HARRY HOUDINI’S SILENT MOVIE ADVENTURES

Many people have forgotten that escape artist Harry Houdini parlayed his stage fame into a series of gimmick movies and a serial during the age of silent films. Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at those overlooked productions.

THE MASTER MYSTERY (1918-1919) – The first film footage of Harry Houdini performing his stage act dates to 1907, but it wasn’t until this 15-part serial that he hit the big screen in a series of adventures. Chapter One of The Master Mystery debuted on November 18th, 1918 and starred Houdini as a federal agent named Quentin Locke.

Quentin is assigned to infiltrate a sinister corporation that practices patent fraud, but as Locke’s investigation probes deeper, a far-reaching conspiracy against the entire United States is exposed.

Every cliffhanger ending for the chapters of the serials involves a deathtrap which Houdini escapes from at the start of the following installment.

No trick photography was used in filming Harry’s escapes, and another bit of history in The Master Mystery involves the villain’s robot, called the Automaton. One of the first powered exoskeletons in movie history was used to maneuver the android around. As the story goes on, the Automaton’s creator modifies it to spray his nerve gas called the Madagascan Madness. 

Two of the serial’s chapters suffered decomposition so title card synopses of those missing chapters have been provided in modern day reissues. Sadly, if you’re not a silent movie fanatic like I am, this serial can be pretty tedious. The surviving footage runs just under four hours, but is divided up into chapters, of course.

THE GRIM GAME (1919) – In this 71-minute silent feature film, Harry Houdini portrayed Harvey Hanford, a reporter who gets framed by an evil syndicate for the murder of his wealthy Uncle Dudley Cameron.

Our hero gets arrested for the crime, but escapes (naturally) and sets out to clear his name and capture the real killers, who have kidnapped his lady love Mary, played by Ann Forrest. The Grim Game packs a lot more action than The Master Mystery did and includes even more of Houdini’s escape tricks. This film was believed lost until 2015!

Harvey Hanford gets involved in fights, deathtraps, car chases and airplane chases while trying to corral the bad guys, including action at their remote cabin hideout in the woods.

Aerial stunts were performed by a stunt worker, but for publicity the studio claimed Houdini did those, too. A real-life collision was filmed between two planes, one with Houdini’s character and the other with the villain and the hostage Mary.

The crew on the camera plane calmly kept filming, and at 200 feet the two pilots disentangled their aircraft and flew to safety. Because of how spectacular the footage was, it was kept in the finished film. Houdini’s Harvey Hanford prevailed and married his true love in the end.

TERROR ISLAND (1920) – Harry Houdini stars as two-fisted inventor Harry Harper in this Pulp magazine style adventure. Lila Lee plays Beverly West, whose adventurous father (Fred Turner) is being held captive by natives on a remote island which can be found only through the map her father gifted to her.

As ransom for her father’s release the chief of the tribe demands that Beverly return the large pearl that her father once stole from the island. Beverly asks Harry Harper to take her to the remote island in his newly designed submarine so they can try to save her father’s life.

The evil Mourdant Family (Job, Guy and Sheila) also want the pearl AND the sunken ship near the island … a ship containing priceless treasure. Terror Island, originally to be titled Salvage, continues the successful formula of The Grim Game. We get real escape stunts from Houdini mixed in with action bits that modern viewers might associate with Tarzan or Indiana Jones.

In the end, the Mourdants and their hirelings are defeated, Beverly is captured but rescued, and Harry recovers the sunken treasure. Her father is set free, and our three heroes return to America.

Two reels of Terror Island‘s original seven have suffered decomposition, and what remains runs 55 minutes. Title cards are provided synopsizing the missing reels and rest assured the beginning and end of the film have survived.

THE MAN FROM BEYOND (1922) – In this film, Houdini starred as Howard Hillary, a man who has been discovered frozen for 100 years yet in a state of suspended animation in the Arctic. 

The frozen man is discovered on a long-icebound ship by an expedition led by Dr. Gregory Sinclair (Erwin Connelly). Howard is brought back to civilization, returns to consciousness and meets Felice Strange (Jane Connelly), whom he is convinced is the reincarnation of his true love, whose life he was trying to save on the icebound ship a century ago.

Felice grows to suspect some truth behind Howard Hillary’s persistent claims but she and her villainous suitor Gilbert Trent (Arthur Maude) soon set off on an Arctic expedition to find her missing father, who seems to have gotten lost while tardily trying to catch up with Dr. Sinclair’s original party (the one which discovered Howard).

Houdini’s character, using the otherworldly senses that have arisen in his brain during his decades in suspended animation, learns that Felice’s missing father was really abducted by her no-good fiance Gilbert. It’s up to Howard Hillary to free Felice’s father and rescue Felice from Gilbert and his thugs.

Escapes and action follow, with the most famous stunt being Houdini’s effort to save Felice from plunging over Niagara Falls. The movie ran 74 minutes and was praised by Arthur Conan Doyle.

HALDANE OF THE SECRET SERVICE (1923) – Alliteration is still the order of the day as Harry Houdini (who also directed) plays Secret Service Agent Heath Haldane. The agent works to shut down a counterfeiting ring behind a flood of fake currency hitting the country.

The action-packed, escape-filled case turns out to involve criminals responsible for killing Haldane’s detective father long ago. Even more, our hero discovers that Dr. Yu, the Fu Manchu style mastermind behind it all, runs an entire international conspiracy. (In the end Dr. Yu turns out to just be a white guy masquerading as an Asian.)

Heath Haldane rescues Adele Ormsby (Gladys Leslie) from the villains and helps her father Edward (William J. Humphrey), who is entangled in Dr. Yu’s web. 

A celebration in Chinatown is captured on film as the story rolls along. Unfortunately, Harry Houdini was not very good as a movie director so the 84-minute running time drags in many places. Still, Haldane of the Secret Service is worth a watch for fans of silent movies and fans of Houdini. 

FOR A SIMILAR LOOK AT DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS’ SILENT SWASHBUCKLER MOVIES CLICK HERE.

FOR STARLET THEDA BARA’S SILENT FILMS CLICK HERE.