Houdini

United States

1953

106 Min

Color

1.37:1

English

Currently 2.7/5 Stars.
1
2
3
4
5

PROD Frank Freeman Jr., George Pál

SCR Philip Yordan, Harold Kellock

CAST Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, Torin Thatcher, Angela Clarke, Stefan Schnabel, Ian Wolfe, Sig Ruman, Michael Pate, Connie Gilchrist, Malcolm Lee Beggs, Frank Orth, Barry Bernard, Douglas Spencer, Bobby Barber, Oliver Blake, Billy Bletcher

PROD DES Albert Nozaki, Hal Pereira

SOUND Gene Garvin, Harry D. Mills

Synopsis

Carnival ‘ape man’ Harry Houdini (Tony Curtis) has ambitions to become a stage magician, even though audiences are unimpressed by standard magic tricks. He falls in love with and marries Bess (Janet Leigh), but she tires of life on the road with unappreciative audiences and gets him to take a normal job. Harry returns to the stage not as a magician but as an escape artist. Flashy publicity stunts escaping from strait-jackets and locked safes soon make Houdini an international sensation. Magic specialist Malue (Ian Wolfe) encourages Harry to find an elusive escape artist named Von Schwager, who, rumor has it, can dematerialize himself through mental concentration. Harry does hire Otto, Von Swager’s assistant (Torin Thatcher) to help him devise ever more ingenious escape stunts. After his mother (Angela Clark) dies Harry becomes interested in the possibility of communicating with the dead, and takes a break from performing. His investigations uncover fraudulent mediums and other spiritualism scams. When Houdini returns to the stage, Bess worries that her husband is taking unnecessary risks to maintain his personal legend. —dvdtalk.com

Director

George Marshall

George E. Marshall (December 29, 1891 – February 17, 1975) was a prolific American actor, screenwriter, producer, film and television director, active through the first six decades of movie history.

Relatively few of Marshall’s films are well-known today, with Destry Rides Again, The Sheepman, and How the West Was Won being the biggest exceptions. Marshall co-directed How the West Was Won with John Ford and Henry Hathaway, handling the railroad segment, which featured a celebrated buffalo stampede sequence. While Marshall worked on almost all kinds of films imaginable, he started his career in the early silent period doing mostly Westerns, a genre he never completely abandoned. Later in his career, he was particularly sought after for comedies. He did around half a dozen films each with Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis, and also worked with W.C. Fields, Jackie Gleason, Will Rogers and Laurel and Hardy.

For his contribution to the film industry, George Marshall has a star on the… read more

Wall

Displaying 1 wall posts.

see all

Christopher Smith

20Jul11

Wildly inaccurate biopic is more a Hollywood love story than a true-life account of the legendary illusionist - but it's an entertaining old-fashioned melodrama. Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh give it their all, and it's a handsome production with some very suspenseful set pieces. Great score by Roy Webb.

Holger Haase likes this