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This 1953 film about the world’s most famous escape artist and magician is available for the first time on DVD.

I love vintage films. Today, at least to me, filmmakers either go for nudity and stupidity, or so dark and demented I feel the need to dash Holy Water behind my ears when the movie is done.

When the first-ever DVD of Houdini landed on my desk, I was excited. Not only did it feature two great actors from a time when Hollywood could captivate you with stunning costumes and great stories, it focused on a man who has intrigued me since I first learned of escapology as a kid.

In the late 1800s, Houdini (Tony Curtis) was a circus act gone stale. With a rubber mask that audiences today would laugh at, Houdini frightened beautiful young girls as the ape man in a sideshow. Then, he would hot-foot through a costume change to do simple magic acts on the stage next door.

It was during one of these events that Houdini laid eyes on Bess (Janet Leigh), the beautiful blonde who would become his wife in a love-at-first-sight meeting. As they settled down with Houdini’s mother to start their life together, Houdini’s constant need of the next great escape grew, and eventually led the couple to travel across the globe. When his mother’s spirit guides him out of a dangerous trick that nearly kills him on Halloween (always his bad day) Houdini’s obsessions with defying death and communicating with the dead send him out of the spotlight and into the homes of supposed mediums. After two years away from the stage, Houdini’s efforts to expose charlatans are chronicled in newspapers, which leads audiences to once again demand the escapist perform.

Based on the book by Harold Kellock, Houdini is funny, sometimes touching and offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of Harry and Bess as Houdini’s career molded them into a tight, loving team that hoodwinked audiences during sold-out shows.

If it were created today, Houdini would follow the darkly twisted obsession the magician has with dramatic escapes and his passion to communicate with the dead ¨C one that leads him to point out crooks to the public who use the same trickery he does to wow audiences. It would be like the Joker’s obsession with killing Batman in The Dark Knight concentrated in the dark underbelly of one man’s twisted soul.

This film was an excellent portrayal of that kind of obsession for a generation where mother’s stayed at home with kids, fathers worked the same job until retirement, and everybody thought the Andy Griffith Show was the bomb. It is witty, sharp and takes on Houdini’s illusionist obsession in a way that audiences then could relate to. It still draws viewers in today by focusing on Harry’s love for his wife, and his soul’s demands to please his audiences, instead of his obsessive need to find that one trick that would set him apart from all other magicians for eternity - or to truly find someone who could communicate with the dead, instead of the charlatans with lame sideshow acts that wowed the easily pleased.

The chemistry between Curtis and Leigh was sharp, and so tangible it burns viewers through the screen. With good reason: Curtis and Leigh were Hollywood’s most romantic golden couple in the 1950s. They married in 1951, and had two daughters, Kelly and blockbuster star Jamie Lee, from Halloween (and the Freaky Friday remake for coming-of-age tweens who have yet to meet Jason). As Houdini’s magic served as his mistress, young, lithe costars continually caught the eye of Curtis, who eventually divorced Leigh in 1962 for his much younger costar in the film Taras Bulba.

Houdini hit theaters just two years after the couple tied the knot. With the couple still in a honeymoon phase, the film nearly busts off the screen with their passion for each other. That sets the stage for a dramatic production that you cannot take your eyes off of, even though you know just how it ends.

Read more on Harry Houdini

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Houdini
http://www.houdinitribute.com/houdini.html

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