Death Defying Acts (2007)

• Year: 2007
• Released: 13 Mar 2008
• Country: United Kingdom, Australia, United States
• Adwords: 5 wins & 7 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472071/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/death_defying_acts
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p,
• Language: English, Hungarian
• MPA Rating: PG
• Genre: Drama, History, Romance
• Runtime: 97 min
• Writer: Tony Grisoni, Brian Ward
• Director: Gillian Armstrong
• Cast: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Guy Pearce, Timothy Spall
• Keywords: scotland, escape artist, clairvoyant, woman director, 1920s, houdini,

	5.8/10
	48/100
	26% – Critics
	26% – Audience

Death Defying Acts Storyline

Times are tough for theatrical performer Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones) for in her psychic stage act that she performs in Edinburgh with her daughter Benji (Saoirse Ronan) for all the scamming they do to secure the necessary information to put one over on their audiences, the theatres close and the two are left to live in the caretaker’s house in a cemetery. When Mary discovers that the great Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) is touring the Scottish Iles and will do a show in Edinburgh she is interested in meeting him, especially since the great magician has advertised that he will give $10,000 dollars to the person who can connect to the spiritual world. Houdini has spent the last few years uncovering all the fake mentalist he has met to communicate with his dead mother. He is carrying guilt at not being present when his mother died and when he meets Mary at an audition he his struck by how much she looks like his departed mom. Mary and Benji spend many days with Houdini and his manager Mr. Sugarman (Timothy Spall) trying to discover personal facts that they can use to convincingly present some séance for the great Houdini, but Mary and Harry fall in love and the emotional connection changes between them.

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Death Defying Acts Movie Reviews

A Nutshell Review: Death Defying Acts

What had drawn me to watch Death Defying Acts, is that it’s a story with Harry Houdini, arguably the greatest illusionist and escape artist of our time. A few days ago I was browsing through a book which revealed the secrets behind his brand of death defying acts, and really he’s a man of science, engineering and most of all, a performer to bring to life the act of fooling an audience into believing his stunts. Sure there’s an element of danger, but with proper risk assessment and safeguards, they strip away all the mystique that serves to confound.

But contrary to the title, there’s nothing really death defying about the movie, as it treaded on safe ground and doesn’t dwell any more on the illusions that it has to. In fact, you can count the number of stunts which involve Harry Houdini, and the filmmakers left that for another biographical movie that someone else should pick up on. What we have instead are glimpses into the man’s personal life, and Guy Pearce provided quite an intense and charismatic Houdini with personal demons of his own to do battle with, though the story seemed to rein him in from dwelling too much on that aspect, and preferred to have a more romantic tale weaved in.

The romanticism of the movie is not with his illusions, but with a single parent who’s a psychic of sorts, relying on her street smarts to get her own act going. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Mary McGarvie, who has to rely on her wits to build credibility for her stage character. Together with daughter and sidekick Benji (played by Saoirse Ronan of Atonement fame), the mother and daughter team tries hard to make a living from their acts, but realize that they’re by no means close to Houdini’s widespread fame and fortune.

However, Houdini himself throws a gauntlet to all psychics far and wide, that whosoever can accurately reveal what his late mother had last said to him, will inherit US$10,000. His purpose it seems is to reveal that the majority of these soothsayers are tricksters in disguise, until of course he meets the luminous Mary, and affairs of the heart throws him off course. Naturally, Mary and Benji find themselves up against the best in the business, but when your back is against the wall, there’s nothing much to lose it seems.

As mentioned earlier, this movie’s more of a character study of the master magician, and explores things like his guilt because of dedication to his craft and performance, as well as his questionable motives in being attracted to the fictional Mary McGarvie. Narrated by the character of Benji, we see things through a child’s eyes, and perhaps therein lies the loss of some pathos in the romantic angle of it. On one hand, it isn’t your classic romantic story, while on the other, it doesn’t seem to want to preach the method, rationale and mindset of Houdini himself.

So what emerged is a mixed bag. Beautifully shot, but again falling on the emptiness of its effort in trying to allow the audience to feel for the characters. At least Timothy Spall, who plays Mr Sugarman, Houdini’s manager, allowed for some light moments as the guarded and wary person that he is. And credit goes to keeping the ending quite right too.

A Satisfying Mixture of Fact Embellished with Fiction

Gillian Armstrong makes fine movies: she is a director who knows how to tell stories and enhance what appears on the surface to be reality with a healthy dose of fantasy. Her sense of pacing and image creation adds substance to her tales that sometimes border on bizarre.

DEATH DEFYING ACTS uses the character of Harry Houdini as the stimulus of to tell a story about the folk of Edinburgh, Scotland at a time when stage shows were embraced much the way America was using vaudeville – an escape from the rather dreary state of living to a world of entertainment and love of magic. Mary McGarvie (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and her daughter Benji (Saoirse Ronan) survive in Edinburgh by picking pockets not merely for cash but for information to use in their act in the little theaters. Mary does exotic dances then uses her ‘gifts’ to see into the ‘other world’ of people in the audience ( Benji does the investigative work and is the prompter for the séance like acts Mary performs). Their idol is Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) and when they learn Houdini is coming to Edinburgh to ‘perform’, they discover Houdini is promising $10,000 to anyone who can prove they have the ability to look into the future (or past). Houdini’s manager Sugarman (Timothy Spall) arranges Houdini’s water tank escape acts and other acts of ‘magic’, and when Mary and Benji arrange to meet Houdini, Sugarman is aware they are charlatans. How Mary and Benji work their way into Houdini’s belief system and love life with their con game forms the meat of the sparing.

The atmosphere of the film is well captured by cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos who understands who to balance the mire of the streets of 1926 Edinburgh with the gorgeous fantasies used during Houdini’s escape acts. The musical score by Cezary Skubiszewski is a terrific mixture of Scottish tunes and instruments with solid melodramatic mood music. Pearce, Zeta-Jones, Spall and Ronan turn in excellent performances. This is an unjustly overlooked film that, while not being a masterpiece, serves up a fine story well told. Grady Harp

Fiction from Fact, Very Enjoyable

I really did not care that this was not a factual account of Houdini’s life. There are some truths in the depiction of Harry (some actual B&W footage is used of his acts and his debunking of mystics). It was enjoyable, had beautiful cinematography, elements of humor a story of love and life…however implausible it may be, it does not detract from elegance of watching Catherine Zeta Jones(Mary McGarvie) try to support herself and her daughter, matching wits with the great Houdini.

Catherine displays a grace and style combined with fire and drive. Her daughter provides moments of comedic relief and there is tension between Catherine and Guy Pearce – should she win the money at any cost, allow herself to fall in love, what is in the afterlife? This was entertainment based on Houdini, a platform to tell a story which I thought was well done.