Janet Leigh does a great job as Houdini's faithful wife. With good period atmosphere, but with more attention to romance than to interesting detail, the film is quite enjoyable and colorful. His energetic performance, as the talented and motivated magician, is very good. With his pretty-boy looks, Tony Curtis handles the title role with passionate skill. Houdini shows a passionate talent for escapology and the film did much to create the 'Water Torture Cell' illusion. The film also exposes Houdini's campaign against mind readers, fraudulent mediums and others who claim supernatural powers. The film depicts Houdini's memorable escape from any pair of handcuffs produced by the audience the outdoor exhibition, when he allows himself to be hanged upside down from his ankles, suspended from the roof of a high building, in a strait jacket and, the dramatic act, when he accepts to be shackled with irons and placed in a box that is locked, roped, and submerged in frozen waters. ![]() While theories abound, there was no formal investigation and many biographers concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to piece together a criminal plot.By the early 1900s, the extraordinary Houdini earned an international reputation for his theatrical tricks and daring feats of extrication from shackles, ropes, handcuffs, and Scotland Yard's jails. Besides turning his grand illusions, Houdini’s other hobby was exposing mediums - who would conduct fake seances to connect with the dead - something the magician believed “cruelly played on the hopes of those who had lost loved ones.”Īside from regularly exposing spiritualists during their performances, he testified before Congress to support a bill to regulate mediums and fortune tellers. He wasn’t loved by all, including many “spiritualist” performers. ![]() It made sense that Houdini could be a target. Many biographers and super fans have researched whether something nefarious happened to Houdini, including whether the McGill student was actually a hired gun. His death also sparked a lot of controversy. The question is whether the punches in Montreal caused Houdini’s appendix to rupture or if it was unrelated - or if Houdini mistakenly thought his severe stomach pain was from the punches instead of a serious medical problem. The official cause of death was peritonitis caused by a ruptured appendix. An orchestra would play a song called “Asleep in the Deep” as attendees achingly watched the seconds tick by, waiting for the magician to emerge valiantly. Houdini’s assistants would draw the curtains and standby with an axe at the ready, just in case. With his feet clamped in stocks, Houdini was lowered into the cell upside-down, with the stocks acting as a lid. Then, he would invite another member of the audience to come up and inspect the cell, offering up $1,000 if they could find any flaws that could help Houdini escape. ![]() The tank was a steel and glass cabinet filled to the brim with water.Įver the showman, Houdini would describe the cabinet and allow a member of the audience to pick where the cell would be placed on stage to show there was no trick door. “The Handcuff King” as he became known could escape from any predicament leading up to one of his most popular stunts: The Water Torture Cell. A 1913 file photo of Harry Houdini performing one of his most popular escape stunts: “The Water Torture Cell.” (Public Domain)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |