I and I'm sure many people have heard about some of the tricks, illusions, and stunts by the most famous escape artist, and I had already watched the two-part miniseries with Adrien Brody, I was looking forward to a Hollywood made biopic, directed by George Marshall (Pack Up Your Troubles, Towed in the Hole, Destry Rides Again). Basically, in the 1890s, at a Coney Island carnival, naive onlooker Bess (Janet Leigh) is attending a sideshow. One of the attractions is Bruto the Wild Man who Bess tries to protect from the blows of his "trainer" Schultz (Sig Ruman). The wild man is actually young performer Harry Houdini (Tony Curtis), who removes his costume and then appears as magician The Great Houdini. He is instantly attracted to Bess and invites her onstage for his performance. Harry flirts with the unsuspecting Bess during his act, but she flees from him in a panic. Bess however watches him perform him two more times and he corners her. Bess admits her attraction, and Harry later takes him his home, whom he shares with his mother (Angela Clarke). Harry wants to hide the fact that they are now married, but his mother works it out for herself, and is delighted. Bess becomes Harry's onstage partner, touring the United States with him, but soon grows tired of the low pay and gruelling schedule. After Bess convinces Harry to take a job in a locksmith factory, but working as a lock tester, he fantasises about escaping from one of the factory's large safes. On Halloween, Harry and Bess attend a special magicians' dinner at the Hotel Astor, during which magician Fante (Ian Wolfe) offers a prize to anyone who can escape from a straitjacket. Harry accepts the challenge and, through intense concentration, frees himself from the jacket, greatly impressing Fante. Afterward, however, Fante advises Harry to "drop it," mentioning German magician Johann Von Schweger who retired at the height of his career after performing a similar feat, fearful of his own talents. Bess then persuades Harry to give her his prize, a ticket to take a trip to Europe, so that she can cash it in and go towards buying a house. Later, at the factory, Harry locks himself inside one of the big safes, determined to make an escape. Before he can get out, however, the foreman orders the safe blown open, then fires Harry. That night, in front of his mother, Harry and Bess argue about their future, and frustrated by Bess's insistence that he give up magic, Harry walks out. They later reconcile, when Bess finds Harry performing with a carnival, she presents him with two one-way tickets to Europe, where he hopes to make his name and find the elusive German magician. Sometime later, at a London theatre, Harry and Bess end their magic act, and reporter Dooley (Michael Pate) challenges Harry to break out of one of Scotland Yard's notoriously prison cells. Harry, who hired Dooley to issue the challenge, accepts the challenge, unaware how the cell locks are opened. Despite the difficulty, the dexterous, determined Houdini picks the cell lock and appears on time for his next performance. Now billed as the "man who escaped from Scotland Yard," Harry begins a successful tour of Europe with Bess. In Berlin, Harry begins searching for the reclusive Von Schweger. While performing an impromptu levitation trick with Bess at a restaurant, Harry is arrested for fraud. During his trial, Harry denies that he ever made claims to supernatural powers, insisting that all his tricks are accomplished through physical means. To prove his point, Harry locks himself in a safe in the courtroom and breaks out a few minutes later. Vindicated, Harry then goes to see Von Schweger, who has finally responded to his queries, but learns from Von Schweger's assistant, Otto (Torin Thatcher), that the magician died two days earlier. Otto mentions that Von Schweger wanted to know the secret of "dematerialisation", and, although Harry objects, Otto insists on becoming Harry's new assistant and travels with him to New York City. Finding he is virtually unknown in America; Harry makes publicity by hanging upside down in a straitjacket from a skyscraper flagpole. Harry executes the escape and soon makes a name for himself. Harry prepares to be submerged in a box in the frozen Detroit River, bathing an in ice-filled bathtub. During the trick, the chain holding the box breaks, and the box drops into the river. Harry manages to escape, but the current drags him downstream, and he struggles to find air pockets under the ice and a way out. Above, Bess and the horrified audience assume Harry has drowned and he is declared dead. To Bess's relief, Harry shows up later at their hotel, saying that he heard his mother's voice, directing him toward the opening. Just then, Harry receives the devastating news that his has mother died. Two years later in New York, Harry has not performed since his mother's death. He reveals to reporter Simms (Douglas Spencer) that he has been trying to contact his mother's spirit, without success. Harry invites Simms to attend a séance, where a medium appears to have communicated with his mother, but Harry and Otto expose her as a fake. Harry makes a crusade to publicly expose other phony mediums. Eventually, Harry decides to return to the stage and has a water torture tank made for the occasion. Bess is terrified and threatens to leave Harry if he attempts the dangerous trick, and he agrees not to perform it. Before the show, Harry admits to Otto that his appendix is tender, but goes on, despite the pain. As the act comes to an end, the audience shout, demanding him to perform the advertised "water torture" trick. Harry gives in and is immersed, chained up upside down in the tank of water. Harry cannot complete the escape and loses consciousness. Otto breaks the tank's glass, and after reviving, the now-dying Harry vows to a weeping Bess that, if possible, he will come back. Also starring Stefan Schnabel as Prosecuting Attorney, and Connie Gilchrist as Mrs. Shultz. Curtis is charming as the famous stunt performer and illusionist, and Leigh is beautiful and sweet, the fact that at the time the couple were married in real life makes their relationship completely believable. The love story is nice to watch, it is a slightly cheesy portrayal at times, but you cannot help but go along with it, and the tricks and stunts are entertaining, all in all it is an enjoyable biographical drama. Good!