| Houdini | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Historical drama |
| Based on | Houdini: A Mind in Chains: A Psychoanalytic Portrait by Bernard C. Meyer, M.D. |
| Written by | Nicholas Meyer |
| Directed by | Uli Edel |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | John Debney |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 2 |
| Production | |
| Producers |
|
| Cinematography | Karl Walter Lindenlaub |
| Editors | Sabrina Plisco David Beatty |
| Running time | 174 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | History |
| Release | September 1 (2014-09-01) – September 2, 2014 (2014-09-02) |
Houdini is a two-part, four-hourHistory Channelminiseries written byNicholas Meyer and directed byUli Edel. It premiered on September 1, 2014. The series starsAdrien Brody asHarry Houdini and features the life of the legendaryillusionist andescape artist from poverty to worldwide fame.
History first announced the development of a Houdini biopic miniseries withAdrien Brody attached to star on April 10, 2013.[2] The series was officiallygreen-lit on August 19, 2013, withKristen Connolly announced as Brody's co-star andUli Edel as director.[1] The screenplay was to be penned by veteran author and filmmakerNicholas Meyer, based on the 1976 bookHoudini: A Mind in Chains: A Psychoanalytic Portrait by his father, Bernard C. Meyer.[3]Patrizia von Brandenstein andKarl Walter Lindenlaub were also announced as production designer and cinematographer, respectively.[1] On September 17, 2013, it was announced that actorEvan Jones had been added to the cast as Houdini's assistant Jim Collins.[4]
Filming on the miniseries began on September 30, 2013. It was shot entirely inBudapest,Hungary (coincidentally the real Harry Houdini's birthplace), which executive producer Gerald W. Abrams described as having "more turn-of-the-century architecture—that's the 19th century—than almost any city in Western culture."[5] Brody, who had studied magic as a child, performed many of the show's stunts himself, including the suspended strait jacket escape and the famousChinese Water Torture Cell.[5][6]
The score toHoudini was written by the veteran film composerJohn Debney. A lifelong fan of Harry Houdini, Debney joined the project at the behest of a producer with whom he had previously collaborated on theA&E miniseriesBonnie & Clyde.[7] Rather than compose a period score for the series, Debney instead elected to write an "electronic/contemporary" score, with "instruments from the period that would give you the flavor of the times and give you the feeling of who this guy was."[7] A two volume soundtrack was released for digital download byLakeshore Records on August 26, 2014[8] and later on CD September 23, 2014.
A trailer forHoudini was released online in early August 2014.[9]
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | US viewers (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Part 1" | Uli Edel | Nicholas Meyer | September 1, 2014 (2014-09-01) | 3.70[10] | |
The humble beginnings of Harry Houdini as a young boy named Erich Weiss, who enlists his brother Dash to help him practice magic after seeing his very firstmagician in his hometown ofAppleton, Wisconsin. He changes his name to "Harry Houdini" after his favorite magician Robert Houdin and starts out performing card tricks at sideshows in a traveling circus with his wife Bess as a "two-bit" act. His career soon takes off on the Americanvaudeville circuit as a masterillusionist before achieving international fame as anescape artist, performing for the likes of royalty and celebrities. He becomes the world-famous master magician "The Great Houdini". But through his fame, Harry is recruited by MI5 to run espionage missions with William Melville to spy on theKaiser inBerlin while balancing his death-defying acts in front of massive audiences. | ||||||
| 2 | "Part 2" | Uli Edel | Nicholas Meyer | September 2, 2014 (2014-09-02) | 2.66[11] | |
Harry Houdini must adapt to the constantly changing modern world as the industrial age comes to an end. As the invention of moving pictures threatens to steal Harry's spotlight in 1914, he has to come up with bigger and better escapes to get his audience back, and decides to bring the show to them. When his mother dies, Harry is determined to communicate with her throughmediums andclairvoyants, however, they prove to be unsuccessful. He then dedicates his life exposing and debunking these fakespiritualists, including Arthur Conan Doyle's wife, Lady Doyle. In the final years of his life, Harry promises Bess no more death-dying feats and goes back to stage magic before succumbing to a succession of fatal blows to the abdomen from a disgruntled fan while backstage in his dressing room after performing his last act inDetroit. | ||||||
Part 1 of the series was watched by 3.7 million viewers, averaging 1.2 million among adults 18–49 and 1.5 million in 25–54.[10] Despite debuting much lower thanHistory's previous series'Hatfields & McCoys andBonnie & Clyde,Houdini was nevertheless cable television's top miniseries debut of 2014 to date.[12]
Houdini received a mixed response, with praise for the direction, sound design, and Brody's performance as a "comeback", although the script was criticized. The series currently holds a 44% "Rotten" rating on the review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, with a consensus "Houdini's cast is talented, but given the decades of fascination surrounding its subject, the show is oddly lacking in intrigue."[13]
Allison Keene ofThe Hollywood Reporter praised Brody's Houdini as possessing "infectious zest" and commented that "... the miniseries nails the most important thing: spectacle. Edel's refreshingly dynamic direction and Brody’s buoyant performance allow Houdini's tricks to retain their wonder, even for the jaded modern viewer. That's a magical feat indeed."[3] Despite referring to some aspects of the series as "a bit heavy-handed," Mark Perigard of theBoston Herald gaveHoudini a positive "B" rating and opined, "You’ll almost believe in magic—the magic of a miniseries to capture the tics and tricks of a complicated, driven man."[14]
Neil Genzlinger ofThe New York Times called Brody "a treat to watch," but criticized the screenplay and direction. He added, "A better version of this amazing life will surely be made in one genre or another, but this one's at least diverting."[15] Brian Lowry ofVariety, however, spoke less favorably of the series, describing Brody's performance as being "ultimately overwhelmed" by Meyer's "misbegotten, heavy-handed, narrated-ad-nauseam script (...) and Uli Edel's equally obtrusive direction."[16]
Meyer addressed the voiceovers in a subsequent interview with StarTrek.com, stating "Well, they – you know, sort of re-cut the movie, and tore a lot of it out, and put in a lot of voiceovers and stuff that I just wasn't crazy about. And [it] wasn't our intention. It hadn't been written."[17]
Houdini was first shown on Channel 4 in the UK in September 2014 and later released onNetflix UK on 7 March 2015.[19]Houdini premiered on theSeven Network on June 23, 2015.[20] It is available on Shomi in Canada. In Brazil Houdini aired on January 5, 2016 as a four-part series onGlobo channel. It is available onSony Liv in India.