Terror Island

Movie makers have always wanted to foist second rate goods on the public by placing a celebrity in them. It is costly to manufacture celebrities, so much better it is to find one from another field. Houdini — already in his forties — was about the most famous nonpolitician in the land.

This was deserved: while many of his tricks were straightforward trickery, some involved real risk and demanded incredible body control. For example, his escape tools were secreted in body cavities and recovered by what could only be described as yogic control. He painfully toured the country and exploited every opportunity available to such a showman. This project directly followed a famous trip to England where he challenged Conan Doyle to a showdown over spiritualism.

Hollywood was inevitable. But he hated it, and so did the public. They expected the same level of drama as in the celebrated stage shows and public escapes. He expected something similar.

While some of this seems lost forever, one can see why everyone involved considered it a loser, quite apart from the corny production values. He is transformed here into an inventor, a man of reason. This is almost completely opposite Houdini's stage persona, which inferred the occult while denying it. There could be no connection by the audience to the great magician.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Harry Harper has invented a submarine. He reads about a shipwreck that contains treasure and decides to find it, with the idea of sharing the wealth with his community. Meanwhile, Beverly West receives a letter from her father, who is being held captive on an island. He has been condemned to death by the island natives unless Beverly returns a sacred pearl to them. He also knows where the shipwreck is. Harry and Beverly set out to the island, but are competing against the unscrupulous Mourdant family, who seek to get the treasure for themselves.

Despite the missing footage, I found this film entertaining. It gets off to a slow start, but does pack plenty of action (improbably though much of it is in the final reels. Houdini is adequate and seems comfortable in his role. Lila Lee, as Beverly, is lovely, although in the initial scenes, her "Princess Leia" haircut is a bit much. Once she literally lets her hair down, it is a big improvement. A somewhat svelte Eugene Pallette plays one of the Mourdant family. There are plenty of chases, narrow misses, and stunts.

When they say "melodrama" in the early titles, they aren't kidding. The plot, such as it is, involves a ship of sunken pearls, a submarine, a South Seas trader held hostage for the return of the idol's eye, human sacrifice, television and a most peculiar tribe of Polynesians, in which the men are all African Americans and the women are fat blondes. Or perhaps they're Melanesians. I don't think there were that many serious anthropologists at work on this movie.

Of course, that's not why people came to see this movie. They wanted to see Harry Houdini in some of his death-defying escapes. Well, you have Harry Houdini and the assurance of the titles that he performed his own stunts. This despite the fact that Bob Rose was his stunt double for all his pictures: can't risk holding up production after all.

This was originally a seven-reeler. Two of the reels are missing. Still, you get to look at Houdini, Lila Lee -- she keeps falling into the water and having to be retrieved -- and a villainous Eugene Palette, just when he was beginning to put on weight and look like Eugene Palette. Enjoy.

after having just watched this movie starring harry Houdini,i gotta say,i have mixed feelings about it.on the one hand, the pace is very frantic,so the movie is not boring,in that regard.however,the movie is very repetitive,with Houdini and his co-stars doing a lot of the same things over and over again.unfortunately,2 reels out of 7 are lost,so instead of reels 3 and 4,there is a brief explanatory text to bridge the gap.if you're not a silent film buff,you probably would not enjoy this particular movie.but if you are,i think it's worth having for the novelty alone.if you haven't been exposed to silent movies,this is probably not the one you should watch first.i would recommend Nosferatu(1922)as a starting point.