#HOUDINI MOVIE 1998 LICENSE#

I have my own theory, but I’d prefer not to say.” It’s a bit off the reservation, but it’s well written and beautifully performed, and does give the movie an emotional and, yes, magical conclusion.ĭensham explains his ending by saying, “Well, you can look at it three ways: Either he dreamed it, or she dreamed it, or it really happened.

Oddly, the film climaxes with Houdini making a star-child-like return from the dead. Here it is presented on a theater stage, probably for budgetary or production reasons. This is presumably the 1936 final Houdini seance which was held on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood. The framing device for HOUDINI is a live radio seance. But it is nice that part of the dramatic arc for Theo in this film is to forgive his older brother for stealing the spotlight, and it's effective when he 'exposes' the final Houdini seance just as Bess is starting to believe. This film also sets up a class division between the two, with Houdini performing before royalty and Hardeen performing at a Union Hall. 'It would be just too confusing two Houdinis,' Harry tells him. Here Houdini creates 'Hardeen' as a way to repress his brother's own magic ambitions. But as with Houdini's relationship with his mother, the filmmakers twist the brothers relationship for their own dramatic needs.

Hardeen gets a larger role in HOUDINI than he's ever had in any biopic. Even Houdini’s authorship of The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin is given a mention. Jim Collins (Karl Makinen) and Martin Beck (George Segal) play their critical rolls in Houdini’s life and career. We also get to see the death bed promise young Ehrich makes to his father.

In HOUDINI we see them come together as fellow performers Bessie as part of the Floral Sisters and Harry performing with brother Theo as The Houdini Brothers (okay, they were “The Brothers Houdini,” but that’s a quibble). It's the first Houdini film to give an accurate account of how he and Bess met.

#HOUDINI MOVIE 1998 LICENSE#

While Houdini takes plenty of dramatic license (Houdini’s mother never kissed or held him?), it still does a good job of weaving in Houdini history. But as Bessie says in the film, “I fell in love with Ehrich Weiss. Of course, it also makes him less likable and more alienating. Certainly in this way Schaech’s manic and abrasive Houdini is far different from Tony Curtis or Paul Michael Glaser. Notably, HOUDINI is the first Houdini biography to tackle and dramatize the issue of Houdini’s egotism. Production design is magnificent, as is the musical score, and while not the best of the Houdini biopics, it has much to recommend it. Shimada also makes a cameo appearance as a street magician. HOUDINI, which was filmed under the title, Believe, stars Johnathon Schaech as Houdini, Stacy Edwards as Bess, and Mark Ruffalo as Theo (Hardeen). The network even broadcast two “encore” presentations immediately after the debut. The film was supported with strong advertising, making the broadcast a cable television event. On Sunday, December 6, 1998, writer/director Pen Densham (who produced the 1979 documentary, Houdini Never Died) realized a dream when his cable film HOUDINI aired as a “TNT Original” movie.

Houdini movie 1998