Plot Synopsis

Based on the book "Houdini: A Mind in Chains: A Psychoanalytic Portrait" by Bernard C. Meyer, M.D. From humble beginnings at circus sideshows to sold out concert halls, Eastern European immigrant Erich Weiss transforms himself into master illusionist Harry Houdini. The rabbi's son from Wisconsin is the epitome of the American Dream as he makes his way through the early 20th-century vaudeville craze and emerges as America's first world-renowned superstar. As his fame grows he finds himself in an epic battle against the spiritualists whose practices he found to be false and misleading. With his wife Bess and assistant and confidant Jim Collins, Houdini encounters and enthralls the greatest names of the era, from U.S. presidents to Arthur Conan Doyle and Rasputin. Even though he is the highest paid entertainer, he is driven to invent more daring escape acts including the Chinese Water Torture Cell and buried-alive stunts. In 1926 while performing at the Garrick Theater in Detroit, Michigan, he falls severely ill but continues with his act, he later died from a ruptured appendix.