Review
Harry Houdini has always been a favorite subject, for both fictional films and documentaries. The entertainer and escape artist (1868-1926) transcended his craft to become a genuine superstar of the early 20th century. His insatiable curiosity about life's mysteries and man's physical limits would later develop into an obsession with spirituality. Producer George Pal's 1953 Houdini is organized along the lines of a musical biography, except that songs and music are replaced with Harry's miraculous escapes. The show holds up very well today, especially as nostalgia for its stars Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, at that time Hollywood's darling newlywed couple.
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.
Houdini is an excellent example of a biography that remains true to the spirit of an historical character even as it fictionalizes most of the facts of his life, including his demise. The script by the prolific Philip Yordan pays homage to the mystique of Harry Houdini, a man who had half the world believing he possessed supernatural powers.
[…] Tony Curtis's experience as an amateur magician surely gave him a leg up on the role. Half the fun of Houdini is watching the charming Curtis and Janet Leigh interact on screen; the movie is practically a Valentine to their romance. George Marshall's unfussy direction gives the couple plenty of opportunity to shine. The Technicolor show makes good use of limited sets, suggesting rather than showing that tens of thousands of New Yorkers are watching Harry dangle from the top of a ten-story building. The work of the same design and effects experts from George Pal's science fiction classics is visible as well. One clever matte shot makes a bridge over the dry Los Angeles riverbed appear to span a snow-swept, frozen Northeastern river.
Legend Films' DVD of Houdini is an acceptable but imperfect transfer of Paramount's Technicolor original, made from an Eastman composite element. The red matrix is imperfectly aligned for much of the movie, resulting in rather wide red terminators and haloes around bright parts of the image, such as Harry's white tuxedo shirt. Although not bad enough to spoil the experience -- the flaw is not obtrusive for most of the film -- image purists will not be pleased. Savant recommends the disc anyway, as a full film restoration of this commercially marginal title would cost millions.
The aspect ratio is a standard 1:33, a shape borne out by the text blocks in the film's title sequence. Legend has included the original trailer as an extra. --Glenn Erickson of DVDSavant.com
