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Harry
Houdini is still considered to be the greatest escape artist and illusionists of
all time. His ability to escape from chains, watery prisons, chests, cages and
life threatening situations thrilled a generation until his early untimely
death. In 2008 I do not think we really appreciate how much of a media
celebrity he was at the time nor do we realize how central the issue of
spiritualism was to both the media and culture and personally to Harry Houdini.
Houdini
was a sceptic, while always acknowledging the possibility of the “more than the
physical”, he was shocked and dismayed by the cheap tricks used by
spiritualists to convince their patrons of life after death and, of course,
make a quick buck. After his mother’s death his campaign against the
exploitation of the weak because a crusade and this continued right through to
his death. He studied the subject intensely and undertook scientific analysis
of mediums and their séances and proved without a fraction of a doubt that they
were using the same “tricks of the trade” that any magician used, except to
commit fraud and, along the way, cause emotional suffering.
Houdini’s
battle against spiritualism was a very public war for “critical thinking”
involving clashes with many public figures including Arthur Conan Doyle, who
while creating the arch rational detective Sherlock Holmes was actually a
staunch psychic believer himself!
In
the spirit of open minded enquiry Houdini regularly created codes with his
friends that could be used after death, if it was possible, to prove the
existence of the afterlife. Sadly this led to one of the most disreputable
elements of the Houdini story. After his demise, with his wife Bess still in a
state of extreme grief, consoling herself with alcohol and occasional drugs,
she was manipulated by Arthur Ford, the charismatic spiritualist medium, to
believe that Houdini was communicating from beyond the grave. Never mind that
the message he gave could easily have been established from published articles
of the period and information provided by Bess. Even today spiritualists and
others like to claim that this case finally provided proof of survival after
death and that Houdini became a believer in the post mortem state.
What
is the real story regarding the Houdini Code ?
This
hour long documentary offers a well researched balanced but critical
examination of the case with interviews with historians, illusionists and those
who continue to debunk those who exploit the gullible. It is also filled with
rare photographs, film and images from Houdini’s life and career as well as
from this early period of spiritualist excess.
The
Houdini Code is an well produced documentary with clear narration and
intelligent and insightful content and considering that today there are still
quite a large number of books on the market claiming the truth of the “Houdini
Code” it has a very pertinent and significant message !