The Grim Game

The Grim Game (1919)

Runtime: 71 minutes

Directed by: Irvin Willat

Starring: Harry Houdini (!), Thomas Jefferson (no, not that Jefferson; this movie is not that old), Ann Forest, Augustus Phillips, Tully Marshall

From: Paramount

Yes, a fictional movie where Houdini acts. I did not know until recently this was ever a thing. Let me explain in my Letterboxd review what this is all about, and that is no illusion: 

Last night on Turner Classic Movies they showed several silents that were feared lost but were later found. I decided to check out this one, as I was greatly interested in it as it starred... Harry Houdini. I did not know he acted in a fictional film and turns out, he did a few of them before he died at too young an age. Besides doing various stunts and illusions, he was also a skeptic and was against such things as spirtualists and psychics; this had an obvious effect and influence on such later magicians as James Randi and Penn & Teller, so I was real interested in watching this. Anyway, this was retrieved from a collector and it was restored and shown to the public just earlier this year.

The plot revolves around the newspaper business (of all things) and has a wacky plot where some people and Houdini pull a scam to try and get more newspaper buys... only he gets double-crossed and he has to escape from jail to get the bad guys... and yes there is a love interest for him.

The story isn't anything special but that is OK. I was more interested in seeing Houdini do his magic and while there are contrivances to how those are set up, I am glad that it was available on film for me to see with my own eyes. Plus, he does some physical comedy and that immediately made me think of such people as Buster Keaton and (much later) Jackie Chan, so that was nice.

The ending is definitely memorable, as some insane things happen; this includes moments with a pair of-at the time modern-airplanes and that includes them smashing into each other and crashing on the ground... which was not supposed to happen. It being in the film was not a tasteless act as thank heavens no one was killed and they decided to write it into the story.

I normally wouldn't rate it this high based on what was in the film, but its historical significance and my personal fandom required it to be rated at 3 ½ stars.