Houdini (1998)

The life and times of escape artist/magician Harry Houdini.

Director:

Pen Densham

Writer:

Pen Densham

Stars:

Johnathon Schaech, Stacy Edwards, Paul Sorvino

Won 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Johnathon Schaech	...	Harry Houdini
Stacy Edwards	...	Bess Houdini
Paul Sorvino	...	Blackburn
Rhea Perlman	...	Esther
David Warner	...	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Mark Ruffalo	...	Theo
Grace Zabriskie	...	Mrs. Weiss
Ron Perlman	...	Booking Agent
Karl Makinen	...	Jim Collins
Judy Geeson	...	Lady Doyle
Frank McRae	...	Usher
George Segal	...	Beck
Emile Hirsch	...	Young Houdini
Curt Lowens	...	Samuel Weiss
Jack McGee	...	Street Vendor

Storyline

This biographical film tells the story of Harry Houdini, from his birth and immigration to the U.S., through his career in show business as first an escape artist and then a seance debunker, and finally his tragic death. We also see his relationship with wife Bess.

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Plot Keywords:

seance | escape artist | 1920s | 1910s | 1900s | 

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Taglines:

He made a life out of cheating death

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Photos, Bios & Filmography

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 December 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Believe

Filming Locations:

Laramie Street, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Trilogy Entertainment Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

[All trivia items for this title are spoilers.]

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Connections

Referenced in Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore (2010)

User Reviews

Appealing romance-oriented Houdini biography

In this 1998 tv biography of Houdini, Johnathon Schaech passionately, and incidentally attractively, stars in the title role. "Houdini" is the perspective of his life by his wife, Bessie Houdini, 10 years after his death during a publicized "last seance," through which she hopes to communicate with him. It is an emotional, love-stricken wife's memories of her obsessed, but loving, late husband. As such, this movie is not a detailed documentary of his life, but an emotionally, romantic reminiscing of the life of the man. As a love-story, Houdini has effectively worked its magic.

It is filled with much admiration, sentiment, and emotional angst as expected from a loving, but emotionally-conflicted widow at the time of her husband's death. Bessie's portrayal seems focused on her mounting discomfort and tension over the course of decades of their marriage due to her late husband's obsessesive life's work to entertain with death-defying feats and his driven attempts to unmask spiritual charlatans as he attempts to communicate with his late mother.

"Houdini" does little to educate us on the many details and exploits of the late master magician, as I had originally expected. I realized, in hindsight, that this interpretation of Houdini's life makes no attempt to provide a significant and detailed retelling of his life's obsessions, but provides just enough information to provide a background to the relationships with the significant women in his life, primarily with his wife and secondly with his mother.

Compared to two other Houdini biographies I remembered from watching on tv many years ago (namely, 1953 or 1957 "Houdini" starring Tony Curtis and 1976 "The Great Houdini" starring Paul Michael Glaser) I find it a more passionate portrayal of the great illusionist and escape artist and offers greater emotional depths that the other two films did not provide; in those portrayals, they attempt to pack in as much information as possible, but unfortunately, some erroneous info. as well. "Houdini" fortunately debunks a popular myth that he did died on stage immediately after failing to escape during an act; in reality, he had died days after his last performance in a hospital, on Halloween of 1926.

Pen Densham, director, writer, & executive producer, turned out an interesting and entertaining & romantic biography. Johnathon Schaech gives a newly alluring and passionate dimension to Houdini, and possibly the most multi-dimensional role, as well, he has yet portrayed. Stacy Edwards sympathetically portrays the worriedly tormented, alcoholic, at times shrewish, but loving wife. Other supporting cast members, Paul Sorvino as Blackburn (radio show host), Rhea Perlman as Esther (spiritualist), George Segal as Martin Beck (Houdini's manager), Mark Ruffalo as Theo (Houdini's brother), and Grace Zabriskie as Cecelia Weiss (Houdini's, a.k.a. Erich Weiss', mother) turned in from suitable to quite good performances, particularly for a tv film.