Continuing my scene-by-scene dissection of Houdini (1953). Last time, an overboard box escape went horribly wrong and Houdini finally met his end. Or has he?
Chapter 19: Resurrection
This scene is the conclusion of the famed trapped under the ice sequence, but it's worth examining on its own as it contains a significant moment in Houdini's life. Maybe even THE most significant moment.
We dissolve from Otto standing alone by the side of the hole in the ice 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 Houdini herself. It first appears in the Harold 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."
Bess closes the door and breaks down in tears. But then the hotel door silently opens behind her. 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 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 addition of Houdini's mother's death and guiding voice is a deviation from the established mythology. 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.
I do think it's inspired to not show Houdini's escape from his icy confinement. Letting the scene end on a down note makes his mysterious reappearance feel like an actual resurrection. It makes him an even more mythic and powerful figure. But his ascendancy comes with a cost.
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.
It's 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.
