Cannell traded on the continued fascination with Houdini's secrets, as did Houdini's Escapes and Houdini's Magic by Walter B. With its mix of fact and fiction, the Kellock book established how the Houdini story would be told for decades. Houdini's act also lived on with Hardeen coming out of retirement and touring as "Brother and Legal Successor of Houdini." And, of course, there was the infamous Arthur Ford séances which caused a sensation in 1929.īut perhaps the most important first step in cementing Houdini's legend was the serialization and publication of Houdini His Life Story by Harold Kellock, the first major Houdini biography. The story has notes of whimsy (the con artist, in spite of being a successful public entertainer, lives in a bizarrely Arcadian graveyard), but is never quite fanciful enough to work as fantasy as a realist story, it's duller than it's premise suggests.Houdini continued to make headlines even after his death, with news of his collection being donated to the Library of Congress and Bess's battles with insurance companies. In fact, this character provides a narration that seems wholly unnecessary., except to cover up the paucity of actual happenings and pad out the film. Unfortunately, Guy Pierce manages to make one of the most intriguing figures of his team seem boring with his shallow performance, Timothy Spall (playing Houdini's manager) seems surprisingly ill-at-ease in a role you might have thought he was made for (and struggles throughout with his accent), while role of the con-woman's daughter is written as wholesome where a little malevolence might have spiced up the plot. And Catherine Zeta Jones, in the lead female role, does a surprisingly great job in spite of being Welsh. It sounds like a great idea for a film: a Scottish con-woman, with the manners and mannerisms of a Morningnside lady but a heart of cold steel inside, attempts to con the great Harry Houdini.
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