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Legend Films
has gone into the vaults of movie history and
re-introduced some classic movies on DVD. One of the
guilty pleasure classics is "Houdini."
"Houdini" is now available for the first time on DVD.
Tony Curtis is surprising in this glowing look at the
life of famous magician Houdini. And the film itself is
a surprisingly well-made story. From the very beginning
of the film, we're introduced to the young magician
working his way onto the world stage. Why do I say
Curtis is surprising? In some of the films he's done,
like "Sweet Smell of Success" (1957) and "The Defiant
Ones" (1958) or "Some Like It Hot" (1959), Curtis can
captivate an audience as well as any other actor. In
other films, like "Spartacus" (1960) and "Taras Bulba"
(1962), he's out-of-place with his Bronx accent, to be
honest. Yet when Curtis nails his roles, he's quite
good. And as Houdini, he's very good. His performance is
believable and sincere. It doesn't hurt that Janet Leigh
plays Bess, his wife in the film. They were married in
real life sometime before this movie was made, according
to Internet Movie Database. The center of "Houdini" is
the love story between Curtis and Leigh's on-screen
characters. There seems to be genuine chemistry and
affection between them.
The movie is a fairly standard early-50s biography, but
it's done with a lot of positive effort. There lots of
dissolves between scenes to move the time periods along.
I'm not an expert on the life of Houdini. I recall
seeing the television movie version of this in 1976, and
I remember it was told differently. The 1953 version has
more style and probably takes liberties with the
real-life story. But it's still entertaining and the
production values are high.
"Houdini" is one of those pleasant films that's perfect
for a lazy Saturday afternoon in front of the 'ol
television.
Bill Kallay
Special thanks to Legend Films
Photos: © Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.
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