Everyone who is interested in Houdini, even casually, should buy the three DVD set of extremely
rare footage of Houdini, the Silent Screen star recently released by KINO. It is a wonderful set. To
those interested in early cinema, the silent screen, vaudeville, sci-fi/fantasy, magicians and
superheroes, this set is invaluable. This is the first time that a collection of Houdini film footage
has been made available to the public.
KINO has created a beautiful product in “Houdini, the Movie Star.” In doing so, they call our
attention to footage that is missing. That is what I want to discuss.
In the KINO set, there is a great deal of footage I've never seen before, and this is Houdini's
Ghost speaking. One bit of film shows Houdini running through a park in Paris. Two pairs of
handcuffs are locked on his wrists. He stops at the wall outside the Paris morgue, strips off his
clothes to his boxer trunks, then climbs a gate and stands atop the wall of the morgue. Then he
jumps into the river Seine.
He surfaces a couple of times before he frees himself from the cuffs, then, he swims to the
opposite shore where men are waiting for him. They throw a coat over his shoulders and hustle
him into a car which drives away, pursued by four French policemen who look very much like
Keystone cops.
Here's the point: in 1909, Houdini starred in a 10 minute Pathe short. I have never seen the
opening sequence, but some private collectors do have it and I have been told that Houdini is
seen on a street in Paris. He observes a Parisian policeman arresting a drunk. Houdini protests
the treatment of the drunk and is arrested himself. The next segment I have seen. Houdini is
taken inside the police station and tied to a chair. A policeman sits in a chair nearby and dozes
off, and Houdini escapes from the ropes and ties up the sleeping cop.
I've also seen the next segment in which Houdini is strapped in a straitjacket and locked in a
padded cell. He escapes. Apparently, what follows is the piece of film in the KINO special features
in which Houdini, handcuffed, jumps into the Seine. To my knowledge, all these segments have
never been put together, or rather, put back together.
There are two shots missing from the Paris Seine footage in the KINO set. One is a close-up of
the cuffs on Houdini's wrists as he stands atop the wall. The other is the actual shot of him
jumping into the water. The missing shots are acknowledged in the DVD. I happen to know where
those two shots are. They were used in a BBC documentary on Houdini back around 1976. I
remember the filmmakers insisting on first-generation footage. Somebody cut those shots from
the Paris footage to be used in the BBC documentary, and they never got put back.
Likewise, there is footage missing from "the Master Mystery." We see, for example, Houdini placed
in a packing box and thrown off a pier. An inserted title card explains that Houdini escapes
underwater. Well, the underwater shot was also used in the BBC documentary. And also never
replaced.
Probably the man responsible for scattering so many elements of the “Master Mystery” to the four
winds was Ray Rohauer, who can also be thanked for removing three chapters out of the 15
chapter Serial, and losing them. At one time, Houdini performed approximately two escapes per
episode. Many of them are now missing. A particularly unfortunate loss was of a chain escape
Houdini performed. I also missed seeing a scene in which Houdini is locked in a jail cell. He stares
at the keyhole and we get an x-ray view of the lock as his mind causes the bolt to open.
This lost Houdini footage may still exist in private collections. What must happen is that collectors
must unselfishly help to gather the distaff elements together. In the KINO Houdini DVD set, are
five minutes of the feature length Houdini film “the Grim Game.” Actually, an hour long version of
that film still exists and a man who considers himself Houdini's greatest fan has been sitting on it
for 50 years. Incidentally, while collectors hoard their Houdini film footage, it is dying.
In 1976, a film archive, Sherman Grinberg, screened about an hour of Houdini footage for me
when I was technical advisor on a TV movie about him. A couple of years later, I tried to get
another screening, but, the nitrate film had shrunk and would be too expensive to try to salvage.
When the director/writer Mel Shavelson went to Houdini collector Larry Weeks to look at some
very rare footage, they found that quite a bit of it had degenerated to a volatile goo.
In the sixties, I bought a 16mm print of the “Man From Beyond” which had considerably better
quality than the restored versions which are now on dvd. The old man who struck that print died,
and no one knew what happened to his negatives.
I have a special perspective about this lost Houdini footage. Back in the late fifties, I saw the entire
15 chapters of Master Mystery twice and each chapter was complete and intact. We are losing
these films almost faster than anybody can rescue them, but, we all should make an effort to save
every scrap of film we possibly can.
rare footage of Houdini, the Silent Screen star recently released by KINO. It is a wonderful set. To
those interested in early cinema, the silent screen, vaudeville, sci-fi/fantasy, magicians and
superheroes, this set is invaluable. This is the first time that a collection of Houdini film footage
has been made available to the public.
KINO has created a beautiful product in “Houdini, the Movie Star.” In doing so, they call our
attention to footage that is missing. That is what I want to discuss.
In the KINO set, there is a great deal of footage I've never seen before, and this is Houdini's
Ghost speaking. One bit of film shows Houdini running through a park in Paris. Two pairs of
handcuffs are locked on his wrists. He stops at the wall outside the Paris morgue, strips off his
clothes to his boxer trunks, then climbs a gate and stands atop the wall of the morgue. Then he
jumps into the river Seine.
He surfaces a couple of times before he frees himself from the cuffs, then, he swims to the
opposite shore where men are waiting for him. They throw a coat over his shoulders and hustle
him into a car which drives away, pursued by four French policemen who look very much like
Keystone cops.
Here's the point: in 1909, Houdini starred in a 10 minute Pathe short. I have never seen the
opening sequence, but some private collectors do have it and I have been told that Houdini is
seen on a street in Paris. He observes a Parisian policeman arresting a drunk. Houdini protests
the treatment of the drunk and is arrested himself. The next segment I have seen. Houdini is
taken inside the police station and tied to a chair. A policeman sits in a chair nearby and dozes
off, and Houdini escapes from the ropes and ties up the sleeping cop.
I've also seen the next segment in which Houdini is strapped in a straitjacket and locked in a
padded cell. He escapes. Apparently, what follows is the piece of film in the KINO special features
in which Houdini, handcuffed, jumps into the Seine. To my knowledge, all these segments have
never been put together, or rather, put back together.
There are two shots missing from the Paris Seine footage in the KINO set. One is a close-up of
the cuffs on Houdini's wrists as he stands atop the wall. The other is the actual shot of him
jumping into the water. The missing shots are acknowledged in the DVD. I happen to know where
those two shots are. They were used in a BBC documentary on Houdini back around 1976. I
remember the filmmakers insisting on first-generation footage. Somebody cut those shots from
the Paris footage to be used in the BBC documentary, and they never got put back.
Likewise, there is footage missing from "the Master Mystery." We see, for example, Houdini placed
in a packing box and thrown off a pier. An inserted title card explains that Houdini escapes
underwater. Well, the underwater shot was also used in the BBC documentary. And also never
replaced.
Probably the man responsible for scattering so many elements of the “Master Mystery” to the four
winds was Ray Rohauer, who can also be thanked for removing three chapters out of the 15
chapter Serial, and losing them. At one time, Houdini performed approximately two escapes per
episode. Many of them are now missing. A particularly unfortunate loss was of a chain escape
Houdini performed. I also missed seeing a scene in which Houdini is locked in a jail cell. He stares
at the keyhole and we get an x-ray view of the lock as his mind causes the bolt to open.
This lost Houdini footage may still exist in private collections. What must happen is that collectors
must unselfishly help to gather the distaff elements together. In the KINO Houdini DVD set, are
five minutes of the feature length Houdini film “the Grim Game.” Actually, an hour long version of
that film still exists and a man who considers himself Houdini's greatest fan has been sitting on it
for 50 years. Incidentally, while collectors hoard their Houdini film footage, it is dying.
In 1976, a film archive, Sherman Grinberg, screened about an hour of Houdini footage for me
when I was technical advisor on a TV movie about him. A couple of years later, I tried to get
another screening, but, the nitrate film had shrunk and would be too expensive to try to salvage.
When the director/writer Mel Shavelson went to Houdini collector Larry Weeks to look at some
very rare footage, they found that quite a bit of it had degenerated to a volatile goo.
In the sixties, I bought a 16mm print of the “Man From Beyond” which had considerably better
quality than the restored versions which are now on dvd. The old man who struck that print died,
and no one knew what happened to his negatives.
I have a special perspective about this lost Houdini footage. Back in the late fifties, I saw the entire
15 chapters of Master Mystery twice and each chapter was complete and intact. We are losing
these films almost faster than anybody can rescue them, but, we all should make an effort to save
every scrap of film we possibly can.
| Save the Houdini Films Before It’s Too Late! |
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