Editing Harry Houdini (section)

==Film career==
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 | image1    = Mastermystery-1919poster.jpg
 | alt1      = ''The Houdini Serial'', 1919 movie poster
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 | alt2      = ''[[The Grim Game]]'', 1919 movie poster
 | caption2  = ''The Grim Game'', 1919 movie poster
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[[File:The Master Mystery (trailer) - Burton King - 1919, B.A. Rolfe Photoplays - EYE FLM41533 - OB 685697.webm|thumb|Silent movie ''The Master Mystery'' (1919). Running time: 09:39. Episode of a serial in fifteen episodes with magician and escape artist Houdini in the lead]]
In 1906, Houdini started showing films of his outside escapes as part of his vaudeville act. In [[Boston]], he presented a short film called ''Houdini Defeats Hackenschmidt''. [[Georg Hackenschmidt]] was a famous wrestler of the day, but the nature of their contest is unknown as the film is lost.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2010/01/houdini-defeats-hackenschmidt-and-other.html| title=Houdini Defeats Hackenschmidt and other revelations from Disappearing Tricks| access-date=January 31, 2010}}</ref> In 1909, Houdini made a film in Paris for Cinema Lux titled ''Merveilleux Exploits du Célèbre Houdini à Paris'' (Marvellous Exploits of the Famous Houdini in Paris).<ref>''Disappearing Tricks'' by Matthew Solomon, 2010, p. 95.</ref> It featured a loose narrative designed to showcase several of Houdini's famous escapes, including his straitjacket and underwater handcuff escapes. That same year Houdini got an offer to star as [[Captain Nemo]] in a silent version of ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas]]'', but the project never made it into production.<ref>Silverman, p. 205.</ref>

It is often erroneously reported that Houdini served as special-effects consultant on the Wharton/International cliffhanger serial ''The Mysteries of Myra'', shot in [[Ithaca, New York]], because Harry Grossman, director of ''The Master Mystery'' also filmed a serial in Ithaca at about the same time. The consultants on the serial were pioneering [[Hereward Carrington]] and [[Aleister Crowley]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stedman |first1=Eric |title=The Mysteries of Myra |year=2010 |page=8}}</ref>

In 1918, Houdini signed a contract with film producer [[B. A. Rolfe]] to star in a 15-part [[serial (film)|serial]], ''[[The Master Mystery]]'' (released in November 1918). As was common at the time, the film serial was released simultaneously with a novel. Financial difficulties resulted in [[Rolfe Photoplays Inc.|B. A. Rolfe Productions]] going out of business, but ''The Master Mystery'' led to Houdini being signed by [[Famous Players–Lasky Corporation]]/[[Paramount Pictures]], for whom he made two pictures, ''[[The Grim Game]]'' (1919) and ''[[Terror Island]]'' (1920).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2010/12/adroit-harry-and-ancient-hokum.html |title=Adroit Harry and ancient hokum |access-date=December 30, 2012}}</ref>

''The Grim Game'' was Houdini's first full-length movie and is reputed to be his best. Because of the flammable nature of [[Nitrocellulose#Film|nitrate film]] and their low rate of survival, film historians considered the film lost. One copy did exist hidden in the collection of a private collector only known to a tiny group of magicians that saw it. Dick Brookz and Dorothy Dietrich of The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, had seen it twice on the invitation of the collector. After many years of trying, they finally got him to agree to sell the film to [[Turner Classic Movies]],<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.turner.com/pressroom/tcm-fest-present-lost-houdini-film |title=Turner Classic Movies to Host World Premiere Screening of Long Lost Harry Houdini Classic The Grim Game at 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival |date=January 23, 2015 |publisher=TCM |access-date=November 9, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102051055/https://www.turner.com/pressroom/tcm-fest-present-lost-houdini-film|archive-date=2 January 2016}}</ref> who restored the complete 71-minute film. The film, not seen by the general public for 96 years, was shown by TCM on March 29, 2015, as a highlight of their yearly 4-day festival in Hollywood.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://houdini.org/houdinigrimgameuncoveredbyhoudinimuseum.html |title=Houdini Museum in Scranton PA Reveals the Secrets of Uncovering Houdini's 1919 Lost Silent Film The Grim Game |access-date=January 23, 2015 |archive-date=March 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322032900/https://houdini.org/houdinigrimgameuncoveredbyhoudinimuseum.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Houdini swims river in scene from The man from beyond (cropped).JPG|thumb|upright|Houdini swims above [[Niagara Falls]] in a scene from ''[[The Man from Beyond]]'' (1922)]]
While filming an aerial stunt for ''The Grim Game'', two biplanes collided in mid-air with a stuntman doubling Houdini dangling by a rope from one of the planes. Publicity was geared heavily toward promoting this dramatic "caught-on-film" moment, claiming it was Houdini himself dangling from the plane. While filming these movies in [[Los Angeles]], Houdini rented a home in [[Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, California|Laurel Canyon]]. Following his two-picture stint in Hollywood, Houdini returned to New York and started his own film production company called the "Houdini Picture Corporation". He produced and starred in two films, ''[[The Man from Beyond]]'' (1921) and ''[[Haldane of the Secret Service]]'' (1923). He also founded his own film laboratory business called The Film Development Corporation (FDC), gambling on a new process for developing motion picture film. Houdini's brother, [[Theodore Hardeen]], left his own career as a magician and escape artist to run the company. Magician [[Harry Kellar]] was a major investor.<ref>Silverman, pp. 226–249.</ref> In 1919 Houdini moved to Los Angeles to film. He resided in 2435 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, a residence owned by [[Ralf Marc Walker|Ralph M. Walker]]. The Houdini Estate, a tribute to Houdini, is located on 2400 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, previously home to Walker himself.<ref name="John Cox and Patrick Culliton">{{cite web| url= https://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2012/03/inside-houdini-estate.html?m=1 | title= The true story of the Laurel Canyon Houdini Estate | publisher=John Cox and Patrick Culliton | access-date=March 30, 2012}}</ref> The Houdini Estate is subject to controversy, in that it is disputed whether Houdini ever actually made it his home. While there are claims it was Houdini's house, others counter that "he never set foot" on the property. It is rooted in Bess's parties or seances, etc. held across the street, she would do so at the Walker mansion. In fact, the guesthouse featured an [[elevator]] connecting to a tunnel that crossed under Laurel Canyon to the big house grounds (though capped, the tunnel still exists).<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2012/03/inside-houdini-estate.html| title=The true story of the Laurel Canyon Houdini Estate | publisher=Patrick Culliton and John Cox | access-date=March 30, 2012}}</ref>

Neither Houdini's acting career nor FDC found success, and he gave up on the movie business in 1923, complaining that "the profits are too meager".

In April 2008, Kino International released a DVD box set of Houdini's surviving silent films, including ''The Master Mystery'', ''Terror Island'', ''The Man From Beyond'', ''Haldane of the Secret Service'', and five minutes from ''The Grim Game''. The set also includes newsreel footage of Houdini's escapes from 1907 to 1923, and a section from ''Merveilleux Exploits du Célébre Houdini à Paris, ''although it is not identified as such.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2008/04/houdini-movie-star-dvd-collection.html| title=Houdini The Movie Star DVD collection released| access-date=April 8, 2008}}</ref>