![]() ![]() Over across the bay from San Francisco lies the San Quentin penitentiary. “It was in San Francisco in 1915 during the progress of the Panama-Pacific Exposition. In Hearst’s magazine dated February 1919, a reporter and columnist going by KCB recalled how the world’s most famous escape artist, along with a 90-piece brass band and a female singer, ended up in San Quentin. A band, a magician and a singer The Philippines Constabulary Band performed at San Quentin in 1915. It was also a chance for the city to showcase its recovery following the devastating 1906 earthquake. In 1915, eyes of the world were on San Francisco for the months-long Panama-Pacific International Exposition, a world’s fair celebrating the completion of the Panama Canal. Strong or even extreme caution is advised.An anonymous letter from someone incarcerated at San Quentin led to performances from a band and world-famous escape artist Harry Houdini. There’s also some foul language, though interestingly, Houdini commonly tells those who are cursing to not be so vulgar. Thankfully, Houdini reveals many of the spiritualists to be fakes, as they are, but he continues to look for the supernatural and never understands that death has been defeated, but it was done by Christ to free us from our sins. Sadly, the story takes a dark detour into occult spiritualism as Harry tries to connect with his deceased mother. ![]() HOUDINI ultimately shows a powerful bond between Harry and Bess uplifts marriage even though mistakes are made by both parties. Even with little story and some rough acting, HOUDINI is engaging and entertaining (though it’s worth noting that much of the miniseries is based on theory rather than fact concerning Houdini’s World War I travels). The most interesting part of the series is Houdini’s marriage to Bess and how she ultimately stayed with Harry through his philandering and his obsession with escaping death. Each performance focuses on new tricks and reveals how Houdini pulled them off with really slick visual effects. There’s not much of an arc in HOUDINI and the story is heavily episodic as it moves swiftly from one performance to the next. While Adrien Brody doesn’t have much resemblance, if any with the actual Harry Houdini, he’s still compelling. This creates a lot of enemies for Harry up until his final performance. This spurs on a new dedication to debunk every fake spiritualist, even offering cash rewards to psychics that can fool him. Obsessed with being able to communicate with his dead mother, attempts to contact her through mediums, but is disgusted when he see the trickery of fake spiritualists. When his mother passes away, his whole world crumbles beneath his feet. His trick s become more dangerous than they’ve ever been and he drifts apart from his wife. Believing he can make a difference, he agrees and this creates even more drama and conflict in his life and marriage.Īfter the war, it becomes more and more difficult to entertain and thrill audiences. World War I is looming and Harry is approached by a British MI5 agent to be their eyes and ears while traveling across Europe. ![]() His names spreads and Harry becomes a celebrity, practicing more and more dangerous stunts, much to his wife’s disapproval. The shock of the audience thrills Harry and his life as an escape artist begins. Reluctant at first, Harry goes along and escapes from the handcuffs with ease. One of the men in the audience, the local sheriff takes him up on his challenge and handcuffs him. One day while accidentally getting a gig at a brothel Harry states that no chains or handcuffs can hold him captive. The two traveled, constantly performing as Harry perfected his craft. As a young man, a dancer named Bess caught his eye whom he eventually married. The child of a Hungarian Rabbi, Harry ran away from home and started practicing magic with his brother. Attempting to show the man behind the act, Adrien Brody portrays the complex Houdini, who according to the series, was deeply driven by the love and support that he received from his mother, but was haunted by the failure and disapproval of his father. HOUDINI is a wildly entertaining two-part TV series on the legendary magician and escape artist Harry Houdini. ![]()
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