The Tower of London is an interesting film, in that it is clearly a historical drama but in spite of this, it was marketed as a horror movie. This is mainly due to the presence of Boris Karloff who plays a club footed executioner. Universal studios were keen to focus upon his role and ensured he featured prominently on the theatrical posters, wielding an axe in a menacing fashion. The film does feature several ghoulish scenes set in the dungeons beneath the Tower of London but essentially this is just a competent retelling of Shakespeare’s Richard III. However, rather than adapt the bards prose, this film offers a more of a historically accurate narrative, as Richard of Gloucester claims the throne of England in 1483 by eliminating all other heirs. The movie embellishes the political intrigue by having Richard remove a figurine from a dollhouse resembling the throne room, every time he kills an enemy.