MovieChat Forums > Tower of London (1962) Discussion > The Child Princes... (Possible Spoilers)

The Child Princes... (Possible Spoilers)

posted 14 years ago by DeepHurting
5 replies | jump to latest

Tower of London is an interesting curio out of the Vincent Price oeuvre. I'm surprised I've missed it before today. Thanks, TCM.

Obviously, it is based out of history (so a spoiler warning seems about 500 years too late), and perhaps that is what gives the movie the pass, but still this is one of the rare movies that actually shows innocent, non-bratty children being killed ON SCREEN (darkened silhouettes for the last moments non-withstanding). By the mid 80s, such stuff was almost entirely verboten, even when it would be historically accurate.

[–] umberto_scalli 14 years ago

There was a baby who was made Tsar of Russia and was deposed after several months. The baby grew up in a dungeon until he was eventually murdered.

The problem with being a deposed king is that those that the existing king makes an enemy can use that deposed king as a means to oust the existing king. The deposed king in this way is a threat and reduces the leeway of the king to annoy people.

[–] mr-murph 14 years ago

And this is right from Shakespeare's Richard III!
See the Ian McKellan version if you get a chance. One of my favorite lines: "I fear no uncles dead." [Richard has cautioned the prince that his uncle's ghost might be roaming the tower. The young prince wryly replies that it's not his dead uncle he's worried about].

The rest of Tower of London is kind of a loose adapatation - but fun.

[–] MAGolding (1240) 7 years ago

Of course there are many examples of ex monarchs who were NOT killed by those who took the throne from them.

When King Henry I of England died in 1135 his heir was his daughter Empress Matilda, but her cousin Stephen took the throne. During the civil war that followed King Stephen was captured at the Battle of Lincoln on 2 February 1141 but wasn't executed. Instead, when Stephen's wife the other Matilda captured Robert of Gloucester, Empress Matilda's illegitimate half brother and main supporter at the Route of Winchester 14 September 1141, the two prisoners were eventually exchanged in November. Stephen remained king but recognized Empress Matilda's son Henry as his heir by the Treaty of Winchester in 1153, disinherited stephen's own son William.

When King Edward the Confessor died in 1066 the only other member of the House of Wessex and the rightful heir to the throne was young Edgar the Aetheling (c. 1051-c.1126). But the nobles chose the powerful and ambitious noble Harold Godwinson as the king instead. After Harold was killed at the Battle of Hastings Edgar was selected as king but soon submitted to William. When he was older Edgar had an adventurous life, joining rebellions against William and invasions from Scotland where his sister was married to King Malcolm III, being imprisoned a few times, going on the First Crusade, leading an English invasion of Scotland to put his nephew on the throne, etc.

Mael Sechnaill mac Domnaill (c. 949-1022) was king of Mide from 976 an High King of Ireland from 980. Brian Boru (c. 941-1014), King of Munster, replaced Mael Sechnaill as High King of Ireland in 1002, but they continued to cooperate in Wars against the Norse, an Mael sechnaill became High King again in 1014.

[–] MAGolding (1240) 7 years ago

About the spoiler warning, I remember as a child reading about medieval England, and when I got to the part where young Arthur of Brittany was fighting for the English throne against his uncle John I was expecting young Arthur to win and become the famous King Arthur - this was before I knew that Arthur was King of the Britons and not of the English - and I was shocked when Arthur was defeated and imprisoned by John and then murdered.

The original version of Tower of London (1939) also showed at least the beginning of the murder of the princes.

The Yellow Tomahawk (1954) featured a Cheyenne attack where (Spoiler Alert).

The Oregon Trail (1959) had a highly improbable Indian attack on a wagon train INSIDE fort Laramie, where (possible Spoiler).

Soldier Blue (1970) had some highly realistic and violent attacks by Indians and by whites. (I'm warning you, if you watch it my words will probably be quite insufficient warning about the violence unless you've watched a lot of violent recent movies).

In Sudden Terror/Eyewitness (1970) an assassin out to eliminate the only witness to his crime kills anyone in his way, including (Spoiler Alert).

In the Adventures of Huck Finn (1993) a feud between families gets very violent and (Spoiler Alert).

IN the 1994 TV Movie The Oldest living Confederate Widow Tells All there are several flashbacks to the Civil War, where (Spoiler Alert) and (Spoiler Alert).

So off hand I can think of several movies where more or less innocent and mostly non bratty children get killed on screen.

[–] MAGolding (1240) 5 years ago

And see here:

https://moviechat.org/tt0052611/The-Giant-Behemoth/58c706b84e1cf308b937c223/A-Grim-Aspect-of-this-Film?reply=5df2aa2d0f49722942728320&animate=false

And this: https://moviechat.org/tt0053145/The-Oregon-Trail/58c723465ec57f0478ec8e10/Unusually-violent-for-its-time?reply=5df2aae50f4972294272832c

And here: https://moviechat.org/tt0044205/Westward-the-Women/58c705094e1cf308b93637c3/Two-questions-about-the-Italian-boy-MAJOR-SPOILER?reply=5cbd5eec0e45e31e6aea7df5