Houdini (1953)

The spectacular but tragically short career of magician and illusionist Harry Houdini whose tricks defied explanation and safety.

Director:

George Marshall

Writers:

Philip Yordan (screenplay), Harold Kellock (book)

Stars:

Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, Torin Thatcher

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Tony Curtis	...	Harry Houdini
Janet Leigh	...	Bess Houdini
Torin Thatcher	...	Otto
Angela Clarke	...	Harry's Mother
Stefan Schnabel	...	German Prosecuting Attorney
Ian Wolfe	...	Malue
Sig Ruman	...	Schultz
Michael Pate	...	Dooley
Connie Gilchrist	...	Mrs. Shultz
Malcolm Lee Beggs	...	British Jail Warden
Frank Orth	...	Mr. Hunter
Barry Bernard	...	Insp. Marlick
Douglas Spencer	...	Simms

Storyline

The amazing career of master magician Harry Houdini is presented from his beginnings with a carnival "wild man" act to his emergence as an internationally-acclaimed illusionist, From his mysterious escape from a locked safe under the frozen Detroit River to dramatic one from a locked cell in Scotland Yard, he never failed to please his audience. Although Houdini's tricks are achieved through a marvelous physical dexterity and innate sleight-of-hand, he courted death with the hazardous illusions he performed and his compulsive quest to contact the spirit world.

---

Plot Keywords:

magician | escape | illusionist | carnival | scotland yard | 

---

Genres:

Biography | Drama

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 July 1953 (USA)

Also Known As:

El gran Houdini

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

'Ernö Verebes'' last film before retirement.

---

Goofs

Near the end, when Bess is in the empty theatre, begging Harry not to do the trick, she is clapping. You can hear the loud claps, although she is wearing gloves on both hands. You would never hear the claps, only muted thuds.

---

Quotes

Harry Houdini: It'll be the most dangerous thing I've ever done.
Bess Houdini: And the most dangerous!
Harry Houdini: Bess, people aren't going to stand in line and watch me pull rabbits out of a hat.
Bess Houdini: Why? Why must every act you do be flirting with death?
Harry Houdini: Because it's the only act that'll hold an audience spellbound. People fall asleep at the opera, but they stay wide awake at the bullfights because ther's one man defying death down in that arena. You take this out of my act and I'm nothing!
Bess Houdini: You keep it in and we're both nothing!

---

Connections

Referenced in Mau Mau Sex Sex (2001)

---

Soundtracks

"Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland"
(uncredited)
Music by Leo Friedman
Played during the opening credits
Played often in the score as the love theme

User Reviews

Routine, well made bio-pic of the escape master

Houdini (1953)

You might think this is an odd pairing in an odd biopic, Tony Curtis as the brilliant escape artist and Janet Leigh as his assistant and wife. But it works. Yes, it is a somewhat glitzy, and totally entertaining version of the man's life, but it is solid and well done. And the colors are dazzling throughout. There's no escaping that.

Curtis is a true star already, and he is his usual charming self. I don't have a clue what Houdini was like in person, but there is a suspicion while watching that Curtis keeps it all a little light and breezy. In fact the whole movie is kind of airy, even when the young couple struggles to get their lives going. Leigh is cheerfully supportive, most of the time, and ends up in a formulaic role. Luckily she gives it enough energy to make it work.

When it comes down to it, there is little to say without comparing this to Houdini's known biography. And in fact the movie keeps pretty close to what is widely known. But of course the details are all a mush in order to make a kind of fairy tale of the whole thing. That's okay as long as you see it as such.

If you want lots of detail on all this you should find the TCM article, the long one, on the web. I hope they'll forgive me stealing this one paragraph:

--Casting newlyweds Curtis and Leigh was a publicity coup for Paramount, as the public was fascinated by the young marrieds and was eager to see them together on screen. Both were under contract to other studios, so Paramount had to negotiate loan-outs, Curtis from Universal, Leigh from MGM. As a result of the complex contracts, according to Curtis's autobiography, "The studios got a lot of money for it, but we just got our regular salaries."--

This is a true Technicolor job in the old academy 4:3 format, one of the last before widescreen swept the industry in the next year. Behind the camera is the well respected Ernest Laszlo ("Impact," "D.O.A.," and "Stalag 17") who does a great job with the camera but for some reason lit everything brightly and evenly. The result is lack of mood--and many of the scenes are begging for mood, like the flea-bitten carnivals. There are some notable sequences, like the underwater stuff, and the magic tricks required some photographic slight of hand as well.

So director George Marshall, known for cranking out lots of well made if unimaginative films, has another. It's good, and if you like the two main actors or the subject--or all three--you'll really enjoy it.