Article: THE KEY TO HOUDINI; TNT FILM TRIES TO UNLOCK FAMED MAGICIAN'S LORE.(L.A. LIFE)

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

More than 70 years after his death, Harry Houdini remains our most famous magician, his name still a synonym for the astonishing escape.

His ability to somehow worm out of straitjackets, prison cells and sealed water tanks created an enduring myth little dimmed since his 1926 death, not from a failed stunt but a ruptured appendix.

``Houdini,'' the made-for-TV movie about the magician that premieres at 8 tonight on TNT, explains some of Houdini's secrets, but it also takes some unexpected, even unlikely leaps that nonetheless provide a substantial emotional payoff.

In fact, writer-director Pen ...

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