The Grim Game (1919)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Do you really need a recommendation to watch this restored film from 1919? Come on - the real Harry Houdini is in it! A couple of other reviewers here go into the film's discovery and restoration with the cooperation of the Turner Classic Movie channel so there's no need to go into that. What's rather extraordinary is the fact that there's actually a real story here, a murder mystery that evolves from a rather shady plan orchestrated by newspaper reporter Harvey Hanford (Houdini himself!) in order to save the financially struggling Daily Call. It involved faking the owner's death, with Hanford setting himself up to be incriminated for murder, and then after a time, the owner Dudley Cameron (Thomas Jefferson) would simply show up none the worse for wear. In the mean time, the newspaper capitalizes on the publicity, saving itself via a news hungry public buying it's coverage of the story.This picture is considered the first and best of five movies Harry Houdini participated in. I haven't seen the others so there's no way to judge for my part. What I can say with this one viewing is that Houdini himself presents a very versatile, athletic and highly physical dimension to the role portraying his character Hanford. The movie itself is a forum for capturing some of his most famous escape routines on film, including a prison break where he extracts himself from a series of chains, along with a daring upside down escape from a straight jacket hanging a few stories in the air. I was also impressed by a maneuver that stunt man Yakima Canutt eventually made as one of his trademarks. Following the prison escape, Houdini scrambles underneath a moving vehicle and hangs on to the undercarriage to make a clean getaway. Quite impressive.As for the main story, a trio of individuals that are part of Dudley Cameron's circle agree to participate in Hanford's ruse, but then operate independently, each for their own benefit. With Hanford on the run from the now very real murder of Cameron, it will take all of his cunning to flush out the real killer and save his fiancée Mary (Ann Forrest), ward and heiress to the Cameron fortune. The picture ends with a thrilling airplane chase leading to a mid-air collision and plane crash, though the two planes involved in the original stunt actually landed safely.The quality of the restoration is laudable and the movie itself looks to be reasonably complete. At about the one hour mark there are significant imperfections that apparently could not be improved upon at both outer margins, and the effect appears almost psychedelic, like something you might have seen musical groups of the Sixties use during appearances on variety shows of that era. At least that's the way it struck this viewer. Otherwise, the quality of the picture is rather exceptional, no mean feat for a film approaching the century mark.

From Houdini.org:Magicians Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz, from the Houdini Museum in Scranton, PA, tell the story of the finding and restoration of the long lost Houdini silent movie from 1919, "The Grim Game". Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz from The Houdini Museum in Scranton, PA revealed, "The film has not been shown to the general public for 96 years. This was one of the most sought after items in Houdini History. It has been considered the Holy Grail of Houdini history!" Houdini's movie "The Grim Game" made in 1919, has been unavailable until now and has been considered lost by film historians. Brookz commented, "The only complete copy of the film was hidden in the collection of juggler, magician, Houdini collector Larry Weeks. Dorothy and Dick had kept a friendly relationship with Larry Weeks and that is what helped to make this happen. Larry Weeks called himself "Houdini's biggest fan" and amassed a Houdini collection. He had the only known print of Houdini's lost film, "The Grim Game." He was known to show it at various occasions in his life time. It is the best of Houdini's five films. Dick Brookz commented "Over the years Larry invited us to see the film on two occasions. He found it odd and incomprehensible when I, Dick Brookz, told him that some magicians berated him for hoarding the movie that he preserved over the years at great personal cost." We called Larry Weeks on his private number and told him about our desire to have the film restored. It took several calls and over two weeks to convince Larry to meet with a go-between. Larry finally agreed and gave us permission to pass along Larry's number. A meeting was set up and he arranged to acquire the film for Turner Classic Movies who he done a job for. He then put the pieces together to pick up the film, have a company restore it and Turner Classic paid to also add an original movie score. The wonderful thing is that the film content is complete, although it required a lot of work by the restoration company. Just prior to this time we had spoken with Larry several times and he informed us of his rapidly diminishing health so time was of the essence. The deal was made!" The last time we spoke to Larry after the deal he said to us "Thanks, enjoy the film. The next time you will see me I will be in a box!" Larry Weeks died October 13, 2014, before the public would get news of the acquisition on January 23, 2015. Many years ago Larry Weeks had bought a plot in the same cemetery as close as possible to Houdini and is buried there. The restored film has a musical score composed by Brane Zivkovic an award winning film, television, and theatre composer. This was all done with financial help from Turner Classic Movies, who premiered it as the climax at the 2015 4 day TCM Classic Film Festival Sunday, March 29, 2015, in Hollywood to resounding praise and approval. It was the finale of the event.

I recently saw this as a DVD extra included with the film HALDANE OF THE SECRET SERVICE. Both films star Harry Houdini but THE GRIM GAME is only a film fragment today--the rest of it no longer exists. While I have enjoyed the reviews of both reviewers who have already reviewed this film, I really must agree with CryFi's review--and it reflects that most of the original film is gone AND gives nice information about the film.As for me, I can't see giving the fragment anything more than a 3. Although the clip is pretty good, there really isn't a coherent story and it is really just an excuse by Houdini and the film makers to use some accidental footage involving an air tragedy. It is funny to realize that Houdini took credit for the mid-air stunts he didn't even perform.This film is essentially a curio for history teachers, magic lovers and film historians. It is NOT a film that is coherent or worth seeking out because it only is a piece of a longer film.

FGM has fun reviewing lost films, which is apt to be confusing to some.A five minute excerpt from this film is all that survives, in the George Eastman collection, which is included as an extra on the disc with Haldane of the Secret Service in the recent Kino DVD collection of his films.There are explanatory titles on it that suggest the clip would be exhibited by itself without the rest of the film. Houdini goes up in an airplane and does a mid-air transfer to the other airplane, after which the two crash. Houdini and the female passenger survive. The closeups of Houdini on the airplane appear to have been done on the ground, and the crash landing must have been staged somehow, or else how would they have happened to have had the camera in the right place? Likewise, one can't imagine they would have put their star and leading lady in danger. It's a nice little clip and certainly more exciting than any single moment from the tedious Haldane film.