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The Man from Beyond (1922)
Topic Started: Jul 13 2007, 08:05 AM (360 Views)
Laughing Gravy
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Our friends at Restored Serials Super Restoration Corp. offer a frame-by-frame restoration of the strange (and the word "strange" hardly does justice to it) 1922 science fiction thriller The Man from Beyond, written by, produced by, and starring legendary magician/escape artist Harry Houdini.

Houdini (b. Erich Weisz in Hungary, 1876) needs no introduction: his name is one that has never lost its celebrity over the decades. Although never a major film star, he appeared in features and one serial (The Master Mystery, 1919) before setting up his own film production company in the early 1920s. The first (of two) films Houdini produced, based on his own story, was The Man from Beyond. It’s rather confusing and hard to follow, and Houdini – in his mid-40s – is nobody’s idea of a handsome leading man, but it’s fun and has some good impressive sequences.

The opening title card tells us, “This story starts where Dogma clashed with the promptings of a higher sense and leads to somethings which – because it is new – we think mysterious.” I have watched the movie, folks, and I have NO idea what that means. In any case, an arctic expedition is wrecked, and a pair of explorers try to hike across the ice to the village of the “Esquimaux”. On the way, they come upon a ship frozen in the ice, and a man frozen in the ship. They thaw him out, and find a fellow who’d been frozen in 1821, a century before. The chap (Houdini) spends the rest of the film looking for the reincarnation of his long-lost love, dodging a murder charge, and – once he’s found his lady love – rescuing her from various perils, including a canoe that’s headed straight for Niagara Falls.

Restored Serials presents a good edition of the film; I don’t think it will ever look great, but it looks quite good. The generic New Age soundtrack is a drawback, though. I loved the bonus material, which is easily worth the price of admission all by itself. You get a wonderful 4 min. newsreel clip of Houdini escaping from a strait-jacket while dangling upside down five floors up, and two PDF documents you can open on your computer, one a 35-page synopsis of The Master Mystery and – the gem of this set – a 20-page pressbook for The Man from Beyond that is absolutely fascinating. I spent more time reading this stuff than I did watching the film! Check out the rave review from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (a friend of Houdini’s, who later had a famous falling out with him over Spiritualism)! Read Houdini’s offer to pay $5,000 to any producer or director who could “make a more thrilling picture” than The Man from Beyond! I think there have probably been more thrilling pictures, but it's an interesting curio. Fans of Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man will note the similarity between the opening scenes of both films... Houdini's ice man cometh in a package very similar to Lugosi's Monster, and the shots are even framed the same way.

The restored version of The Man from Beyond ($13.95) can be ordered directly from Restored Serials.

"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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copperhead
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gravy, did you like it? or would you pan it?---ralph g
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Laughing Gravy
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I thought it contained some interesting ideas, and it's so darn weird... but it's not something I thought was a "good" movie, on the whole.
"I'm glad that this question came up, because there are so many ways to answer it that one of them is bound to be right." - Robert Benchley
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panzer the great & terrible
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I thought it stank. By the time it was made, the language of silent films was quite sophisticated, but not here. Editing, direction, photography and acting are uninspired, and the story's hard to follow. The pressbook is the one worthwhile thing in the package.
Life is just a bowl of cherries, it's too mysterious, don't take it serious...
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Inspector Carr
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although not advertised on their website....In the KINO video catalog I receieved in a recent purchase there is an ad for a "Harry Houdini Box set" they are putting out.....it contains I believe Terror Island(1920) The Master Mystery serial (1919) and The Man from Beyond (1922) as well as rare films and a cornucopia of extras..
it is to be released early next year...
"Life is a Crapshoot however you need a pair of dice to participate"
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copperhead
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gents, you have convinced me not to buy it--thanks, ralph g
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The Batman
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Inspector Carr
Dec 6 2007, 04:28 PM
although not advertised on their website....In the KINO video catalog I receieved in a recent purchase there is an ad for a "Harry Houdini Box set" they are putting out.....it contains I believe Terror Island(1920) The Master Mystery serial (1919) and The Man from Beyond (1922) as well as rare films and a cornucopia of extras..
it is to be released early next year...

Yes, Inspector, I had heard that the set was originally to be released late this year and had been bugging my DVD since. Reviews aside, I want to check these films out for myself, as well as the interesting sounding extras, so I plan on taking a chance with this release.

Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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