Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Haldane of the Secret Service (1923)

Famous escape artist Harry Houdini is Haldane in this tale of spies and government agents. Houdini is supported by Gladys Leslie, William Humphrey, Richard Carlyle and Charles Fang.

This DVD collection contains Haldane of the Secret Service (1923), mastered from a very-good 35mm print held by Cinema Arts.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on synthesizer by Ben Model.

Also included in this collection are the serial The Master Mystery (1918-1919), an incomplete but reconstructed version from 35mm footage once held by Douris UK Ltd. (now held by the Cohen Media Group); the surviving 35mm footage from The Grim Game (1919) held by George Eastman Museum (5 minutes); Terror Island (1920) from an excellent but incomplete 35mm print (missing reels three and four) held by the Library of Congress; and the best available edition (of several) of The Man from Beyond (1922), having been mastered from the Library of Congress preservation version prepared from surviving 16mm print materials. The supplemental material includes documentary footage of Houdini escapes (circa 1907 through 1923), an audio recording of Houdini introducing his “Water Torture Cell” (1914), Slippery Jim (1910) a Houdini-inspired comedy, an examination of film scenes censored by the New York State Censor Board with correspondence, Houdini’s illusion “Metamorphosis” performed by Houdini’s brother Hardeen (4 minutes), image galleries, and film notes.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

This DVD-R edition has been mastered from an analog video master that was transferred from a good to very-good 16mm reduction print. While the print is OK, the video master features a drastic double line to the right of transitions dark areas to light areas (see Houdini’s shirt and forehead, and the edge of the couch arm in the frame above).

The film is accompanied by a soundtrack of preexisting recordings.

It should be no surprise that we recommend the Kino edition noted above instead of this cheap, hard-to-watch disc.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .