TCM frees Houdini's 'The Grim Game'

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JohnCox
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TCM frees Houdini's 'The Grim Game'

Postby JohnCox » January 23rd, 2015, 11:51 am

HUGE Houdini news today! Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has acquired Larry Weeks' print of Houdini's 1919 feature, The Grim Game. The movie has undergone a full restoration by renowned preservationist Rick Schmidlin. The restored film will have its world-premiere at the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood in March with a live score conducted by composer Brane Zivkovic. It will then play on the TCM network later this year.

Now we can all enjoy what is said to be Houdini's best film!

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: TCM frees Houdini's 'The Grim Game'

Postby Richard Kaufman » January 23rd, 2015, 12:07 pm

When I first learned of this at the beginning of November, I was told the movie was going to be screened in December. I wonder if the restoration took longer than assumed.
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JohnCox
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Re: TCM frees Houdini's 'The Grim Game'

Postby JohnCox » January 23rd, 2015, 12:18 pm

Rick told me the restoration was done by late Nov and the plan was always to premiere it at the TCM Festival. The original announcement was supposed to come in Nov/Dec.

Shame Larry Weeks didn't live to see this happen. While it was frustrating to not have this best Houdini film available, Larry turned out to be an excellent custodian. I'm certainly grateful he sold to TCM. Can't image a better place for it to go as it will now be preserved and enjoyed by the public. And from what the Rick told me, the film was complete and in great shape.

Thank you, Larry.
Last edited by JohnCox on January 23rd, 2015, 5:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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magicusa
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Re: TCM frees Houdini's 'The Grim Game'

Postby magicusa » January 23rd, 2015, 9:26 pm

We have seen the film twice during this process that we were a part of. It is complete and longer than expected. Metropolis that restored it cleaned a lot of it up. There are one or two short sections where the nitrate stock began to disintegrate but Larry Weeks had it copied to protect it. During his lifetime through Larry, we had seen the film twice. Dick has been friends with Larry Weeks since Dick was a teenager. For those who do not know about Larry Weeks a year ago we put up a website in his name at http://larryweeks.info

For more information about how this all came about go to
http://houdini.org/houdinigrimgameuncov ... useum.html

Thank you Larry Weeks and Rick Schmidlin.

Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz
The Houdini Museum, Scranton, PA
The Only Museum in the World Dedicated to Houdini


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