Houdini – Blu-ray Movie Review

Synopsis

The two-night scripted miniseries HOUDINI follows the epic tales of Harry Houdini as he emerges as America’s first bonafide world-renowned superstar. From humble beginnings at circus sideshows to sold-out concert halls, Eastern European immigrant Ehrich Weiss rose to become a household name across the globe–Houdini. Academy Award® winner Adrien Brody stars as The Great Harry Houdini as he finds fame, engages in espionage, battles spiritualists and encounters the greatest names of the era, from U.S. presidents to Arthur Conan Doyle and Rasputin. A thrilling ride throughout Harry’s psyche, HOUDINI delves deep behind the curtain into his life through his stunts, his visions and his mastery of illusion.

Commentary

I grew up with the Hollywood version of Houdini played by Tony Curtis (Brooklyn accent and all). This version by the History Channel is a more accurate version, but ultimately, less entertaining. Brody does a great job, but the other actors are bit less polished. The story does not really build to any sense of intrigue. Weiss (Houdini) was a very interesting and complex man and a few of his “secrets’ get revealed in this movie. That said, many of his real secrets died with him. Did his wife have a drug problem? Did Gregor Rasputin really punch him in the solar plexus? I’m not convinced if those events were actually true or just some made up drama. The story is divided into 2 parts for viewing as a mini-series. It is a shame that Vaudeville and stage acts are now all but gone from the entertainment world. Simpler times, my friends. And one glaring error (considering this is The History Channel), St. Petersburg was the capital of Russia at this time, not Moscow. Glad I paid attention in history class!

Technical

The overall look of the film is very clean and digital. No film grain whatsoever. The sound is clean with very discernible dialog and a pleasant, yet modern, electronic musical score. The lighting in most of the interior scenes is a bit too bright for the time period, but it was an artistic choice to keep everything from becoming too murky. It works, but it gave most scenes a “made for TV” feel and some interior scenes looked like a stage production. A bit too squeaky clean to be considered “real life”.

Extras

There are 4 featurrettes and also a version with an additional 20 minutes of footage about Houdini’s life.