1939 with Basil Rathbone as Richard.

Unlike the Rathbone version, the character of Richard's wife Anne Neville. Left out was Richard's own child and when they both died and he had no direct successor his fate was sealed. Anne Neville is played by Joan Camden and while he never murdered her, she too haunts him after she's gone.

Richard leaves quite a bloody trail on his way to power, but he's haunted by his victims, images of the beating tell tale heart like apparitions. They haunt him, but they sure don't deter him.

Price does a good job with Richard and his performance certainly rates behind Laurence Olivier in the Shakespearean adaption and also that of Rathbone. I'm surprised he never opted for the Shakespeare play as a project.

In between basing no less than seven movies on the wondrously macabre writings of author Edgar Allan Poe, the mega-versatile cinema wizard Roger Corman also found the the time to adapt a famous William Shakespeare play and turn it into an effectively creepy and atmospheric 60's chiller. The greatest actor who ever walked the earth – Vincent Price, who else? – plays another malicious but emotionally tormented protagonist in the English kingdom of the late 15th century. He is Richard Plantagenet, unlikely to ever inherit the throne in a righteous way, but willing to kill blood relatives in order to become King of all England. But immediately after murdering his own brother and other innocent people that stand in his way, the restless spirits of his victims come back to haunt him in visions. "Tower of London" is a fascinating history lesson, perhaps not very accurate, but at least vastly entertaining and providing more than enough genuine frights and atmosphere. Continuously descending further into madness, sir Richard submits his victims to uncanny medieval torture devices, like a stretching-rack and a rat cage that gets placed on a poor guy's head. The photography is in stylish black & white, the costumes are downright enchanting and the use of medieval vocabulary sounded like pure music to my ears. Vincent Price is amazing, as always, portraying the historical madman that also suffered from a hereditary handicap. The performances of the supportive cast are sadly a bit hammy. For some reason and unlike most other masterpieces starring Price, this baby is rather difficult to find but definitely worth searching for. A must for fans of classic horror.