Narrated by Mandy Patinkin, the just-OK doc
traces his meteoric rise from immigrant to death-defying superstar to spiritualist exposer.
Those who’ve never read a book on Houdini — I highly recommend William Kalush and Larry Sloman’s “The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero
Newcomers, however, will learn that he often performed in the nude so he couldn’t be accused of hiding anything (which raises a whole other question), that he was "an immense egotist — none larger," and that he often was in such pain that he literally urinated blood for his art. —Rod Lott
