Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

jc-osms Here's a bright, colourful, entertaining if not always factually accurate biopic of the great escapologist Harry Houdini. Tony Curtis plays the part with great brio as you'd expect and is well supported by his fretful but usually supportive wife played coincidentally by his real life wife of the time Janet Leigh.Of course being a Hollywood screen biography, it plays pretty loosely with the facts, most obviously with his apparent death scene in the last reel just after he's broken out of his not-quite death- defying water torture escape. Maybe the director thought that the reputed story of a young student punching him in the stomach unawares was a bit tawdry but this substitute conclusion seemed over-melodramatic in the extreme.Otherwise, while I'm no expert on Houdini's career I did recognise other familiar incidents in the entertainer's life, including breaking out of a London prison, the straitjacket escape suspended outside a New York skyscraper and the plunge under the ice sealed in a safe although you have to wonder how he could possibly miss the big hole cut in the ice right above him through which the safe was dropped. The movie also takes in his interest in spiritualism as he attempts to connect with his mother in the afterlife after her death.These quibbles apart, the movie was energetic and highly watchable as befits its subject. Curtis and Leigh make a handsome couple and the sets variously including recreations of a carnival show- ground, jail and vaudeville theatres are also easy on the eye.In short, this film was fine escapist entertainment - sorry!

kenjha This colorful biography of the famed magician focuses on his later life and career. It is less than factual but that's not a bad thing, as the primary purpose here is to entertain, not necessarily to inform. And it is quite entertaining for the most part, although it tends to become silly as it touches on premonitions and the supernatural. Houdini was best known for his escape routines and many of them are on display here. Curtis performs well in one of his best early roles, bringing a lot of energy and nicely conveying Houdini's passion for his craft. Leigh, who was married to Curtis at the time, is lovely as his devoted wife in their first screen pairing.

mickran This is one of those exercises in Hollywood in the 50s of just fitting a story to the formula. This is a truly awful movie on two levels, both as a movie and as a biography, even in the loosest sense of the medium.As a biography, even one loosely based on a the life of the man and supposedly entertaining it is terrible. The key facts of his life are completely ignored which is a shame as many of them are far more interesting and entertaining than the ones included. His brother doesn't even exist in this movie who was as key a figure in his life as his mother. The movie briefly shows a photo of Houdini's trick where he made an elephant disappear on stage. In the days before TV this was a truly amazing stunt, which they chose to ignore in the movie and show repetitive handcuff openings. Watching this movie one might wonder why Houdini was famous at all.The story telling was bland and repetitive continually showing off the cuff (no pun intended) challenges to Houdini and how he rose to the occasion. The dialogue is childish (in one scene Houdini is upset because no one from the press is there to interview him so he organizes a publicity stunt to which (seconds later in the movie) a journalist in the foreground of the crowd announces "I'm going to interview that fellah." Gee, problem solved!)And while I'm a fan of Tony Curtis he portrays none of Houdini's passion, charisma and enthusiasm that made him famous. And the later spirituals scenes are as embarrassing to watch for the viewer as they are supposed to be for the so called psychic. All the drama is cast aside for lightweight romance and slap my thigh obvious laughs. The humour is extremely dated and was unsophisticated even for it's day.But my biggest disappointed was the ending. Spoiler! Houdini did not die performing one of his stunts. He never filed in his performances. And how he died was far more tragic than the movie version. For this the movie is unforgivable for ruining the great name of Harry Houdini and the great man he was.

Michael_Elliott Houdini (1953) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Highly entertaining film has Tony Curtis playing Harry Houdini, the legendary escape artist. We see Houdini's early life in the circus, the meeting of his future wife (Janet Leigh) and some of his most famous tricks. It goes without saying that a lot of things are made up in the film, including the bizarre ending, which changes how Houdini died. That one change never made much sense to me as it's pretty common knowledge how the man died but outside of that this is an incredibly entertaining movie that features a pretty standard story but a remarkable performance by Curtis. When I say standard story I'm meaning that the screenplay really doesn't try too hard to get into the mind of Houdini or tell us who he was. Instead of giving us much story depth we instead get to see countless tricks being performed by Curtis and Leigh. Everyone knows that the two were married in real life and that certainly rings true as they have no problems playing husband and wife here. Leigh is very good in her role, which is pretty much just a supporting one but Curtis is where the true magic is. Even though he's one of the most recognizable actors in the history of cinema there isn't a second in this film where I didn't see him as Houdini. Curtis does a brilliant job at transforming himself and he even looks very good while performing the various stunts in the film. I'm not sure how much work he actually did but all of the tricks look very real with the exception of the scene where he cuts Leigh in half. There are many dramatic moments in the film full of suspense and this is true in the best sequence where Houdini is performing above the Detroit River when the ropes break and sends him through the ice. We then get a long sequence with him under the ice trying to find his way out. If people are wanting a hard look bio of the man then they'd be recommended to get a book because they aren't going to find anything here. If they want to see an excellent performance with the master's tricks being performed then this film offers that along with a lot of entertainment.