Deconstructing Houdini '53: Under the Ice

It was 49 years ago today that I first saw Houdini (1953), and it changed my life. What better day to continue my scene-by-scene dissection of the movie. Last time, Harry became an American sensation. But has he gone too far...

Chapter 18: Under the Ice

The following three scenes are linked as one sequence, so I will treat them all in one post. This is arguably the most memorable sequence in the entire movie. It's certainly the most harrowing! But did any of it ever happen? Let's dive in.

We open with a procession of bellboys delivering buckets of ice to Houdini's hotel room. A strategically placed sign informs us this is Halloween Eve. The bellboys go into Houdini's bathroom and empty their buckets into the tub where Houdini lies in freezing water under a mound of ice. Otto tells the curious bell captain (Mike Mahoney) that Houdini is "going to jump into the Detroit River tomorrow."

Detroit? Halloween? This is starting to sound ominous.

Houdini in a tub of ice is a strange sight but a perfectly accurate one. Houdini did take extremely cold ice baths to prepare himself for his outdoor water escapes. However, Houdini did them at home under the watch of his doctor brother (Leopold) instead of in a hotel room. It's also unlikely that Houdini's baths had this much ice, but it's a great visual.

A flustered Bess enters and is taken aback by the entire scene. Notice Bess is dressed in all black -- a widow before the fact. She pulls Harry from the tub (or, rather, she tells Otto to pull him from the tub) and tells him the Detroit River is frozen over and he will have to cancel the stunt. Harry looks to Otto, who says casually, "We'll cut a hole in the ice."

Once again, we see Otto as a dark enabler, finding ways for Houdini to push into the higher realms of magic and death defiance. Bess is mortified by the idea, but Harry is delighted and even jokes about it. "If I had you with me under that ice, I bet we could set a new record." But then Bess cautions him that tomorrow is Halloween. "That's not your day." Houdini steels himself and says, "To me, it's just another Thursday."

This is a significant moment and a big change in Houdini's character. In his youth, Harry recognized the role fate played in his life, telling Bess, "Something strange always happens to me on Halloween." Now Bess is warning him that fate may be trying to send him a message. But Harry ignores them both. 

Is his skepticism due to hubris, or has he simply outgrown his youthful beliefs? The real reason may be expressed in his line, "The theater has advertised it for weeks; I can't back out now." He doesn't want to disappoint his audience. But we can't help but feel Houdini is entering into a stunt that is reckless in more ways than one.

We now dissolve to a beautiful shot (or rather, a beautiful matte painting by Jan Domela) showing the frozen Detroit River and what is, presumably, the Belle Island Bridge. Despite Otta saying Houdini would "jump" into the river, we see he's being manacled and locked into a steel box. Technical advisor Dunninger provided this box and claimed it was used by Houdini himself. However, there is no record of Houdini ever using a steel case for his overboard box escapes. (This box survives and is today displayed at the Laurel Canyon Houdini Estate.)

A construction crane hoists the box up and out over the bridge. But as it is being lowered, the chain breaks and the box plunges through the hole in the ice with no safety line attached. This was all staged in the water tank on the Paramount backlot, and it's sensational!

While panic ensues on the surface, we see the steel box land on the river bottom. After a moment's beat, Houdini emerges from behind it. This is similar to footage of the real Houdini escaping from an underwater box in The Master Mystery and Terror Island. This isn't by accident. The filmmakers had access to a print of Terror Island in the Paramount archives and studied it. Houdini producer George Pal even showed the scenes back to back on the television show You Asked For It.

Houdini swims to the surface only to find that he has been swept downstream under the ice sheet. He can not find the exit. He is trapped under the ice! He swims with growing panic until he finds a pocket of air. He takes a few merciful breaths, then plunges down and continues his search for the hole. This is every bit as frightening as it sounds!

Meanwhile, on the surface, Bess tells Otto, "I know he's in trouble. He should have been out by now." Otto orders hooks to be dropped into the water. The hooks snag the box and haul it to the surface. But when the box is opened, Houdini is not inside. Bess faints as Otto orders the lines dropped back into the water in the hopes that "he might see them."

We dissolve to several minutes later when it is clear Houdini has not been found. Reporters are leaving the scene with one saying forlornly, "Guess we got a headline." Another dissolve takes us to Otto, now standing alone by the hole in the ice, waiting for a miracle as the cold wind blows his coat. A magnificent shot.

Okay, a quick fact check. Houdini did jump handcuffed from the Belle Island Bridge in Detroit in very cold temperatures in November 1906. But the river wasn't frozen. Houdini himself created the myth of being trapped under the ice. When Houdini (1953) was made, the story was believed to be true. It's in the Harold Kellock book, Houdini: His Life Story, on which this movie is based. It wasn't until 1959 that the true facts of the Belle Island Bridge jump came to light. So we can't fault the filmmakers for including this and embedding it into people's minds to this day. It's just so dang powerful!

We now dissolve to Bess back in the hotel room, still dressed in black with the lights low. She hears newsboys calling on the street: "Houdini lost in Detroit River!" This atmospheric addition to the story was the creation of Bess herself. It first appears in the Kellock book:

    Back in the hotel Mrs. Houdini was lying uneasily in bed when she heard newsboys crying in the street.

    "Quick, open the window wide," she said to her attendant, and suddenly the cries became clear: "Extree! Extree! Houdini dead!" "Extree! Houdini drowned in river."

That's when the hotel door opens. Bess turns to see a darkened silhouette of Houdini standing there. Is it a ghost? No, it's Houdini in the flesh, accompanied by Otto. He is risen! (At this point, the ten-year-old me decided I needed to devote my life to Houdini.)

Harry and Bess embrace. He explains that the current swept him downstream. He feared he'd "never find the opening," but then he heard his mother's voice calling to him. He swam toward the sound of her voice and found the opening in the ice. (Presumably, with Otto still standing vigil.) Bess cries as Harry assures her, "I'll never leave you. I'll never leave you."

The phone rings. Harry takes the call, and darkness descends over his features. "What time did she die?" he asks. When he hangs up, he tells Bess that his mother died at the same time he heard her calling to him. Houdini collapses into Bess's arms and we fade to black.

Standing ovation!!!

Okay, more fact-checking. The addition of Houdini's mother's death and guiding voice is pure invention. Here, divine intervention saves Houdini from his Halloween fate (this time). But Houdini's own "true" version of the story has none of this. In fact, he goes out of his way to say that he searched and found no "greater" or "guiding light" to rescue him. In his own version of events, Houdini saves himself.

It's also interesting to note that because the filmmakers chose to stage this on Halloween, it means his mother also died on Halloween. A bad day indeed! Houdini's mother actually died on July 17, 1913, and Houdini learned of her death during a press conference in Copenhagen. But the movie is correct in showing that Houdini was not present for his mother's death, and the news came as a great shock to him. Such a shock that it will change the course of his life and career.

But we'll save that for next time.

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Click to see all chapters of Deconstructing Houdini '53

Related:

• Trapped under the ice with Houdini
• Houdini freezes the Detroit river in 1912
• Punching a new hole in the ice story
• November 16, 1975