Magic Roadshow

I’ve read bios of Houdini all my life, and they all give the impression that Houdini — though he was an electrifying presence onstage – was a dud in the cinema, a posturing ham in whiteface. Not wanting to mar my hero’s image, I’d avoided those films.

But recently a virgin print of the long-lost film The Grim Gamewas rediscovered in the estate of Larry Weeks. I’d met Weeks at magic conventions when he was in his 80s — a wiry, goateed leprechaun with a beret and a wicked grin. He’d take my arm with a broad, tan, bone crushing grip (he’d been a juggler in his prime), and pull me aside to chat about Houdini. He’d obtained the print directly from the Houdini family and shared it only with his closest friends.

The Grim Game was Houdini’s third major movie venture. He’d botched a first attempt, then learned the ropes of the new medium by starring in a fifteen-part serial The Master Mystery shot in Brooklyn and bristling with his signature stunts. In the course of shooting, he’d suffered seven black eyes and a broken left wrist after he fell off a swinging chandelier, but during that time he’d learned to act for the camera. He wrote, “The smallest movie star can make the biggest spoken stage star look like a nickel before the camera, especially if they do not know the angle of the lens.” He was ready for Hollywood. Read more..

http://eatdrinkfilms.com/2015/11/26/the-long-lost-houdini-movie-escapes-extinction/