The story as it is told
In 1919 Houdini made a movie called The Grim Game, and in it, the story says, he did the one thing nobody had ever seen. Hanging in the air, he climbed from one plane to another. The planes collided, and he rode the wreck down and walked away.
The ads played it up, and so did a newsreel of the time. Houdini, afterwards, talked as if he had done every inch of it himself.
What we can confirm
From 1919 to 1923 Houdini tried to become a movie hero. TCM's history of his career says the films were built to show off his escapes, and that he usually played a secret agent or inventor with the initials H.H. The first was a 15-episode serial, The Master Mystery. Paramount then made The Grim Game (1919) and Terror Island (1920), which sent his character to an exotic island in a submarine.
Houdini wanted control of the money, so he formed his own company. The Library of Congress's 1997 bulletin says the Houdini Picture Corporation was founded in 1921 and that its first film was The Man From Beyond (1922), with scenes shot at Niagara Falls in May 1921. The last was Haldane of the Secret Service (1923), which TCM says Houdini directed himself. The Silent Era database lists its release as September 30, 1923, through FBO, and notes a surviving print at UCLA.
The films made little money. Moving Image Archive News quotes Houdini on quitting the business in 1923: "the profits are too meager." Biographer Kenneth Silverman told PBS in 1999, "He was a terrible actor."
The Grim Game was nearly lost and is now the best-preserved. A full print turned up in the collection of Houdini collector Larry Weeks, was restored, and premiered at the TCM Classic Film Festival on March 29, 2015, with a new score by Brane Živković. The film's best-known scene is a midair collision of two planes. According to Silverman, as reported by Moving Image Archive News, the stunt was done by a stunt pilot, Robert E. Kennedy, and Houdini later claimed it as his own.
What the record supports: Houdini made five films between 1919 and 1923, ran his own film company from 1921, stopped making films in 1923 after poor returns, and did not perform the Grim Game plane-crash stunt himself.
The facts
- H.H. characters; Master Mystery had 15 episodes; Paramount made Grim Game and Terror Island; his own company; he directed Haldane. Bret Wood, TCM, tcm.com
- Houdini Picture Corporation founded 1921; first film The Man From Beyond; Niagara Falls location May 1921. LoC Information Bulletin, Feb 24, 1997, loc.gov
- Haldane of the Secret Service: Houdini Pictures Corp., FBO, released Sept 30, 1923, print at UCLA, listed "Public domain [USA]." Silent Era, Progressive Silent Film List, silentera.com
- Larry Weeks print; restoration; TCM Classic Film Festival premiere Mar 29, 2015; new score by Brane Živković; "the profits are too meager"; Kennedy did the crash stunt (per Silverman); Silverman "He was a terrible actor." Moving Image Archive News, Apr 15, 2015, movingimagearchivenews.org
Sources
- H.H. characters; Master Mystery had 15 episodes; Paramount made Grim Game and Terror Island; his own company; he directed Haldane. Bret Wood, TCM, tcm.com
- Houdini Picture Corporation founded 1921; first film The Man From Beyond; Niagara Falls location May 1921. LoC Information Bulletin, Feb 24, 1997, loc.gov
- Haldane of the Secret Service: Houdini Pictures Corp., FBO, released Sept 30, 1923, print at UCLA, listed "Public domain [USA]." Silent Era, Progressive Silent Film List, silentera.com
- Larry Weeks print; restoration; TCM Classic Film Festival premiere Mar 29, 2015; new score by Brane Živković; "the profits are too meager"; Kennedy did the crash stunt (per Silverman); Silverman "He was a terrible actor." Moving Image Archive News, Apr 15, 2015, movingimagearchivenews.org