Houdini, the King of Variety

Film legend Tony Curtis as the most popular magician of his time: Harry Houdini performs as a magician in a circus. He delights the audience with his tricks and escapology skills. However, he yearns for more, wanting to become more successful and present grand shows. When he falls in love with the attractive Bess, Houdini initially gives up his dream for her. But then he manages to persuade his wife to give magic another chance - with impressive success.

Harry Houdini was the David Copperfield of the turn of the century. The magician and escapologist Houdini (Tony Curtis) astonished audiences on both sides of the Atlantic at the end of the last century. George Marshall's portrayal of the stage star, who risked his life with increasingly dangerous tricks, mainly focuses on the romance and subsequent marriage of the artist with Bess (Janet Leigh). It is primarily thanks to Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, who were also a couple in real life, that George Marshall's film became an entertaining piece of cinema despite its very loose interpretation of Houdini's biography.