Previously on Houdini.
One way or another, we all want to escape.
Let's see you get out of these.
When ordinary life shackles us, we need to get away.
You don't get out, I keep you here overnight.
Fair enough.
- But not me.
Unlike other people, J don't escape life.
I escape death.
A magician is not really a magician. He is an actor...
- pretending to be a magician.
Rasputin says you are full of-
Full of-
Ah. I get the general idea.
If not for my mother, I would've gone nowhere.
You're gonna have to do better than that if you wanna be the greatest magician in the world.
Yeah?
- Whats your name, busier? - Jim Collins from Macon, Georgia.
I can escape from almost anything.
Houdini's the most famous man in America. He now makes more money than the president.
I'm Sir William Melville, his British counterpart in MI5.
What more natural cover than a traveling entertainer.
Mr. Houdini!
Fear is how I know I'm alive.
I will now attempt to catch the bullet.
Just 'cause there's nobody out there doesn't mean that the ones that are...
don't deserve the best of the Great Houdini.
- Nowadays, folks are going to moving pictures. - Ah, movies.
- What are you mixed up in? - Is it a girl?
Why can't you tell me? I'm your wife, aren't I?
You're the wife of the Great Houdini!
- Harry? - Hell of a way to make a living.
Fantastic!
Here's your new competition.
Not doin' anything.
He's makin' 'em laugh.
That's all right. My audience loves me.
They'll come back.
I just need something new.
What about the elephant?
It's not an escape. Needs to be an escape.
Laugh again, and you're fired.
Smaller theater. Please.
Escapes can't get smaller. They have to get bigger.
People expect more from the Great Houdini, not less.
- Maybe people are tired of escapes. - Huh?
You've done enough of them.
What kind of tobacco is that?
Mexican.
- Pepe gave it to me. - Who? Pepe?
What? From the band?
Smells weird.
He said it would help with my nerves.
He's right.
What the heck is bigger?
Play the Grand Canyon, why don't you?
Yeah, get me room 202.
Jim...
bring up some ice.
No, I mean a lot of ice.
- Evenin', Mrs. H. - What the hell is going on in here?
- Language, honey, please. - What are you doing?
- Ah, thanks, Jim. - You got it, boss.
If I can't bring the folks to the theater...
I gotta bring the theater to the folks.
- What does that mean? - If movies can go outdoors, so can I.
Oh, Christ, Harry.
- I gotta pee. - Yeah, five more minutes, honey. it's all yours.
We've been married 19 years. You can watch me pee.
I don't want to watch you pee.
Ah!
I expected the Mississippi to be cold...
but this was ridiculous.
That's that.
Maybe they could cut a hole in the ice.
- Harry, no. - Are you kiddin'? You'd kill yourself.
What? Twelve, 15 feet should do it.
- Honey, don't worry. - Oh, “honey,” my ass.
You want me to stick around to find out if I'm a widow?
You may be crazy, Harry, but I'm not.
- Sweetheart, please. - Go lo hell, Harry.
Fifteen feet?
Make ii 12.
Honey, it's just a little ice.
Put an ad in the paper and tell people...
you're gonna do something crazy Tuesday at noon...
and a thousand people will show up Tuesday at noon.
Throw in a chance of me getting killed, and you have to beat 'em back with a stick.
It was the wrong moment to start thinking.
If! started to think, I might forget who I was.
The Great Houdini.
Is he still down there?
The current had pushed me back so far...
I couldn't find my escape.
When we reach for greatness, sometimes we stumble.
We risk drowning in our ambition.
I'm a lucky man though.
'Cause whenever! found myself flailing in the darkness...
there was always one person there to save me.
Erich.
I told everyone I saw you, Ma, guiding me back.
And sure enough, we've been sold out ever since.
- She called me a liar. - She knows you too well.
Yeah. But, look, it's in the paper, Ma. Look.
“Houdini Guided By Mother's Voice To Safety!”
That's how I told it. That makes it true.
Yes, true as his name's Harry Houdini, Mom.
- We don't fight, Ma. - We don't fight.
All this rivalry stuff- it's just for publicity.
People want to pay to see who's better, right?
Which they already know, huh?
- Oh, is that right? - Jumped off any bridges lately, Dash?
- Oh, that's a good one. - Looks like you're running out of bridges, Harry.
What you gonna do next? Escape out of a barrel coming off the Niagara Falls?
Please don't say things like that to him. You give him ideas.
It's all right, honey. He's just trying to wind us up.
I promised her no more bridge jumps. Isn't that right, baby?
- Better be. - Yeah.
That's right, Ma. Right. I can't be killed. You hear that?
So how are you gonna make a dent in San Francisco, Harry?
- 'Cause they already had the earthquake. - Huh.
You know me. Always got something up my sleeve.
Honey. Honey, picked up a jacket at Harrods.
- Ooh. - Come here.
Look at this.
Leather, canvas. It's very modern, huh?
Fashionable.
Where are you planning on wearing that?
They call it a straitjacket. For confining lunatics.
We visited a madhouse.
- Let's try this thing on for size. - All right.
Good.
- Boy.
All right. Uh-Oh, Oh.
This thing will make you go mad.
Maybe I can loosen one of those straps, right?
Can't do it soft. It's gonna be pulled by strangers.
They're gonna pull it tight.
Gettin' there?
- All right. - Ah!
Boss.
What'd you just do?
Oh!
Ho!
It's not so hard...
once you dislocate your shoulder.
Oh.
What?
Now I just gotta figure out how to pop it back in.
Turn me around, boys.
I needed to keep pushing my limits...
to keep gazing further.
But why?
Whatever the answer was”.
It was never enough.
You used to pretend to escape death. It was a trick.
- But now you're tricking me. - That's how I make my living.
That's what people pay to see.
Hello, San Francisco.
Hey, Chaplin, can you do this?
I escape death. Everybody wants to escape from something.
I do it for them. I escape.
I do the impossible.
When they think I'm dead, I burst into the open air...
and they all breathe again.
Yeah!
- Whoa! - On my shoulders I carry all of their-
Sins?
What, like Jesus?
Not their sins. Their fears.
Their fears.
I carry their fears.
Don't kid yourself, Harry.
You may not be afraid of death, but you're afraid of life.
- Oh, please, I've lived real life. - Real life.
You can keep it. I'd rather face death a thousand times...
than stand in the kitchen and do dishes.
Don't tell me you feel otherwise.
I know you're just as happy to skip the dishes as I am.
- Houdini! - Houdini!
- What do you want me to do? - I want a home.
What are you talking about? You have a great big mansion in Brooklyn.
We're never in it. When we are, we're sharing it with your mother.
- Ah. - We live out of suitcases and trunks.
This is what you signed up for, honey.
I didn't sign up. I got married.
Harry!
Sometimes I think you only proposed to me because I fit in that stupid trunk.
Is that why we're married? Because I fit in the trunk?
I thought you were through with that stuff.
I thought you were through with trying to kill yourself.
It is safe. It is very safe.
You can never be sure. That's what you always say.
- You can never be sure. - I say it to sell the stunt!
- Oh, please! - I can't jump.
I can't escape underwater. I can't hang upside down.
What can I do? What can I do?
- You're puttin' me in a box! - You're only happy in a box!
What's next, a coffin?
- Shit, Harry. - Why do you have to be so vulgar?
I don't know. I'm just a dumb girl who married a Jew.
My word.
Sing it for me.
I'm your audience.
♪ Rosie, sweet Rosabelle ♪
♪ I love her more than I can tell ♪
For luck.
I O'er me she casts a spell I
♪ My charming black-eyed sweet Rosabelle N'
“The Houdinis.”
Bess.
Where were you?
Church.
Church?
Harry"...
from now on...
we are either in this together...
or I'm leaving.
Do you understand?
I swear-
Honey, I swear on my mothers life...
I will never risk my neck again.
I swear.
That's not what I'm talking about.
I know.
I'm sorry, honey.
I'm sorry.
Sorry.
Ladies and gentlemen...
be prepared to be captivated...
exhilarated, mystified.
But first, ladies and gentlemen, say hello to the mother of the Great Houdini.
And the wife of the Great Houdini.
So I gave up escaping, for her.
I went back to making rabbits disappear.
And now...
say hello to the beautiful daughter of P.T. Barnum's Jumbo.
Say hello to Jenny.
Or in this case, something a little bigger.
Jenny, say hi to everybody.
Folks, Jenny is over eight feet tall and weighs 10,000 pounds.
A marvel.
Jenny, give me a kiss, will ya?
Oh, good girl.
Ooh, ooh.
Ladies and gentlemen, pay close attention, please.
The mind is the most powerful tool.
Tonight, I shall use this power...
to make Jenny disappear...
before your very eyes.
Thank you.
Bess always wanted to know how J did that one.
Thank you.
So did the rest of the world.
There were a lot of things I felt compelled to keep secret from Bess.
Hello, Harry.
- Hello. - Small world.
When do you play in Europe again? Inquiring minds want to know.
- Inquiring minds in London? - And Washington.
Your fans in Europe hunger for a return engagement.
What about booking passage on the Emperador?
German owned, and we were told a ranking military delegation will be returning aboard.
And if I, uh, decline?
Your fans would be... disappointed.
Give me a second.
Don't cry, Ma. I'll be back.
Don't say that.
She'll be fine.
- Take care of her, Dash. - I will, Harry. Don't worry.
Put on a little show for those high-ranking krauts.
They figured I didn't understand German.
They were talking about 'unbeschrankter krieg. "
Unrestricted warfare.
- Unrestricted warfare? - Yeah, what does that mean?
It means that if I the event Of WEI'...
they anticipate using their submarines to sink British shipping...
including passenger ships.
Will there be a war?
Well, it doesn't look especially promising.
However, you're here on tour again.
Will you make the elephant reappear...
or merely hang upside down from Big Ben?
Well, my wife has an aversion to heights.
Ladies and gentlemen, Sir Arthur and Lady Conan Doyle.
Tonight, before your very eyes...
I propose to walk through this solid brick wall.
This structure has been erected by several of London's finest masons...
within the last hour.
What an achievement. Thank you, boys. Thank you.
Are you ready, ladies and gentlemen?
Maestro.
II
- Would you like to see that again? - Yes!
Maestro.
What the eyes see, the mind believes.
Thank you.
My dear fellow, that was absolutely superb.
- Thank you, Sir William. - Good night.
Good night, Wasn't that a kick?
- Wasn't that something? - It worked like a charm, my dear.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. What do you want to bet?
Ah, Sir Arthur.
- Welcome. - Mr. Houdini. Thank you.
Come on in. Allow me to present Mrs. Houdini.
- Oh. - Hello.
Very nice to meet you. May I introduce you to my wife, Lady Doyle?
- How do you do? - Very pleased to meet you.
We're a bit, uh, cluttered back here.
- But can I offer you a chair or, uh- - Drink.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We are merely here to add our congratulations.
Yes. Remarkable. Miraculous.
Most kind. Bess, you know that Sir Arthur's the creator of Sherlock Holmes, huh?
Yeah, Harry, I know.
Although I would prefer to be known for other things.
- Mr. Houdini- - Harry, please.
Harry. Well, now, Harry, I paid particular attention...
to every detail of your performance tonight...
and I have just examined the carpet which is employed to prevent the use of trapdoors.
- I see. Well- - Now, Sherlock, of course...
is celebrated for his powers of deduction and observation.
So you will appreciate it when I tell you that watching your performance...
I was forced to conclude...
that you possess spiritual powers.
Beg your pardon?
Spiritual powers.
I was forced to conclude that no human agency...
would have allowed you to penetrate that wall.
Now, I am a spiritualist myself, and therefore I am rather familiar...
with psychic phenomena.
Well, Sir Arthur, I'm extremely flattered, but I gotta tell you...
going through that brick wall is a trick.
- Nothing more. - Oh, well.
He would have to say that, wouldn't he?
I mean, if you were to acknowledge your paranormal powers...
your career as a magician would be finished, wouldn't it?
Well, now, look. You must be extremely fatigued after your extraordinary exertions.
I do hope that our paths cross again.
I'm most anxious to talk to you about your excursions into the world beyond.
A pleasure to meet you both.
As it happens, I am also a medium.
Perhaps we can confer one day.
Sure.
Well, good night to you both.
Oh!
What became of the elephant?
Sir Arthur...
it's a trick.
Yes.
Perhaps we can confer.
What am I, the Wizard of Oz?
Telegram, boss.
Great show tonight, Jim.
Great trick.
- Night, boss. - Good night.
Harry? Harry.
Harry! Harry.
What happened?
- And- - Don't let them bury her.
- What? - Don't let them bury her till I'm home.
Cancel the tour.
Oh, no, Harry.
Oh, God.
I want to know, Dash.
What did she say?
Sounded like...
“Forgive.”
Forgive who?
For what?
I had escaped death again and again...
but my mother's death was a sucker punch that I wasn't near ready for.
And it hit me harder than anything ever had.
Mein Held.
My hero.
You always believed in me, Ma.
Who's gonna believe in me now?
Who's gonna believe?
Hey, Jim.
Can't you do something, boss?
Like what, Jim?
Like supernatural? What do you mean?
Yeah.
Like you and Mrs. H. did onstage a long time ago.
Jim, that was an act.
- You know that. - Yeah. Yeah.
There has gotta be a better way to make a living.
Ooh.
It's a shame, honey, I never got to know your grandfather before he passed away.
- Not that big a shame. - Yeah.
Come to think of it, I don't think he ever even told me his name.
- Well, ifs- - No.
Write it down on that notepad.
Don't let me see it.
Who's got a light? You got a light?
Let's take this paper.
Now let's burn ii over this ashtray.
See that?
Now, I'm gonna take some of these ashes here...
and rub them on my arm.
Now let's see what- what happens here.
Oh, what is that? What is that?
Oh, sweet Jesus!
Oh, honey.
Honey, come on. it's a trick.
It's just a trick.
When I wired Mom her weekly money, I asked her to tell me your grandfather's name.
Come here. Come here. Come on.
- Ah! - Look-Look at this.
“Garnett, Kansas, One Year Later.
Still No Clue In Death Of Murdered Woman.
Psychic Telepathy.
Spiritualism.”
That's what we're gonna do, honey.
Communion with the dead.
You cannot hide from the spirits.
Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we have learned of a tragic situation here...
in the good town of Garnett.
And tonight, and with the help of my dear wife...
a psychometric clairvoyant...
we will attempt to reveal just who it was...
who murdered Elsie Matthews.
As we prepare, please join me in a chorus of “Nearer, My God, to Thee."
♪ Nearer, my God, to thee I
♪ Nearer, my God I
♪ Nearer, my God, to thee I
♪ Nearer to thee N'
I will now cover Mrs. Houdini with this shroud...
in order to concentrate her psychic energies...
allowing her to receive ethereal vibrations.
When next she speaks...
it will be the voice Of Elsie Matthews we hear.
Elsie, are you there?
Are you there?
Elsie?
Yes.
Elsie's spirit is now within Mrs. Houdini...
who is in a trance state...
attuned to receive questions.
Question one.
Elsie, were you murdered...
in your own home?
Yes.
Where were you murdered?
The parlor.
How were you murdered?
Stabbed!
- Sixteen times. - Oh!
With a butcher's knife!
Was the murderer a stranger?
No.
So you knew him?
Yes.
Can you describe the killer?
Tall...
dark...
mustache...
goatee.“
lizard boots.
What is the killer's name?
Splattering!
So much blood!
I am fighting back!
What is the murderer's name?
Is the killer in this audience?
His name!
Have you no shame, no shame at all?
- I beg your pardon. - Parasite.
Our Elsie is dead.
Our first night out in the year since she was murdered, and you profit from our loss?
- I assure you, I had no idea. - Of course you did.
- You looked it up. - I had no notion you-
That we were in the theater?
The Great Houdini and his accomplice didn't sense our presence?
Would that have stopped you? They should put you in a loony bin.
That's where you belong!
Come on. We should go.
Here's your 50 bucks.
If anyone could contact her...
it'd be you.
Well, Jim...
don't you think I would if I could?
I'd give anything.
I'd give everything.
Unbeschrankt warfare”.
Became a reality.
The bullets I pretended to catch in my teeth. ..
Now struck young men throughout the world.
The flying machines I loved were now used to kill.
By the end of the war, a lot of folks I knew were gone.
Kaiser Bill was in exile.
They poisoned, shot...
and finally drowned that crazy monk.
And the tsar and his whole family were shot.
At least President Wilson had had me to tea at the White House.
Stuck around long enough to see me give Chaplin a run for his money.
It's a winner, Harry.
It'll play even better with an orchestra.
I'm on the ground the whole time.
It's fake. IFS all Hollywood.
Look on the bright side, Harry. It's good publicity for the real thing.
Yeah. Great.
Tell him I'll be there in a minute.
Thank you.
What? I thought she was my-
How could J have told her what I thought?
They would’ve locked me up so tight, even I couldn't escape.
- Boss. - Hey.
- I didn't think you'd still be here. - You know me, always tinkering.
How was the screening?
Fine.
It'll do business.
Jim?
Do you believe in the hereafter?
Boss, I already told you how I feel about this.
All I know is if you couldn't contact her, who could?
Show us a sign.
A sign from the beyond.
Declare your presence, dear one.
Your son Harry is here, waiting.
Then you are here.
Let's concentrate our powers...
that we may commune across the ether.
Well, what do you know?
Have you no shame?
- Get out! Get out, you scum! - You're phonies!
You're a bunch of phonies!
I wanted to escape the boundaries of mortality-
to touch the void”.
To know the unknown.
Bur all I was finding were phonies...
charlatans...
and it was starting to tick me off.
I'm here.
Yes? What can you tell us, Billy?
That I'm safe.
Here there is no war.
Farewell, Aunt Clara.
Until we meet again.
Thank Farnsworth.
That's all.
I can't. Light-Lights. Lights.
Thank you, Mr. Farnsworth.
Shoe polish!
I put shoe polish on his megaphone. Look where it wound up.
He's a phony!
- And I am the Great Houdini. - You son of a bitch.
I'll kill ya.
And I'll throw the book at ya.
Houdini must die!
Well, while I'm still alive-
They call themselves mediums, or clairvoyants...
but truly they are vultures who prey on the misery of those in pain...
longing to be reunited with those they have lost.
Well, to these frauds I offer a challenge.
$10,000.
$10,000 for a medium...
whose tricks the Great Houdini cannot expose.
You're a trickster yourself.
And who are you, sir?
I communicate authentically with the beyond...
and I say to your face you are nothing but a trickster.
True.
I claim no otherworldly powers.
On the contrary, I exalt in my own.
I've spent a lifetime developing my strength...
and mastering physical manipulation.
I do not seek to profit from the pain and loss of the bereaved...
only to entertain.
Sir, will you accept my challenge?
Will you invite me to your next séance?
Can you put me in contact with my beloved mother?
I warn you, I know all your tricks.
You know all of mine?
If you want to shut me up, you'll have to shoot me.
Do you hear?
You'll have to shoot me.
I Houdini Narrating 1 Hmm. Not a bad idea, actually.
If they wanted to shoot me...
I'd do it for them, promote my book. ..
And take down these vultures- all at the same time.
Folks, you get the idea. I'll be staked to the ground across the cannon's mouth.
If I don't free myself by the time the fuse reaches the cannon...
they'll have to collect the pieces.
Strap me up, boys. Get it nice and tight.
I suggest anyone with a heart condition may wish to leave the park at this time.
- Are you ready, Sergeant Collins? - Ready!
Then light the fuse!
- Thirty seconds! - This doesn't look good, folks.
If I don't free myself in the next 25 seconds...
they're gonna have to call for a team of morticians.
The truth is I was never really sure this was gonna work.
Geez,.
Fifteen seconds!
Fifteen seconds, folks!
Five!
Four!
Three!
Two!
One!
I just see smoking.
Where is he?
Bravo.
Bravo!
- Good to see you. - Yes.
Oh.
Souvenir for you, Lady Doyle.
That's quite wonderful.
You know, my dear fellow, if nothing else...
you are simply the bravest man that I have ever met.
I'm surprised to see you here in Atlantic City.
Were here for Sir Arthur's lecture tour- on spiritualism.
Ah, yes.
Mind me asking, but...
how is it the mind who dreamed up Sherlock Holmes...
champion of logic, could buy into table rapping?
Oh, yes, yes. I see from the newspapers that you're still a skeptic.
But-But what I'm talking about has scientific evidence.
My mind is open, but I have yet to encounter a genuine medium.
The ones that I meet use dime-store tricks...
to prey on families who lost loved ones in the war...
as I know you have, Sir Arthur.
Yes, that's true. That's true. But I became convinced of spiritualism...
long before my son and my brother were slain.
Well, I wish I could believe that reality.
You don't know how much.
Fortune.
- Ah. - Read your fortune.
- Ma'am, how much? - Two bits.
Take no heed, Houdini.
They're all over Atlantic City. They're like vermin.
It's all right. This will be interesting.
There you go. What do you see?
- Not today. - What do you mean, “Not today”?
Hold on a second. You don't get off that easy.
What do you see, huh'? Am I gonna meet a tall, dark stranger?
You will die.
So will you.
We all die. That's no prediction.
- Sorry I asked. - But as you're aware...
I am convinced of your paranormal powers.
I've denied them.
Tell me, Bess, do you believe that Harry here...
is the possessor of supernatural powers?
Over me he sure does.
I believe when we first met I told you I was a clairvoyant.
Ah.
Yes, ma'am. You did.
But you can't be sure I'm genuine.
Unless I hold a sitting, just for you.
Would you like to see if Lady Doyle can contact your mother?
I do this a little differently, as you will see, Harry.
It's called automatic writing.
I've heard of it.
I don't know if I'll be able to make contact. I have no control over the spirits.
Close your eyes, please.
Oh. Yes.
Yes.
Oh, heavens.
I've tried so long, my boy.
So often.
I try.
- Who's there? - I try.
His mother.
Oh, my darling.
Thank God.
At last I am through.
I've tried, oh, so often.
But now I am happy.
Why, of course I want to talk to my boy.
My own beloved boy.
Friends, I thank you with all my heart for this.
You have answered the cry of my heart...
and of his.
God bless him a thousandfold...
for all his life.
For me, never had a mother such a son.
Soon he will get all the proof he wants.
Tell him God will be waiting.
And so will I.
Oh, if only the world knew this great truth.
Thank you.
Do you know what yesterday was?
Yeah, ii was, uh, March twenty...
fourth.
Oh!
I'm sorry.
I forgot.
Ma wouldn't have. She never forgot my birthday.
- Lady Doyle's a fraud. - Boss.
Boss.
This man created Sherlock Holmes. The whole world loves him.
You love him. He's a big cheese in the spirit business.
You take him on, you'll stir up a hornet's nest.
You gotta back off.
You find these people, and you turn them into heroes or fathers or something...
then you get pissed when they turn out to be regular people.
- He is just regular people.
Your wife is a fake!
In her whole life, my mother never spoke one word of English!
- Harry! - Not one.
- Harry. Lady Doyle translates as soon- - And it was my birthday.
A mother not mentioning her son's birthday? She never missed. Never.
Your wife is a fake. You hear me, Lady Doyle? You're a fake.
You're a fake!
- Oh! - How dare you insult my wife!
{ Houdini On Radio 1 I don'! claim Lady Doyle is a fake, but she is deluded-
probably under the influence of her misguided husband.
While J sympathize with his wartime losses...
Sir Arthur's efforts to promote his beliefs...
has led them both into causing incalculable harm.
It is not too much to say that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...
is a menace to mankind.
Till now, We tried in good faith to contact my beloved mother.“.
But I now declare total war on the spiritualist racket.
I will devote my whole life...
to defeating their nefarious schemes to exploit a gullible public.
I more than double my challenge.
$25,000 to any so-called medium who can convince me.
There he is!
Sir! Sir Arthur!
Sir Arthur, any comments on Houdini's response to your séance?
- No, no, no. - Do you have time to answer just one thing?
- Let us through, please. Come on now. - Any comments on Houdini's response?
- Lady Doyle. - Lady Doyle.
- No. Out of the way. - Is it true you were able to make contact...
with Houdini's mother?
Is it true you were able to make contact with Houdini's mother?
Houdini is doomed.
Doomed.
They didn't get it.
I wasn't looking for a fake.
I wanted to be proven wrong-
Io reach the other side-
to escape lo something beyond death.
So I went to consul! the most notorious medium in all the world.
She cal/ed herself Margery.
- Mr. Houdini. - And if she was for real-
- Hello. - I'd give up the witch hunt-
- Good evening. - In a heartbeat.
We've been waiting for you.
It would be a small price to pay to prove once and for all...
that death isn't the final act.
This is my husband, Dr. Crandon.
- Houdini. - How do you do?
- I believe you know Mr. Bird. - Yes, of course.
And this is Mr. Munn, publisher of Scientific American magazine.
Well, they were kind enough to include me on their assessment committee. Gentlemen.
- So, Margery- - Oh, I'm not Margery.
Not yet.
Gentlemen, shall we go in?
I had a from row seat to see if she could truly summon the nonliving.
Lovely home.
In this case, Margery's conduit was her dead brother, Walter.
Margery will sit in front of the screen. I will sit to her right, act as her control.
- Houdini, you're on her left. - You will be her control?
- Of course. - That's how we've always done it.
We shouldn't alter any conditions, no?
Gentlemen.
Mr. Carrington, aren't you going to kiss me?
Darling.
All right, gentlemen, please have a seat.
In this box...
I am placing the bells-
The whistle-
And the tambourine.
This box will be locked...
and inaccessible.
Mr. Bird, the lights.
Everyone hold hands.
I sense an unfriendly presence.
Walter? This is-
I know. Harry Houdini.
Sure is a sheeny. A man with a crook in his shoe.
Says he, as to Waller, I'll lead him to slaughter.
But says Walter, perhaps I'll get you.
Ha!
Walter.
That's no way to treat a guest.
What does he want?
Bells, whistles, the works?
HOW do you like that, Erich Weiss?
Yes, that's his real name.
- Let me speak with my mother. - Like hell!
Walter, stop!
Shut up, Sis!
Tell me her last word.
You tried that dodge with Lady Doyle.
You know I can't understand a word that woman says.
And you, Houdini, I put a curse on you...
that will follow you for the rest of your short days.
No!
Lights!
Help me!
I'd say Walter's outdone himself.
Pretty good, huh?
But not good enough. The most important point here is...
well, Dr. Crandon as her control.
That's no control at all.
In the dark, he lets go of her hand...
enabling her to ring the bell...
while he puts the whistle in his mouth...
and then with his foot he kicks over the screen.
- Hmm? - What about Walter's voice?
I should have gagged you.
Mrs. Crandon is the most gifted ventriloquist I have ever heard.
Aren't you?
You can't prove any of this.
Wanna bet? Hmm?
Some scientists. They all had the hots for her.
Yeah. She put the moves on every one of them.
Yeah, no, baby, I didn't fall for any of it.
No. She's busted, baby.
As soon as I write my report, she won't see a dime.
Bessie, someone's at the door. I gotta go.
Yeah, I'm on the 8:55 tomorrow.
Yeah, no, I'll see you tomorrow in Detroit.
Speak of the devil.
May I come in?
It appears our roles are reversed.
Are you going through with it?
Will you expose me?
Oh, I'd say you did that yourself.
Must my son learn his mother is a fraud?
Listen. I came to you to put me in contact with my mother.
I trusted you, and you played me.
Is there nothing I can do...
to dissuade you?
They say you have the strongest stomach muscles...
that you let perfect strangers take a punch.
May I try my luck?
Huh?
Oh!
Get out.
- Get out. - Hypocrite.
- You'll regret this. - I'm already regretting it.
Don't forget. Walter's curse is on you.
Yeah, yeah. I know.
And when I die, you spiritualists will declare an international holiday.
When you die, we will make you say whatever we like.
We will own you.
For the first time in my life...
I was truly afraid.
And I didn't know why.
How long can a man hold his breath?
Behold the Chinese Water Torture Cell!
I didn't believe in curses...
and I wasn't gonna start now.
It's a fracture.
You've gotta go into a cast and stay off it for six weeks.
No, uh, just give me some kind of brace, Doc.
- You have to have a cast. - I can't perform in a cast...
so we have to find some kind of brace that'll work.
Houdini does not miss performances.
Exactly.
This is crazy. At your age, to hang by only one-
You'll break the other ankle.
What can I tell you, Doc? Thank you very much.
Would you gentlemen mind giving me some time to rest before the evening show?
There's some students outside. I promised they could sketch me.
- Thank you. Thank you, Doc. - Thanks, Doc.
Hmm. Honey, look at this.
“After much debate, Scientific American. ..
Has decided not to award its monetary prize...
to the celebrated Boston medium known as Margery...
citing the work of magician Harry Houdini in exposing apparent deceptive practices.
The medium's deceased brother Walter laid a curse on Houdini...
predicting his imminent death.”
Yeah. “Apparent.” What a face-saving crock.
- You didn't tell me about the curse, Harry. - Huh?
Baby, how can there be a curse if there's no Walter?
Damn it, now you're gonna go out there onstage with a broken ankle.
It's a fracture. Honey-
Can't you ever just think about me, just for once?
- Hey, everything is fine. - Get stuffed, Harry.
Oh, look. Your fan club is here. Come on in, boys.
How you doing, fellas? Come on in.
- Great to meet you, Mr. Houdini, sir. - Great to meet you.
I'm sorry. They said you were seeing people.
That's all right. Come in.
Mr. Houdini, did you really call Lady Doyle a fake?
Huh'? No, not exactly. No.
You know, Mark Twain, H.G. Wells, Lewis Carroll-they all believe.
Mm-hmm.
It's not religion. it's science.
Religion masquerading as science, young man.
- Don't move, sir. Please. - Excuse me.
Yeah, the Doyles are very sweet people, but they're easily taken in.
Yeah, Sir Arthur once authenticated a doctored photograph of fairies in a garden.
Oh.
Let me get a look at this, kid.
Hmm.
- That's very nice. - Thank you.
They say you have very strong stomach muscles.
- Yeah. - That a guy in Montreal slugged you...
and couldn't make a dent.
- Yeah. - I'm impressed.
- Thank you. - What about now?
Huh?
Come on, Sheriff. Give me your best shot.
That's for calling Lady Doyle a fake!
Mr. Houdini, are you all right?
He shouldn't have done that.
Should we get the doctor?
No, not a word of this.
- Are you sure? - Go back to your sketches.
- Okay.
Harry! Harry!
Harry! Harry! Harry!
Good evening. Good evening.
It's great to be back in this beautiful city of Detroit.
How is everybody tonight?
- Harry. - Curtain!
Harry!
Harry?
Get an ambulance!
Okay, gentlemen. Let's open it up and have a look.
Scalpel.
Dissector.
Oh, God.
There she is right down there.
Get out of here!
- Get some help here! - Get out of the way!
Come with me, please, Mrs. Houdini.
Get out of my hospital! Away!
Show some respect!
Your husband suffered a ruptured appendix.
By the time I opened him up, infection had taken hold.
- There was gangrene everywhere. - Oh, my God. Harry.
But he's-he's gonna be all right.
There's not much hope.
I'm afraid we were too late.
I'm so sorry.
Am I done'? You can lay it on the line.
I'm afraid-
Nah, fear can be good, Doc.
Fear can get you off your ass.
Peritonitis has set in.
Gangrene.
There's nothing more we can do.
Thought about being a surgeon.
You? Whatever for?
To do something... useful.
Useful?
You've thrilled millions.
I take my family to see you every time you play Detroit.
What you do is real, Doc.
I'm a fake.
Is it fake to make people happy?
Fake to help millions escape their own problems for a while?
Inspire them.
I don't think that's fake.
I think you're the realest person I ever met.
Thank you, Doc.
Well, I'm about to make my last escape.
Phone call, Mr. Hardeen. Operator says it's urgent.
Hardeen speaking.
I'd like to send a reply to Mrs. Houdini.
Lady Doyle joins me in sending our best wishes.
Whilst we differed, your husband is the most remarkable man I ever met.
And as you are aware, he was greatly changed...
once Lady Doyle brought him into contact with his beloved mother.
That's not how it was.
Houdini's conversion to spiritualism touched us all.
Come here.
Come close.
Close.
Sing it for me.
Like you used to.
Go on. Sing it.
♪ Rosie ♪
♪ Sweet Rosabelle ♪
♪ I love her more than I can tell ♪
♪ O'er me ♪
♪She casts a spell♪
♪ My charming black-eyed♪
♪ Sweet Rosabelle ♪
Bessie.
It was never about the trunk.
It was always about you.
Harry.
Don’t cry.
Even if I'm dead, there's no getting rid of me.
Harry.
Oh, sweetheart.
Don't cry, my love.
In one way or another, we all want to escape.
But no one's pulled it off.
Happy Halloween, Harry.
No one's actually done it.
Not yet.
Because, in the end“...
there is no escape.
Mrs. Houdini.
I'm the Reverend Arthur Ford...
of the First Spiritualist Church of New York.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle asked me to call on you.
Yes.
Mrs. Houdini, I've come to put you in touch with Harry.
You're pretty.
Are you there, Harry?
Can you hear me?
Harry?
Are you there, Harry?