Saturday, November 20, 2010

Monday...

On Monday I will reveal what I believe is the earliest attempt by a major studio to make a movie based on Houdini's life. As far as I know, this information has lay undiscovered for over 70 years.

Houdini and Hollywood history might be made right here at our humble little blog...

9 comments:

  1. Formatting done! Scheduled to automatically post at 7AM PST (so even if someone makes me vanish at the Castle tonight, it will still go up. :p).

    Now I need to work on Part II.

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  2. I can't wait John! Very exciting stuff!

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  3. Is this a silent movie from England?

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  4. Eric, are you by any chance talking about that clip of what appears to be silent Houdini biopic in the documentary, Houdini: The Life of the World's Great Escapologist? That clip has always baffled me. I'm not sure it's an actual film. It might have been created just for that doc.

    What I have isn't a movie that was ever made. It's an "attempt" at a biopic, but with some very interesting elements.

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  5. Yes, that's what I was wondering about.

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  6. Are you referring to the 1934 biopic that would have starred Fred Keating?

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  7. Hey Bill. Is that the Dore Schary Paramount film? I'd never heard of a star attached to that one. Fred Keating, eh? Interesting. But, no, this one is a bit earlier than that.

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  8. The clip of the father's deathbed scene does look like a modern reimagining of a silent film, but the credits for "Houdini The Life of the World's Greatest Escapologist" mention a 1928 bio-pic "The Great Houdini" by Ealing Film Studios. The credits also give a copyright date of 1993 for that reference, so I don't know what to think.

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  9. Yeah, I remember being perplexed by that credit as well. Haven't thought about that in a long time... I actually have a friend who lives in Ealing right near the studio. Wonder if they have an archive? Maybe next time I'm in England, I'll try and arrange a visit -- get the bottom that.

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