TCM Restores rare Houdini film. The Grim Game

[Tastypotpie]

http://deadline.com/2015/01/rarely-seen ... 201356187/" target="_blank

This is new!

[silentfilm]

Rarely Seen Harry Houdini Film ‘The Grim Game’ To Premiere At TCM Film Festival
by Lisa de Moraes
January 23, 2015 7:30am

Harry Houdini

Turner Classic Movies is bringing its restoration of “lost” Harry Houdini classic The Grim Game to have its world-premiere screening at its TCM Classic Film Festival in March. Grim-Game-poster

This much-sought-after 1919 film — a complete print of which only recently was brought to TCM for restoration — features the escape artist and legendary illusionist in one of his few starring roles. The film was discovered and the restoration was produced and restored by film preservationist Rick Schmidlin, whose credits include such restorations as The Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894/95), Greed (1924), London After Midnight (1927), Touch Of Evil (1958) and Elvis: That’s The Way It Is – Special Edition (1970).

In The Grim Game, Houdini plays Harvey Hanford, a young man who is framed for murder. As Hanford escapes from the police and goes after the gang of men who framed him, the movie offers numerous opportunities for Houdini to display his own skills as an escape artist, illusionist and stuntman. Among the most remarkable sequences is a mid-air collision between two airplanes that was a real accident caught on film and used in the story.

turner_classic_movies_type_detailThe only known copy of the complete film was held by Larry Weeks, a 95-year-old retired juggler who lived in Brooklyn. Weeks had obtained the film from the Houdini estate in 1947, had only shown it a few times and never had been willing to sell it. Schmidlin got in touch with Weeks and visited him to assess the condition of the film. Weeks showed him the two film cans that contained The Grim Game. Schmidlin explained that TCM was willing to make an offer, and after two hours of discussion, Weeks finally agreed.

Schmidlin arranged to have NYU provide storage in its on-site vault. At NYU, an examination of the film revealed the total movie was 5 1/2 reels, not the five reels that always had been reported. They also had two reels of negative film.

“Harry Houdini is an compelling cultural icon, but most people don’t know about his movie career,” said Charles Tabesh, SVP Programming at TCM. “He made several films, but The Grim Game was his first feature, considered his best. It’s fascinating to see Houdini as an actor. … It’s really fun to watch [the film] that even the most hardcore fans haven’t had a chance to see.”

During the world-premiere screening in Hollywood, composer Brane Zivkovic will conduct a live performance of his new score for the film. Additionally, The Grim Game will make its world TV debut on TCM later in the year.

[s.w.a.c.]

[radiotelefonia]

Here is clean

[radiotelefonia]

4 lobby cards in full szie

[radiotelefonia]

Two more lobby cards, this time originally colorized.

[Christopher Jacobs]

This is great news! THE GRIM GAME played exactly 95 years ago next Monday-Tuesday, Jan. 26-27, 1920, at our local Empire Arts Center, which at the time had just opened two months previous and was called The New Grand Theatre. I sure hope that the TCM festival premiere and later TV showing indicates that there might be a Blu-ray and/or DVD release by the end of the year. It would be wonderful to have an HD copy that could be shown for the theatre's centennial in five years. Only a brief excerpt was previously available on Kino's discontinued Houdini box set.

[Gagman 66]

This sounds great, but I was hoping for something like the restored LILAC TIME. Or how about CHILDREN OF DIVORCE? Possibly RAMONA(1928)? There are still some screenings to be announced, but they usually don't have more then 4 Silent features per year. Only two that I am aware scheduled thus far. Does this mean that the Carl Davis scored STEAMBOAT BILL JUNIOR might be forthcoming on DVD and Blu-ray I assume from Cohen, rather then Kino? Just curious. Good to hear from Chuck Tabesh, I wasn't sure he was still at TCM.

[silentfilm]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/h ... tcm-766234

Long Lost Action Movie Starring Harry Houdini to Screen at TCM Classic Film Festival
Courtesy of Turner

by Mike Barnes
1/23/2015 12:21pm PST

A long lost 1919 silent film starring legendary escape artist and illusionist Harry Houdini has been found and restored and will play at the TCM Classic Film Festival in March, it was announced Friday.

The Grim Game (1919), released by Famous Players-Lasky Corp./Paramount Pictures, features Houdini in one of his few starring roles.

He plays Harvey Hanford, a young man who is framed for murder, escapes from the police and goes after the gang who set him up. Houdini, then about 45, displays his considerable skills as an escape artist and stuntman throughout the 50-minute feature, which also includes a midair collision between two airplanes above Santa Monica that was a real accident caught during filming. At the time, the crash created a great deal of publicity for the movie.

Houdini, a sensation in vaudeville and on world tours, starred in just five movies, all released between 1919 and 1923, according to IMDb. Soon after quitting the movie business, he died of peritonitis in 1926.


Brane Zivkovic, who teaches film and music composition at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, will conduct a live performance of his new score for The Grim Game at the TCM festival, which this year takes place March 26-29 in Hollywood.

Rick Schmidlin discovered, produced and supervised the reconstruction of the film, working on behalf of TCM. His credits include such landmark restorations as The Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894-95), Greed (1924), London After Midnight (1927), Touch of Evil (1958) and Elvis: That's the Way It Is — Special Edition (1970).

Following up on a lead from Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz, owners of The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pa., Schmidlin last year headed to Brooklyn to visit Larry Weeks, who was believed to have the only known complete copy of The Grim Game.

Weeks, a 95-year-old retired juggler, had obtained the film from the Houdini estate in 1947. Weeks showed Schmidlin two film cans that he thought contained The Grim Game, and after two hours of discussions, Weeks agreed to sell the film for an undisclosed price. (He died soon after the deal.)


NYU stored the film cans inside its on-site vault, and an examination later revealed that the total movie was 5 1/2 reels, not the five that always had been reported. Also discovered were two reels of negative film.

"Nothing was missing," Schmidlin said in a statement. "The film was a complete joy to see. The Grim Game is not just a long lost film from the silent era but a really great and fun film that will surprise and entertain all."

"The discovery, restoration and screening of The Grim Game is the perfect embodiment of the TCM mission to celebrate our cinematic heritage and share it with new audiences," said TCM senior vp programming Charles Tabesh.

The Grim Game also will air on TCM this year.

Twitter: @mikebarnes4

[rudyfan]

Very very exciting news!

[FrankFay]

It is VERY nice to know that original materials survive for this, but I can't work up much personal excitement- Houdini was one lousy actor.

[silentfilm]

http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2450339

Houdini Museum in Scranton, PA Reveals the Secrets of Uncovering Houdini's 1919 Lost Silent Film The Grim Game
Jan. 26, 2015 / PRZen / SCRANTON, Pa. -- Magicians Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz, from the Houdini Museum in Scranton, 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 always been considered his best movie."

Houdini's movie Grim Game made in 1919, has been unavailable until now and considered lost. Brookz commented, "The only complete copy of the film was hidden in the collection of juggler Larry Weeks who got it from Houdini's wife after Houdini died. I have known Larry since I was in my early teens. Larry trusted us and knew we would never do any thing that was not in his best interest. He knew with us involved it would be done in a proper way to protect his legacy. We even put together and host his web site." http://larryweeks.info" target="_blank

Dorothy and Dick had kept a friendly relationship with Larry Weeks and that is what helped to make this happen. Dietrich added, "Our show business contact for negotiations, friend for over 20 years, film producer Rick Schmidlin, was the right person to bring this project to fruition. Rick had to jump through a lot of hoops and clear several hurdles with tough negotiations. In the end, Rick put the pieces together to get the film, have it restored and added an original movie score. The wonderful thing is that the film content is complete, although it required a lot of restoration."

The restored film will have 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 will premiere it at the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival held Thursday, March 26 – Sunday, March 29, 2015, in Hollywood.

Dietrich continued, "We are so proud to have accomplished this. To know that essentially every magician in the world big and small, will get the thrill of viewing this wonderful Houdini movie because of us. This includes future magicians for all time, as well as millions of non magicians. It was our goal to get this to someone who would release it to the public and not hoard in their cellar or a back room somewhere.”



Background information.



The Houdini Museum located in Scranton, PA is the only building in the world dedicated to Houdini. It has been put together by well known professional magicians Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz. The Houdini Museum has also taken on the responsibility of taking care of the abandoned Houdini Grave site and recently replaced Houdini's missing bust that was destroyed 40 years ago by vandals. http://houdini.org" target="_blank

Dorothy Dietrich is considered the leading female magician and escape artist in the world having been called "the First Lady of Magic," and "The Female Houdini." She has appeared in countless Television specials including "You Asked For It", a Bill Cosby Special, Montel Williams, "The Tomorrow Show", "Atlantic City Alive", "Just For The Record, the Best Of Everything", "Evening Magazine", etc. She was Special Guest Star in HBO's "The World's Greatest Escapes," costarring movie legend Tony Curtis, in which she escaped hanging from the bottom of a parachute ride hundreds of feet in the air while hanging from a singe piece of rope that was set on fire and she is the only woman in history to accomplish The Jinxed Bullet Catch in the mouth, the one stunt Houdini backed out of. The stunt has killed over 13 men and injured many others. This stunt was done at Resorts International in Atlantic City. Both stand as world records to this day. When not doing crazy stunts such as these she travels with a magic show that features doves, a duck, a rabbit and two pet poodles. When in her home town of Scranton she appears on a regular basis on stage of The Houdini Museum. http://dorothydietrich.com" target="_blank

Dick Brookz has been a professional magician his entire life. He has fronted for Bobby Darin, Jack Jones and Neil Sedaka and performed at such venues as #1 Fifth Ave, The Rainbow Grill, The Americana Hotel and Casino in Puerto Rico, Aruba Hotel and Casino, etc.

 http://dickbrookz.com" target="_blank

Rick Schmidlin is a film preservationist, silent film scholar, and a producer-director whose work has focused on restorations, reconstructions and documentaries. In 1982 Rick produced music videos for several bands. Rick developed a career in film full time. In 1986 he became assistant to the producer on the movie "The Fly" and worked on the feature film "Hoosiers". Rick then produced the long form home video "The Doors Live At The Hollywood Bowl" which was voted #1 non-theatrical of 1987 by Video magazine. He produced four other projects for The Doors and MCA Home Video including "Doors Collection" a special edition Laserdisc/ DVD. He produced the film "The Doors:The Soft Parade - A Retrospective" (1991). During 1987 Rick was personal assistant to Frank Zappa, helping him develop his video enterprise. From 1987-1992 Rick created 'Easyriders Video Magazine' and produced, directed and wrote 13 hour-long Harley Davidson videos. He produced and directed two documentaries on the breaking of the motorcycle land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, narrated by Peter Fonda. In 1998 Rick produced the re-edit of Orson Welles "Touch Of Evil" which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and Toronto Film Festivals. He received special awards from The National Society of Film Critics, The New York Film Critics Circle, The Boston Society of Film Critics and The Los Angeles Film Critics Association for "scholarship and integrity". In 1999 Rick produced the reconstruction of the Erich von Stroheim 1924 classic "Greed" for Turner Entertainment and Turner Classic Movies. The American premier was at the Telluride Film Festival and the European premiere at Venice Film Festival. Special presentations were at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival, Italy, The Berlin Film Festival and the Moscow International Film Festival. Rick received from The National Society of Film Critics their 'Film Heritage Award' and from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association a special award for a "meticulous reconstruction". He also re-edited the concert film "Elvis: That's the Way It Is". He produced a Special Elvis Presley Theatrical Edition of "Elvis, That's The Way It Is" for Turner Entertainment and Turner Classic Movies. This film was completely re-cut and remixed. Included in this new version are nine additional new musical performances and many personal moments of Elvis working with his band that have been never been seen before. It premiered in Memphis at The Orpheum Theater as the main theme of "Elvis Week 2000". Schmidlin produced the restoration in 2000 of "The Dickson Experimental Sound Film" (1894-95 is the first known film with live-recorded sound) that was selected for inclusion in the United States National Film Registry. More recently Schmidlin has led a team in reconstructing the famous lost horror film "London After Midnight" starring Lon Chaney and directed by Tod Browning. Schmidlin has received the Special Award from the New York Film Critics Circle, a Special Citation from the National Society of Film Critics, and a Special Citation from Los Angeles Film Critics Association for his work on Touch of Evil. For his work reconstructing Greed he, along with Roger Mayer and Turner Classic Movies, won a Special Citation from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. In 2001 he received the Rondo Award from the Classic Horror Film Board for London After Midnight that he produced for TCM. Rick is the only filmmaker to ever receive awards for two consecutive years from The National Society of Film Critics and The Los Angeles Film Critics Association.



Grim Game movie posters at http://houdini.org/thegrimgameposters.html" target="_blank



Contact info



More hi res pics available...


Penny Wilkes


The Houdini Museum


1433 N. Main Ave.
Scranton, PA.18508
 570-342-5555


[email protected]" target="_blank


http://www.Houdini.org" target="_blank



Contact
Penny Wilkes
570 342 5555

Source: The Houdini Museum

[silentfilm]

http://www.nyunews.com/2015/02/09/nyu-h ... dini-film/

NYU helps recover Houdini film

Courtesy of Kimberly Tarr

NYU helped in the conservation of Houdini’s “The Grim Game.”

Tejas A. Sawant
February 9, 2015

“The Grim Game,” a 1919 silent film starring the famous illusionist Harry Houdini, was believed to be lost for about four decades. But thanks to a collaborative effort involving Turner Classic Movies and NYU’s Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department, the film has now been made available to the world again.

The recovered 71-minute feature film is expected to make its comeback during the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood this upcoming March. Tisch professor Brane Živković composed an accompanying soundtrack.

The film follows the story of a young man named Harvey Hanford, or Harry Houdini, who is framed for murder but escapes from the police and goes after the true culprits. The film is a reflection of Houdini’s skill as an escape artist.

The film’s preservation journey began when Rick Schmidlin, a film preservationist and silent-film scholar, learned about the film from his friends at the Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He decided to bring Professor Živković on board.

“I first met Brane at his NYU lecture. Since we became good friends, I reached out to him after learning about the film,” Schmidlin said.
Conservation_gloves_film

Courtesy of Kimberly Tarr

After several weeks, Schmidlin located the owner of the only extant copy of the film. It belonged to Brooklyn resident Larry Weeks, a 95-year-old ardent fan of Houdini who had refused to sell the film to many prospective buyers in the past.

“After a long conversation, Larry finally agreed to sell the film. We were really lucky to reach out to [him] in time because he passed away soon after in September,” said Schmidlin. “And had the film not been procured, it would have been lost to the world forever.”

Schmidlin and Živković approached the Bobst Library’s Preservation and Conservation Department, where they received active cooperation from Head of the Preservation Department Paula De Stefano. The film finally arrived in two old metallic cans at NYU’s on-site vault at Bobst.

“For several months, the restored film was guarded like a secret inside NYU,” Schmidlin said.

Kimberly Tarr and Benjamin Moskovitz, who are part of the media preservation team, undertook the job of transferring the film to vented cans to protect it from further degradation.

“The only surviving part of the film known to the world was a five minute footage of an actual plane-crash that had occurred while filming,” said Tarr, who was excited about the breakthrough of this project. “It was an honor to work with such a great team. It was a great collaboration and we’re delighted to get to play a role in that.”
Conservation_g-game-loop

Courtesy of Kimberly Tarr

Živković, a lauded composer who undertook the challenge of taking the audience back to 1919 through the score, felt the goal of the project was realized.

“I wanted to recreate the ambiance of a silent film theater of the early ‘20s, where local musicians played the score to enhance scenes, especially those involving action, emotion and heroic deeds.”

He is eager to watch his very first attempt at scoring a full-length silent film from scratch come to life at the upcoming premiere.

Schmidlin, who has actively been involved in the recovering of “The Grim Game” since the project’s beginning, felt pleased about the results of this project.

“[This was] a rare and entertaining experience,” he said. “It was the dream team that everyone wanted to have.”

A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Feb. 9 print edition. Email Tejas A. Sawant at [email protected]" target="_blank.

[All Darc]

Was it really lost???

After all, the owner had the film and refused to seel in past years.