Death Defying Acts
Houdini's Secret
Magic is Inescapable
Academy Award Winner Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago) and Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential) star in this remarkable love story from acclaimed director Gillian Armstrong. Zeta-Jones stars as Mary McGarvie: a beautiful con artist who, with the help of her young daughter (Academy Award Nominee Saoirse Ronan, Atonement), fools audiences into believing she is psychic. When the legendary magician Harry Houdini (Pearce) comes to town with a skeptic's challenge - $10,000 to anyone who can correctly "channel" his mother's last dying words - Mary accepts his test. Entranced, Houdini enters into a passionate affair with the charming clairvoyant even as he prepares for most dangerous stunt of his career.
Member Reviews
Good film from the UK, easily worth four stars - Fudgeflaps
With its good cast, including Guy Pearce and Saoirse Ronan, and good story this is a very enjoyable movie. This the first movie I've seen Catherine Zeta-Jones in, so I'm not really sure who she is, but she did a fairly good job in this movie.
I would take this over an over-hyped American movie any day.DIDN'T LIKE IT... - Ricardo
despite good acting by most of the cast. It was a recreation of a period in the life of Houdini, who despite living an extremely exciting life, was not immune to love. A story of an affair with an admitted fake and her precocious child. It was not a movie I would recommendA Romance in the Shadows kind of movie... - Dreamscaper
Death Defying Acts is a film that ended up surprising me in some ways; the official description had me expecting something more along the lines of a sappy romance movie, when in reality the film is more accurately described as an 'anti-romantic' film (at least for the first 60 minutes), with the main characters all appearing to be angling to put themselves in the best position possible for their own personal advantage. the main plot of the film is houdini's 1926 visit to Scotland and his public feud with the popular mysticism of the day.
At the point when the film starts to seem somewhat predictable, the story swings off the rails a bit in an effort to keep the audience guessing where everyone will end up. There are elements of the story that reflect the mesmerizing effect that Houdini had on the audiences of his day, including at least one intriguing performance shown half way through the film, however the storyline does not really lend itself to exploring Houdini's performance work very deeply. There is some effort made to reflect the idea that Houdini was mostly a man of science who appreciated that an audience could be manipulated by appealing to their sense of wonderment at the unknown.
Guy Pearce tries to portray a man with a gruff and somewhat jaded exterior, however he is able to also portray a sense of vulnerability in the character. Catherine Zeta-Jones (who has not been too high profile in Hollywood of late) gives a believable performance as a destitute single mother who has learned how to survive on the streets of early 20th Century Edinburg, Scotland, using acombination of her femine wiles and street smarts. Saoirse Ronan is very servicable as the cagey young urchine daughter of Zeta-Jones in gthe film. Definitely worth keeping an eye on in the future after her performance both here and in Atonement.
All in all, Death Defying Acts, is able to conjure up an entertaining - if somewhat inevitably dark movie experience.
Member Reviews
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Good film from the UK, easily worth four stars - Fudgeflaps
With its good cast, including Guy Pearce and Saoirse Ronan, and good story this is a very enjoyable movie. This the first movie I've seen Catherine Zeta-Jones in, so I'm not really sure who she is, but she did a fairly good job in this movie.
I would take ...DIDN'T LIKE IT... - Ricardo
despite good acting by most of the cast. It was a recreation of a period in the life of Houdini, who despite living an extremely exciting life, was not immune to love. A story of an affair with an admitted fake and her precocious child. It was not a movie ...A Romance in the Shadows kind of movie... - Dreamscaper
Death Defying Acts is a film that ended up surprising me in some ways; the official description had me expecting something more along the lines of a sappy romance movie, when in reality the film is more accurately described as an 'anti-romantic' film (at least ...