Daily Archives: November 6, 2015

Houdini
Directed by George Marshall
Written by Philip Yordan from a book by Harold Kellok
1953/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

Harry Houdini: I hadn’t prepared anything for tonight, but perhaps I have something that will amuse you. So if you’ll get a couple of broomsticks, I’ll get my wife – and we’ll see what we can do.

This is a pretty good biopic, enhanced by the charisma and chemistry of then-married Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh.

The story takes some dramatic license with the facts.  Young Bess (Leigh) goes to a carnival with her girlfriend’s and stands up for the “Wild Man” who is being beaten by its keeper.  It turns out Harry Houdini (Curtis) does double duty as both Wild Man and magician at the carnival.  He asks Bess out at the conclusion of his magic act but she refuses.  Later, she sees Houdini’s act at a supper club and succumbs to his charms.  They are married shortly thereafter.

Bess wants some stability and security and Houdini finally agrees to take a job at a company that makes safes.  His penchant for practicing his escape act on the job gets him fired.  Bess and Harry go to a magic show and Harry wins a prize when he succeeds in freeing himself from a strait jacket.  The prize is a round trip to Europe which the couple cashes in for two one-way tickets.

Houdini makes his name in Europe, at one time escaping from a British jail on a dare.  On returning home, he wants to generate interest through increasingly dangerous tricks.  Bess never ceases to worry about him, not without cause.

I enjoyed watching this.  Evidently Curtis was a talented amateur magician and performed a lot of the tricks himself.  He certainly has the native showmanship to convince his audience.

Trailer

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
Directed by Eugene Lourie
Written by Lou Morheim and Fred Freiberger from a story by Ray Bradbury
1953/USA
Jack Dietz Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Cpl. Stone: If you can load it, I can fire it.[/box]

A prehistoric monster devours New York City.  Could this have been the inspiration for Godzilla?

A group of scientists conducts an atom bomb test somewhere in the Arctic.  When a pair of them investigate the site they are attacked by the monster that has been awakened by the blast.  Prof. Tom Nesbitt survives but can get no one to believe his story.  Then ships begin mysteriously and suddenly sinking in the North Atlantic.

Nesbitt is moved to consult world-reknowned paleontologist Prof. Thurgood Ellison (Cecil Kellaway).  Ellison is finally convinced when both Nesbitt and a survivor of a sinking independently identify the same drawing as their monster.

The monster appears to be moving underwater to New York where it was spawned back at the dawn of time.  Ellison investigates in a diving bell.  Before confronting the monster, he witnesses a gratuitous shark v. octopus battle.  But nothing can stop the inexorable progress of the monster to New York.  Furthermore, the beast seems to be carrying an incurable fatal virus from the past.  With Lee Van Cleef as a sharp shooter.

This looks mighty like a low-budget version of Godzilla and is almost as much fun.  A key difference is that this version of the creature is animated with stop-motion and Godzilla is played by a man in a rubber suit.  Both are about equally effective.  This was Ray Harryhausen’s first solo effort as a special effects man.  He would go on to bigger and better things.

Trailer