Just perfect...

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Many years ago on my Honeymoon with first Wife in tow, I went to the quaint town of Niagara Falls, Ontario. Besides the adjacent famous falls, there were plenty of souvenir shops, carnival rides,motels etc.. I stumbled upon the Houdini museum smack dab in the middle of town. I had one of the most enjoyable times of my life as the tour guide showed all of the "great masters", Houdini's contraptions. The guide explained how Harry Houdini escaped using misdirection and manipulation in his acts to dazzled audiences throughout the U.S. and the World. As for the film, I found Tony Curtis had the personality to carry the film and his lovely Wife Janet Leigh as Bess was the perfect compliment to the outrageous death defying acts through out the movie. Throw in Torin Thatcher as his aid Otto for support who was at Houdini's side to the end. There plenty of inaccuracies with the screenplay but the scenes moved nicely with superb cinematography and vibrant colors. The straight jacket scene is worth watching as well as the run in with the German Government as Houdini demands to put in one of their safes. Houdini even puts Scotland Yard to the test as to break out of there inescapable prison cells. Just a captivating movie. Producer George Pal always makes his Movies captivating.

Tony Curtis was the proper person to play Harry Houdini when this movie was made. He had the right attitude. Janet Leigh, his wife in real life then, was outstanding as Bess Houdini and the sparks between them show on this film. To me the problem is the script.The real Houdini's life was much more interesting than the points of his life presented here. The story covers some highlights of Harry's life, and a little of the special relationship with his mom. It totally leaves out Harry's brother, the great Hardine. It doesn't get into the barn storming career or the great tricks Houdini did enough.The film also fails script wise to show how well Erich Weiss promoted himself enough. I think the script was designed for Curtis & Leigh and misses the best parts of Harry's life. From what I have seen and read about Houdini, a much more interesting story is there to be told. This story does not tell it entirely.I am glad they tried to do what they did here. For Curtis & Leigh fans this is a great showcase. If it were to be remade, there are more highlights of Houdini's amazing life that could be written to make a better film. I'd challenge Hollywood to tackle that. For now, this is the best we've got, but I have to wonder what could have been with a better script.

It is what it is, namely a smashing piece of entertainment loosely based on a fabulous entertainer of days gone by.The set up is very tidy as we see Houdini in his early days before he was an auditorium filler, we get a nice introduction to his interest in tricks and of course his romance with his sweetheart Bess (a lovely Janet Leigh). We then follow his career arc and get involved with his ego and the ever lasting pursuit of pleasing the audience that we now know leads to a dreadful conclusion. The set pieces are OK and the story from the page is handled very well, Tony Curtis shows both his best and worse sides in this, on one hand he is a wholesome handsome devil may care entertainer, yet on the other hand during scenes where he is one on one with another (notably Leigh), he hams like the front counter in the Butchers Shop.This was the first time I had watched this since about 1990, and the thing that really hits home to me even now is that come the finale, I'm still hoping the great entertainer lives, I believe he will survive that final trick, and regardless of how accurate the film is, what I do know is that the film and its characters have engaged me from the off, job done. 8/10

There are too many elements that are wrong with 'Houdini' to make it anything more than 'just another Tony Curtis movie'. Coming into it not knowing the magician's biography might work initially, but once you learn about the real Harry Houdini, you'll soon find to like this film less and less as the story get more and more further from the truth. One has to wonder what the studio executives were thinking when they went in making this film with such "blinders" on. It is truly sad in the sloppy play-out of the man who would become the world's most famous magician. The real facts are just a snippet in the movie and although it entertains, it does an injustice to the great illusionist. Houdini's life won't be made with some accuracy until the 1970's with "The Great Houdinis" (with 'Starsky and Hutch's Paul Michael Glaser and 'All in the Family's Sally Struthers). Sadly, this TV movie has yet to make it to DVD. Clearly Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh are not bad, and their on-screen romance is convincing, but 'Houdini' - once scrutinized - is nothing more than a quickly-produced picture made to cash in on the illusionist's name.