Houdini (1953)

Harry Houdini has long been someone who has captured the imagination of the ordinary man. Performing daring acts unlike anyone else in history, his life is a natural for stories and films. I first learned about Houdini from my great-uncle. It was a fascinating tale and I have never forgotten it.

Houdini (1953) was the first of many films made about this singular figure. It was also the first film that paired real-life couple Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh together. Starting with young Houdini's early days as a wild man in a carnival, it tells the story of how he met his wife Bess, his growing career, the problems that his acts brought to their marriage, and up to his dramatic final act.

Houdini: It'll be the most dangerous thing I've ever done.

Bess: And the most dangerous!

 

Houdini: Bess, people aren't going to stand in line and watch me pull rabbits out of a hat.

Bess: Why? Why must every act you do be flirting with death?

 

Houdini: Because it's the only act that'll hold an audience spellbound. People fall asleep at the opera, but they stay wide awake at the bullfights because there's one man defying death down in that arena. You take this out of my act and I'm nothing!

Bess: You keep it in and we're both nothing!

Trivia:

• Three years before this film was made, 20th-Century Fox was negotiating with Houdini's family to make a picture called "The Life of Houdini" and starring Burt Lancaster in the title role.

• A talented amateur magician, Tony Curtis performed most of his own tricks in this film.

• The movie contains several factual errors, the most telling of which is the dramatization of Harry Houdini's death. In the film he almost drowns in the torture tank trick and dies on the stage in the arms of his wife. In real life he was punched in the stomach by a college student who had heard that Houdini could withstand any blow without harm. This did, indeed, rupture his appendix. He later collapsed on stage, was taken to the hospital and died there.

• Although Houdini didn't die onstage at a Halloween performance, as this film would have you believe, he did, indeed, die on Halloween, 1926, several weeks after his last stage performance. To this day, in Houdini's memory, October 31st is celebrated as International Magic Day.

This post is part of the Grand Finale of the At the Circus Blogathon hosted by Critica Retro and Serendipitous Anachronisms. Be sure to read all of the other amazing "acts," including the Grand Finale!!

Ten Movies on an Island: Tony Curtis & Janet Leigh

Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh are one of my favorite on-screen couples. I saw Curtis first in The Defiant Ones and Leigh first in Psycho. Then I saw several more Curtis films before seeing the two of them in either The Perfect Furlough or Who Was that Lady?. The only film of theirs I haven't seen is The Black Shield of Falworth.

1. Holiday Affair (1949) - Leigh & Robert Mitchum

2. Confidentially Connie (1953) - Leigh & Van Johnson

3. The Defiant Ones (1958) - Curtis & Sidney Poitier

4. The Perfect Furlough (1958) - Curtis & Leigh

5. Some Like it Hot (1959) - Curtis & Jack Lemmon & Marilyn Monroe

6. Operation Petticoat (1959) - Curtis & Cary Grant

7. Who Was That Lady? (1960) - Curtis & Leigh & Dean Martin 

8. Sex and the Single Girl (1964) - Curtis & Natalie Wood, Henry Fonda & Lauren Bacall

9. The Great Race (1965) - Curtis & Natalie Wood & Jack Lemmon

10. Not With My Wife, You Don't! (1966) - Curtis & George C. Scott

Honorable Mentions: Angels in the Outfield (1951), Houdini (1953), and Psycho (1960).

Want to watch: No Room for the Groom (1952).

Summer Under the Stars Day 12: Robert Mitchum

 

Robert Mitchum is todays focus on TCM's Summer Under the Stars. He was an "underrated American leading man of enormous ability, who sublimated his talents beneath an air of disinterest" (source). First of all, did you know he can sing?!? After learning this I started looking at him in a whole new way...

 

Honey's Lovin' Arms

 

Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral

 

Little Old Wine Drinker Me

 

The Ballad of Thunder Road

 

Apparently he made a couple albums. Check out more search results here!

 

I've only seen four films with Mitchum: El Dorado and more recently Holiday Affair - also The Longest Day (1962) and one of his early films where he makes a brief but memorable appearance as a soldier on leave in Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1944) starring Simone Simon.

In El Dorado (1966) Mitchum plays a sheriff. A drunk sheriff. And he's very good at it. The films main star is John Wayne and the story is pretty much exactly like Rio Bravo (1959) - which I will be reviewing on the 20th, with Mitchum in Dean Martin's role. It also has a young James Caan.

James Caan as Mississippi

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Holiday Affair (1949) stars a young Janet Leigh as a single mother with a little boy. She is a comparison shopper - she buys products from stores and compares them and then returns them. Mitchum knows what she's doing but doesn't bring her to his boss like he's supposed to and ends up losing his job because of it. He doesn't really care though; he's more interested in pursuing Leigh. It's a cute little Christmas movie with the typical two guys who want the same girl (the other guy being Wendell Corey). Guess which one wins.

I like Leigh's little apartment in the film, especially the way she displays her Christmas cards (she sure has a lot).

Screenshot by Phyl

I recommend both films. Neither of them are among my top movies but they are definitely enjoyable.

This post is part of the month-long 2015 TCM Summer Under the Stars Blogathon hosted by Kristen at Journeys in Classic Film. Be sure and check back all month to see all the great posts!

All images found via Pinterest except shot of apartment.