The Hollywood Reporter‘s review of the History Channel’s Houdini miniseries is a mixed change bag.
They have high praise for Adrien Brody and his “dynamic performance” that “brings Harry Houdini’s illusions to life.” “History’s Houdini miniseries is a curious carousel of the magician’s life, guided by a frizzy-haired, exuberant and bulked-up Adrien Brody.”
The series is adapted from the controversial 1976 book, Houdini: A Mind in Chains: A Psychoanalytic Portrait and apparently uses some deft editing and camera work to take viewers inside the great magician’s psyche and secrets. The result is a surrealistic weaving of “psychological elements, zooming camerawork, frenetic editing, a modern soundtrack and some well-placed animation to illustrate how Houdini’s tricks worked.”
Boo. Hiss.
Viewers will have a chance to see Houdini’s Vanishing Elephant and the Chinese Water Torture Cell but we are hoping the secrets to these two great effects are not revealed.
“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.”
We are looking forward to its premiere on Monday, September 1st and 2nd at 9 p.m. We will close our eyes when they get to the scary parts or expose tricks though.
Related Posts
Happy National Magic Day
We read that today, January 31st, is International Magic Day and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Magic…
WILD ABOUT HARRY: Houdini planning a new film in 1925?
We were searching John Cox’ wonderful website Wild About Harry and found a very interesting article about Houdini’s possible return…
Houdini Searches on Google
We love the world’s best known magician, Houdini. We also take great pride in our programming abilities and yet we…
Submit to Inside Magic
Let us know what you’ve got going on. Drop us a line, send us a press release or submit an…
Zoom Magic Sought by Inside Magic
We have seen some wonderful Zoom magic shows recently. We realized we only knew about them because friends (we’re not…
Inside Magic Review: David Copperfield’s History of Magic
We have been a fan of David Copperfield since his early days. We anticipated his television specials with the same…
I’m looking forward to watching this mini-series. Houdini set the standard when it comes to magic performance and only a very few performers have come close to the fame he created in this field of entertainment. It’s always nice to see when these historical entertainer type documentaries are done well.