Hold on a bit.Starting this Labor Day, the History Channel will begin airing its miniseries, Houdini, starring Adrien Brody in the title role, but critics are skeptical about how much of an audience this biopic can draw. My suspicion is that they have taken some of the criticism on board and perhaps have re-edited it or this is how it is for the UK market (hence the one disc DVD). (Not normally available outside UK).There is a disclaimer at the start of the movie and the editing seems to be judiciously done on this broadcast. John, if you can see if you can catch it on 4od somehow. He was asking questions regarding the accuracy. The only positive was that my son (19) watched it because of Brody and enjoyed it. Totally put me off and I switched channel. Recently the BBC had a World War centenary programme based upon eyewitness reports which were produced in a similar music. Unfortunately this tends to be the trend. Contemporary music in the background.distracting. ![]() Perhaps HISTORY will now spend a little more time worrying about how accurately they are presenting our history. This is really the first major Houdini movie that’s had to contend with social networks and established Houdini blogs, and that’s a good thing. And if you look at the HISTORY Twitter and Facebook pages, there are people taking the network to task. My blog and Fact Checks have received hundreds of thousands of hits since Houdini first aired, and I'm sure Tom, Kevin, David and Dean have experienced a similar surge in traffic. We now have a powerful way to strike back and get the real story out to people who care enough to look for it. (Is it a pipe dream to think, owing to the negative reaction, that they might now add a disclaimer to the DVD?)ĭisclaimer on the front of The Great Houdinis (1976).Īs to fears that this is now what people will believe about Houdini. But I guess ethics in television aren't what they once were. This is what ABC put in front of The Great Houdinis in 1976, and that was a responsible and respectful thing to do. At the very least, they should have included a disclaimer on the front telling viewers what they were about to see was a mix of fact and fiction. (As is, I put it somewhere in the middle of the pack - waiting on the extended edition before I decide).īut I do agree with the overall sentiment that a channel which calls itself HISTORY should have made more of an effort to get the facts right (or close to right). Had they gotten the facts of his early success even remotely right and cut all that bogus spy stuff, I would have stayed on-board and ranked this miniseries pretty high. ![]() The Houdini Miniseries-A Tale of Two Movies - Keen observations from Dean Carnegie at The Magic Detective.Įven though I gave the miniseries a pretty rough review here, I don't think it quite deserves some of vicious criticism it's getting.Legends and Lore Persist in Houdini Miniseries - A balanced and very well written review by Tom Interval at Houdini Museum.Houdini Threatens To Jump - Short but sweet "review" from Kevin Connolly at Houdini Himself.History Destroys Houdini - A brutal but well expressed review by David Saltman at The Houdini File.Below are links to a few reviews on the major Houdini websites: While many agree the film was well made from a technical standpoint, and even the questionable casting of Adrien Brody seemed to have won over viewers in the end, it was the amount of historical inaccuracies (and flat out fictions) that doomed Houdini for many. Like the Tony Curtis movie in 1953 and The Great Houdinis in 1976 (not sure anyone noticed the 1998 TNT film), HISTORY's Houdini miniseries has received a serious drubbing in the magic world, and especially among Houdini bloggers.
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