Watch for Free the Movies of Harry Houdini

While Harry Houdini (1874-1926) is still remembered as a great stage magician, his brief career in movies is not as well known. There may be a reason for that, but since you can still view some of his films online, you can be the judge.

Harry Houdini's movies

Of course, to find any information about movies, the starting point is the Internet Movie Database (IMDB). Specifically, for Houdini, go here. A look at the names of the characters Houdini played gives us a clue to a problem with his films:

The Grim Game (1919) - Harvey Hanford
The Master Mystery (1920) - Quentin Locke
Terror Island (1920) - Harry Harper
The Man from Beyond (1922) - Howard Hillary
Haldane of the Secret Service (1923) - Heath Haldane

Would it be just a coincidence that the characters Houdini played in four of his films shared his initials? And, the one who does not is a Mr. Locke? Remember that Houdini was best known for escaping from chains and handcuffs and... locks.

Like many a popular entertainer after him, Houdini made films that were not much more than a sort of frame for his doing what he did best, which was not necessarily acting. As such, the films are most interesting as visual records of Houdini's ephemeral art.

You might enjoy checking some documentary footage of Houdini's magic tricks. From the search results from Google Video (here), you have quite a selection.

Houdini's Movies: The Grim Game and Terror Island

Since I could not find any clips of these films online, let's consider them together. In The Grim Game (IMDB) from 1919 Houdini plays an escape artist. Only a five minute segment of the film is known to survive. Terror Island (IMDB) (1920) sounds like a crazy mix of melodrama, savages, even a submarine.

During filming of The Grim Game two planes crashed together, with Houdini apparently jumping from one of them to the other. According to the IMDB page on The Grim Game (here), it was a stunt man, although Houdini always denied using a stunt man.

Houdini's Movies: The Master Mystery

The Master Mystery (IMDB) of 1920 was a 15-episode serial, of which some four hours of film remains. You can watch the first segment here, and follow the links through the remaining episodes if you wish. The serial is memorable not only for Houdini's escapes at the beginning of each episode, but also for what may be the first robot on film.

Houdini's Movies: The Man from Beyond

In 1922's The Man from Beyond (IMDB) Houdini plays a man revived after being frozen for a century who finds a woman who he believes is the reincarnation of a woman he had loved before he was frozen. At least, it has Houdini escapes, which were the real point of all five of Houdini's films. Houdini wrote the story. Houdini also wrote the story. You can watch the first part of The Man from Beyondhere.

Houdini's Movies: Haldane of the Secret Service

In 1923 Harry Houdini directed and starred in his last film, Haldane of the Secret Service (IMDB). A couple of years earlier, he had directed but not played in The Soul of Bronze (IMDB). The last two films he starred in were made in New York at his Houdini Picture Corporation (more). In Houdini's final film, he seems to be trying to escape from his fame as an escape artist, as he takes on a ring of counterfeiters and, of course, a beautiful woman.

Houdini: A Movie About Harry Houdini

In 1953, Hollywood bestowed upon Harry Houdini the dubious honor of making a bio-pic (biographical film) more or less about him. The genre of the bio-pic is certainly not the best Hollywood has to offer, as demonstrated by the recent Amelia (which weighs in today with only a 12% approval rating, here).

The film Houdini (IMDB) was not too bad, for a bio-pic, but it did scramble up the story of his death. According to the film, he died onstage after failing to escape from his own "water torture" trick. That is about as far-fetched as the rumor that I wrote about (here) that he was murdered.

You can find some clips of the film online, such as this one. Yes, that is Tony Curtis as Houdini. Janet Leigh (Mrs. Curtis at the time, the first of six Mesdames Curtis) plays Mrs. Houdini. With no disrespect intended for the originals, the Curtises are certainly easier on the eyes.

Harry Houdini's Movies: Final References

My previous article on Houdini's death (here) offered links to information, books, and an audio documentary. It also was clearly focused on his death and on his widow's attempts to get in touch with him afterwards. The comments on that article made it clear that Houdini is still very much a person of interest today.

In fact, it was a comment by Vincent Summers (source page here) that led me to write this article. There is much more that could be written about Harry Houdini. For instance, he was not - as some claim - the first to fly in the skies of Australia, but, perhaps more importantly, he was the first to fly and then successfully land his aircraft.

The New York Times provides a Houdini archive (here). Houdini fan John Cox provides a website rich in Houdini resources (here). You can even find a three-DVD collection of the movies of Harry Houdini (information here).

But, I will leave any other articles about Harry Houdini, master stage magician, opponent of spiritualist hoaxes, and not quite a movie star, for someone else to write.