I'll start this by stating I've been a huge fan of Harry Houdini since I was a child (Over 40 years now). I've ready everything about him that's been written, and when I was younger (and writing professionally) seriously considered writing a book about him.
I went into this miniseries with high hopes but low expectations. Hollywood for some reason does not know how to handle the subject of Houdini. Of the three major representations of Houdini's life (50's version with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, 70's version with Paul Michael Glaser, and this one starring Adrian Brody) none have quite managed to capture the persona and life of one of the greatest performers of the 20th century.
This version of the story is based on a book written by Bernard C. Meyer back in the mid 70's called "Houdini: A mind in chains : a psychoanalytic portrait"
Film maker Nicholas Meyer ("The 7 percent solution", Star Trek The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek The Undiscovered Country) adapted the material from his father's book. While a review of the book is outside the scope of this forum, Having read it when it first came out, I and many others found it lacking. The miniseries also seems to have taken the idea that Houdini was a spy involved with British MI-5 and the Secret Service from the book "The secret lives of Houdini" Which many Houdini experts tend to take with a large pile of salt.
In regards to the miniseries, the first issue I have is the casting of Houdini and his wife Bess. In real life Houdini was short about 5'6" - 5'8" and stocky but very physically fit and buff. His wife Bess was very small and underdeveloped. Bess Houdini may have suffered from a condition called Primary Amenorrhea. Neither of the leads fit that description. Brody is tall and lanky, and Kristin Connolly as Bess is almost as tall.
The assistant Jim Collins was A: not from Macon GA, but England, and Houdini did not find him in a magic shop as portrayed.
The film jumps between time periods in a very helter skelter manner and contains many factual errors (handcuff act created in a brothel, 1914 being a down time for his career, Having issues with his father, working with a magician while a kid with a traveling circus to name just a few). I could've lived with the jumping around in time if they had correctly labeled the time periods, and had their facts correct. They also seemed to make up several things out of thin air. As it was presented I found it almost completely unwatchable.
Despite my complaints, there are several factual instances thrown in along with the falsehoods. Yes he was the 1st man to fly over Australia. He did love his mother very much and did treat her as a queen for the day, there are a lot of other accurate details, but only the most dedicated Houdiniphile would be able to separate the fact from the fiction.
I've heard Night 2 is better, and I certainly hope so, since it can't get much worse.
I went into this miniseries with high hopes but low expectations. Hollywood for some reason does not know how to handle the subject of Houdini. Of the three major representations of Houdini's life (50's version with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, 70's version with Paul Michael Glaser, and this one starring Adrian Brody) none have quite managed to capture the persona and life of one of the greatest performers of the 20th century.
This version of the story is based on a book written by Bernard C. Meyer back in the mid 70's called "Houdini: A mind in chains : a psychoanalytic portrait"
Film maker Nicholas Meyer ("The 7 percent solution", Star Trek The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek The Undiscovered Country) adapted the material from his father's book. While a review of the book is outside the scope of this forum, Having read it when it first came out, I and many others found it lacking. The miniseries also seems to have taken the idea that Houdini was a spy involved with British MI-5 and the Secret Service from the book "The secret lives of Houdini" Which many Houdini experts tend to take with a large pile of salt.
In regards to the miniseries, the first issue I have is the casting of Houdini and his wife Bess. In real life Houdini was short about 5'6" - 5'8" and stocky but very physically fit and buff. His wife Bess was very small and underdeveloped. Bess Houdini may have suffered from a condition called Primary Amenorrhea. Neither of the leads fit that description. Brody is tall and lanky, and Kristin Connolly as Bess is almost as tall.
The assistant Jim Collins was A: not from Macon GA, but England, and Houdini did not find him in a magic shop as portrayed.
The film jumps between time periods in a very helter skelter manner and contains many factual errors (handcuff act created in a brothel, 1914 being a down time for his career, Having issues with his father, working with a magician while a kid with a traveling circus to name just a few). I could've lived with the jumping around in time if they had correctly labeled the time periods, and had their facts correct. They also seemed to make up several things out of thin air. As it was presented I found it almost completely unwatchable.
Despite my complaints, there are several factual instances thrown in along with the falsehoods. Yes he was the 1st man to fly over Australia. He did love his mother very much and did treat her as a queen for the day, there are a lot of other accurate details, but only the most dedicated Houdiniphile would be able to separate the fact from the fiction.
I've heard Night 2 is better, and I certainly hope so, since it can't get much worse.
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