Thus spoke Houdini, the "handcuff king," the great magician and genius
of escape, on a certain sunny morning a few weeks ago. He sat with his
back to the light, but though his face was in shadow the compelling
blue grey eyes, and strong, bronzed features glowed with an intensity
and vitality such as one rarely meets.
"Tell me," I begged, "are the feats you do on the screen different to
those you do enact before the footlights?"
"Entirely different," was the reply.
"In fact, some of the biggest critics have said that I am more
wonderful on the screen than on the stage. That, I consider, is one
of the greatest compliments ever paid me. But it has taken years of
training to produce the tricks, or problems, I do in my films."
Houdini has made, to date, three pictures. The first of these, "The
Master Mystery," a serial, is now enjoying enormous popularity all over
the country. The remaining two, "The Grim Game," and "Terror Island,"
are feature pictures, and are still unreleased by Paramount Artcraft
though this year will see the first-named on our screens. In the making
of "The Master Mystery," Houdini sustained seven black eyes and a
broken wrist. He also broke his wrist whilst making "The Grim Game."