How a long-lost Houdini film, unseen for nearly a century, came to get a Weyauwega premiere

"The Grim Game," a silent film from 1919, was for years thought to be gone forever.
Photo courtesy of Weyauwega International Film Festival

WEYAUWEGA - For years it looked like "The Grim Game" had forever escaped public view. 

This significant piece of Harry Houdini history — the film often cited as his best — is lost to time no more. The 1919 film, which resurfaced and was restored about four years ago, is among the main attractions at the upcoming Weyauwega International Film Festival. It runs Nov. 7-10 at the Gerold Opera House. 

And, yes, if you weren't aware, not only was Houdini the most famous illusionist of his time — and, really, of any time — he also was a movie star. Years after he left Appleton, where he spent much of his childhood, he was the face of a string of films from 1918 to 1923.

The lone copy of "The Grim Game," now nearly 100 years old, spent decades in the hands of a retired Brooklyn juggler and avid Houdini collector who only gave it up shortly before his death. Turner Classic Movies bought it, had it restored, and later had a world premiere screening at the TCM Classic Film Festival in 2015. 

MORE: Harry Houdini's draw for Appleton is no illusion

"People don't really watch silent movies anymore, but it's very entertaining," said festival director and co-founder Ian Teal. "Houdini is used very well. He has lots of escapes, there are great sequences. The story is engaging. It moves quickly."

"The Grim Game" is the story of a man named Harvey Hanford, played by Houdini, who is framed for murder. He's locked up and, as you might have guessed, Hanford must escape incarceration and take on the actual killers. 

The 71-minute adventure will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10. It's the final screening of the weekend and will be accompanied by talks from Rick Schmidlin, who helped restore the long-lost work; Jack Rhodes, a film historian; and local Houdini enthusiast and collector Tom Boldt.

Harry Houdini stars in "The Grim Game." The film was released in 1919 and for years was thought to ...more
Harry Houdini stars in "The Grim Game." The film was released in 1919 and for years was thought to be lost. It was tracked down in 2015 and restored.
Courtesy of Weyauwega International Film Festival

How the film resurfaced

Schmidlin is a Texas-based silent film scholar and preservationist who played a key role in getting "The Grim Game" back out into the world. About five years ago he connected with Weeks, who was 95 then, and in the 1940s had acquired "The Grim Game" from the Houdini family. (They were giving it up because, in order to secure insurance on a home, they had to get rid of the highly flammable nitrate film.)

In a series of events Schmidlin called "a very important adventure," he and Weeks hit it off and, for the first time, the keeper of the long-lost Houdini flick considered selling. Schmidlin confirmed what was said to be the film really was "The Grim Game," and indeed it was, so he contacted Turner Classic Movies, with whom he'd done past preservation work.

Eventually, TCM threw out a number and Weeks accepted. They traveled together to New York University for a full-blown screening to make sure the entire film was there, start to finish.

"The first time I watched it, it was a miracle," Schmidlin said. 

A big part of that miracle was a move made by weeks in the 1950s. He had the nitrate film printed to 16mm, saving it from deteriorating further. 

"When we watched it, we couldn't believe the whole film exists," Schmidlin said. "In the last reel, you can see heavy nitrate damage that happened in a couple of scenes, but the whole action is totally coherent. You realize if it had not been transferred when Larry did it, that would have been lost."

The deal was done and, after a thorough cleaning by NYU and more than 600 hours of work to restore it, "The Grim Game" closed out the TCM film festival in what was its first public screening in nearly a century.

The rest of the fest

"There's not a bad one in the bunch," Teal said. "These are all movies that I've seen. Granted, not everybody likes every type of movie but I certainly try to find movies I find entertaining and engaging and have something to say."

The four-day festival will showcase 45 films from 18 countries. About half (23) are from the U.S., including 11 from Wisconsin. Eleven of them are feature-length and 35 are shorts. 

"This year I think we ended up having like 350 films to choose from. We spent all of August through September watching movies," Teal said.

The festival kicks off at 4 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 1 p.m. Friday and 11:15 a.m. Saturday. 

The centerpiece of opening day is the 7:30 p.m. showing of Stanley Kubrick's classic "2001: A Space Odyssey." The work, which landed at No. 15 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films, turned 50 earlier this year. As a bonus, there'll be an opening night complimentary pasta dinner for those hanging with HAL.

Friday night has a chunk of time devoted to Psycho Fest, with a selection of five short films and two features with ties to the horror and thriller genres. It's a nod to Robert Bloch, who lived in Weyauwega and went on to write "Psycho." 

Sunday, after "The Grim Game," there's an awards ceremony (where they hand out the Gerolds) and a closing reception. 

For the full schedule, head to wegafilm.com.

"2001: A Space Odyssey" will be shown as part of the eighth annual Weyauwega International Film ...more
"2001: A Space Odyssey" will be shown as part of the eighth annual Weyauwega International Film Festival.
MGM / Warner Bros.

If you go

What: Weyauwega International Film Festival

When: Nov. 7-10

Where: Gerold Opera House, 136 E. Main St, Weyauwega

Tickets: Day passes are $18. Festival passes are $45 and include two popcorns and a drink. Tickets available at the box office and wegafilm.com.


Harry Houdini: Movie star

Harry Houdini starred in five films from 1918 to 1923. Rick Schmidlin, a silent film scholar and preservationist who helped bring "The Grim Game" out of obscurity, explained the star's move from live act to leading man:

"What he was trying to do, because his heyday was the turn of the century, he was getting a little more tired and run down because of his age — from doing the harder stunts, even though he continued doing them for a while," Schmidlin said. "He felt like he could do them on the screen in the movies and it would be a new way to show what he was doing.

"It was short-lived. They didn't do as well. The thing was Houdini was older — much older than like the young Douglas Fairbanks and people like that. As far as being a love interest and everything else, he was approaching the middle-age period where, again, like the 1890s and into the teens, that was when he was at his peak."

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