Harry Houdini

Acting

Harry Houdini

Born 1874-03-24 · Budapest, Hungary (Austria-Hungary)

Harry Houdini (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts.[3] His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician Robert-Houdin (1805–1871).

Acting credits

An Honest Liar poster
7.1

An Honest Liar tells the incredible story of the world-famous magician, escape artist, and world-renowned enemy of deception, James 'The Amazing' Randi. The film brings to life Randi's intricate investigations that publicly exposed psychics, faith healers, and con-artists with quasi-religious fervor. A master deceiver who came out of the closet at the age of 81, Randi created fictional characters, fake psychics, and even turned his partner of 25 years, Jose Alvarez, into a sham guru named Carlos.

An Honest Liar

2014

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World poster
6.6

Werner Herzog's exploration of the Internet and the connected world.

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World

2016

Magic with the Stars poster
9.0

Hollywood celebrities assist magicians in a program of magic and illusion.

Magic with the Stars

1982

Terror Island poster
5.3

Inventor Harry Harper travels to the South Seas, where there is buried treasure belonging to a girl, Beverly West. Naturally, others are after the loot, and Beverly's father is being held captive by cannibals until she returns to them with a pearl that belongs to one of their idols. The climax consists of Harper saving Beverly from a safe which has been lowered into the sea.

Terror Island

1920

The Golden Twenties poster
7.0

Feature-length compilation of 1920s newsreel footage, with commentary about news, sports, lifestyles, and historical figures.

The Golden Twenties

1950

Escape Artist poster
NR

Director Robert Kolodny draws parallels between the Harry Houdini's conjuring power of sleight of hand and the creative process of hand crafting works of film. Commissioned for the 2026 True/False Film Festival.

Escape Artist

2026

Days of Thrills and Laughter poster
6.0

An appreciative, uncritical look at silent film comedies and thrillers from early in the century through the 1920s.

Days of Thrills and Laughter

1961

Houdini poster
8.0

The film takes a look back at the life of the great Houdini, escape-artist and magician extraordinaire. It also looks into his trying to debunk spiritualists and his silent movie career. It also investigates his promise to return in the afterlife if it is at all possible.

Houdini

1996

The Master Mystery poster
6.5

In this action-packed serial, government agent Quentin Locke infiltrates a corrupt patents company, only to run into the gleaming terror of its robot protector, the Automaton. In order to save the beautiful Eva Brent and find a cure for the dreaded Madagascar Madness, Locke suffers an inhuman array of tortures and physical restraints. He is chained, tied with barbed wire, padlocked in a crate and thrown in the water, tied beneath a descending elevator, strapped to an electric chair, and bound in an elaborate Oriental torture chamber.

The Master Mystery

1918

Haldane of the Secret Service poster
5.4

Heath Haldane (Houdini) tracks down a vicious gang of counterfeiters, narrowly missing death several times. He must rescue Adele Ormsby, whom he loves despite her pending marriage.

Haldane of the Secret Service

1923

The Grim Game poster
6.0

Jailed unjustly for a murder he did not commit, a young man uses his amazing powers of escape to free himself and pursue the actual killers, who hold his fiancée captive.

The Grim Game

1919

Les exploits d'Houdini à Paris; ou, Les merveilleux expoits d'Houdini poster
NR

Houdini and his wife Bess are walking along the Seine in Paris, when he encounters a melee between a drunkard and the police. In the ensuing confusion, Houdini is arrested and taken to the police station where he is handcuffed, manacles, shackled, straitjacketed and otherwise tied up to a chair. He escapes from all these restraints. The film, originally shot in 1901, and re-shot in 1909, is intended as a way of recording the amazing escapes of Houdini the illusionist.

Les exploits d'Houdini à Paris; ou, Les merveilleux expoits d'Houdini

1909

The Truth About Houdini poster
NR

A documentary that examines the life and career of Harry Houdini. Houdini contemporaries and escape artist experts are interviewed in an attempt to learn the secrets of the magician's success.

The Truth About Houdini

1971

The Magic Behind 'd'ILLUSION: The Houdini Musical - The Audio Theater Experience' poster
10.0

A special behind-the-scenes look at the making of the audiobook edition of "d'ILLUSION: The Houdini Musical" and how it did its part in helping keep theater and the arts alive during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Magic Behind 'd'ILLUSION: The Houdini Musical - The Audio Theater Experience'

2020

The Man from Beyond poster
5.1

The Arctic, 1922. After being buried under the ice for a hundred years, Howard Hillary is thawed and revived. When he meets Felice Strange, he recognizes in her the same woman he once loved deeply. But is it really her?

The Man from Beyond

1922

Behind the camera