Paramount's 1953 classic
HOUDINI will air on Turner Classic Movies tonight at 10PM (ET) and 7PM (PT). TCM broadcasts in HD, so for those who didn't by
the Blu-ray, here's your chance to see the film in all it's Technicolor glory. TCM has also posted an excellent article on
their website about the movie. Here's a sampling:
Tony Curtis doesn't look a lot like Houdini. Nor does Janet Leigh resemble Bess. But that's okay. The idealized casting perfectly suits the storybook feeling of the film. Filmed in Technicolor, it is engineered to dazzle the eyes, and the peach-complected Curtis and Leigh do just that. Appropriately enough, the film was produced by George Pal, who is best remembered for such visual delights as the animated Puppetoon series and the sci-fi classics The War of the Worlds (made in 1953, the same year as Houdini) and The Time Machine (1960). In its own way, Houdini is as much a fantasy as are Pal's other films. But, as Houdini himself would probably have agreed, reality can be overrated.
At my show today a woman came up to me and mentioned that she watched the movie last night on TCM. She said she really enjoyed it but had a feeling it wasn't totally factual. Interesting comment coming from a lay person. I guess there have been enough Houdini documentaries that have helped to set the record straight.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, this movie is on TV all the time, but this showing has gotten a lot of attention. Everyone seemed to know about this one.
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