Customer Reviews

Houdini [VHS]

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Finally this cinematic treasure comes to DVD. While sometimes not historically accurate, it does portray a young Ehrich Weiss and his passion for the art of escapism & illusion and his love for his wife Bess. Real life husband and wife couple, Tony Curtis & Janet Leigh are more than convincing as "The Great Houdini" and his stage assistant.

This delightful film will bring enjoyment to legions of fans of old like myself as well as a cursory enlightenment of Harry Houdini for newer generations.

Filmed in 1953, "Houdini" is presented in Technicolor with an Aspect Ratio of 1.37:1. A very family friendly movie, recommended without reservation.

09.30.10 Rest in Peace Mr. Tony Curtis; you will be missed...

Remembering this movie as a child and finally it has made it to DVD. What took the studio so long? I am sure that I am not the only person asking that question? Although not true to the real life of Houdini the film is a fun and entertaining piece of work that at times will keep you fixed to the screen. Giving it a five star rating and suggesting that it be watched by all members of the family so that a new generation of people can enjoy its magic.

This film is a very enjoyable if not completely accurate rendition of Harry Houdini's life. Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, young and in love in real life, do a great job of playing Harry and Bess Houdini. An amateur magician himself, Curtis gives a great performance in the first really good role of his career. There will be many to come. What's accurate about this film? Most of the escapes shown in the film such as when Houdini allowed himself to be hung upside down outside of a tall building while confined in a strait jacket, his offering and succeeding to escape from any pair of handcuffs that his audiences could produce, and his decision to go through with being locked in a box submerged in water while he himself is bound in chains.

What's inaccurate in the film? It's more a matter of what is omitted. The film does mention Houdini's running battle with spiritualists. What it doesn't mention is Houdini's tiff with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle over the whole issue. The depth and length of this disagreement is considerable, though, and it's understandable that in a film not of documentary length that it had to be left out.

Sadly enough, the film has only a trailer as an extra feature.
A commentary track, an actual documentary, or even - if it was possible - to include the excellent 1976 made-for-TV film "The Great Houdini" with Paul Michael Glaser in the title role would have made for a better package. That 70's version of Houdini's life gives more details about what made the man tick, even if there is something about its atmosphere that transports one back to the days of disco. At any rate, when it comes to classics from Paramount, I'll take them any way I can get them.

This romanticized look at the career of Harry Houdini played with charm by Tony Curtis is full of the mysterious "other worldly " effects that George Pal made his reputation on in productions to come. In several scenes, Curtis taps into the Spirit world to...escape from a straight jacket, find the hole to get out of the frozen Detroit river, and seek out an experienced peer to solve the "Man in a Bottle" trick. He also manages in the process to stigmatize Halloween forever as a "bad omen" and gives new meaning to a Mother complex greater than Richard Burton's in "Alexander the Great". Still, the movie is a marvelous dose of "entertainment" and the sets are superb, there is a great veteran supporting cast and the screenplay is well written. This was a VERY popular movie and Tony Curtis does a great job in the role, even though there is a lot of deviation from the real Harry. It needs a DVD polish and presentation of extras with trailers and perhaps some interviews. It would be interesting to hear from Tony Curtis about this film after all these years. Good family fun!

Not many vaudeville performers are as well remembered 75 years after their death as The Great Houdini. Though not very accurate in details, I think this movie did a good job of capturing the aura and mystique of Houdini's life. This was my favorite movie as a boy. The movie has some stirring music and features authentic-looking period settings. It also has a few good magic tricks -- Dunninger, the great mentalist, who personally knew Houdini, was the movie's technical director. This movie has had such a profound impact on popular culture that 50 years after it was filmed, most people still believe that Houdini died in the Water Torture Cell as depicted in the movie. This is an entertaining film. I suggest that people follow it up with a good book on Houdini's life.

When I was a kid, HOUDINI (1953) with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh was always broadcast in October, usually as a Saturday afternoon movie.

There are two mentions in it of Halloween.
The first happens when Harry and Bess Houdini visit a magician's convention on Halloween night. Unhappy Harry failed at magic and took a job in a lock factory at his wife's urging, but when given the opportunity to go on stage as one of five challengers who must try to escape from strait jackets, Harry jumps at it. He wins the contest and his prize is a single round-trip ticket to Europe. Eventually the couple trades it for two one-way ducats. Harry and Bess find fame in Britain and on the Continent and then repeat their success in America.

The second Halloween reference is to a near-tragic stunt held on Halloween afternoon: an escape from a locked trunk submerged in the iced-over Detroit River. When he emerges from the trunk, Harry's swept downstream by the current, can't find the large hole cut in the ice and nearly drowns and/or freezes to death.

Despite that and a sad ending, this is generally an upbeat film. Colorful re-creations of late 19th Century sideshows are fun and so are the many magic tricks and escapes. Also, Leigh and Curtis make a most pulchritudinous couple and are clearly in love (for real!).

I recommend HOUDINI to all as a pleasant October diversion.

BTW-- does the Detroit River REALLY ice over before October 31st and is the outside temperature ZERO degrees in the DAYTIME? (Don't answer that!)

I have absolutely loved this movie since I was a little girl. It is one of the most entertaining biographical movies ever. Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh are sizzling in their roles as Harry and Bess. A must have for vintage movie collectors.

This movie should be watched for many reasons. You can see a little bit of every genre, thats why this movie is so unique. You can see many marvelous magic tricks and escapes performed, thats why its magical. You can see the love shared between Harry and Bess, thats why its so romantic. You can see much more, thats why you need to get it!!!!

HOUDINI is not meant as a movie that is true to life. If it were, then the finished product might have been more factual but less entertaining. Tony Curtis plays Houdini as a young Jewish man who seeks more than the dullish life that as Erich Weiss he was born into. Early on, the audience learns that the solid, conservative life that his family thought to place him is simply not in his plans. He makes a rational analysis as to how he can make the leap from the ordinary to the extraordinary. It is in showmanship that he will excel. With no small amount of humor, Curtis gives Houdini a patina of technical virtuosity with escapes combined with razzle-dazzle country fair sideshow barking. This reaching out for the seemingly unobtainable for one of his humble class extends even to his choice of a wife. He marries a woman whom he feel sure that his mother will reject. For one of the few times in his life,he is wrong. Mama Weiss eagerly embraces her new daughter-in-law.
The force of this film lies not in the continuity of the Houdini character from scene to scene. Rather, the intensity lies in a series of vignettes, each roughly pointing Houdini in the same direction: to ever newer and more dangerous escapes. Most people who discuss this movie point to the grand finale, the Chinese Water Torture Chamber scene, where Houdini is very nearly killed in attempting an impossible escape. This scene is dramatic certainly, but I see it as only the culmination of a long series of lesser escapes, with paradoxically the most interesting one occurring at the midpoint. Shortly after his marriage, Houdini and his wife attend a dinner in which the MC dares volunteers from the audience to wriggle out of a straight jacket. Houdini leaps at the chance and along with several others attempts to escape. What distinguishes this escape from the climactic Chinese Water Torture escape is the focus on the man, rather than on the gimmick. As the stalwart young man leap and crash off the stage, attempting to break out of their bonds, Houdini stands motionless. He stares at a twirling chandelier, almost as if he were summoning up his inner chi for the stength and flexibility to escape. Ever so slowly, he maneuvers his fingers which appear behind his back. The audience in the ballroom and the audience in the theater collectively let out a gasp of surprise. Sweat drenched, Houdini tosses off the jacket to win first prize. It is this scene, and others like it that lend this biopic its emotional wallop. The tragedy of the movie is not unlike the tragedy of the man. Had Houdini retained a bit more of the Erich Weiss latent within him, his life might not have ended prematurely either on film or in real life.

This is a wonderful film and tribute to the life and legacy of Harry Houdin. A must see. Tony Curtis and Janet leigh are wonderful and romantic in it as Harry and Bess. It is entertaiining amzing and great for the entire family.