Too many unrealistic errors in this entire scene. Why didn't Houdini look on the ocean floor for the pool of light through the hole in the ice on the surface of the river? and if he really was unconcious in the river at one point, wouldn't he have drowned?
shareWorse than that, it seems that scene never really happened, as many others in this film. Look at this extract from a wikipedia article:
"This movie, starring Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, has contributed, in part, to several misconceptions about Houdini's life. For example, it portrays the cause of Houdini's death to be the magician's failure to escape from the Chinese Water Torture Cell."
Sorry guys, but this one really happened, although he wasn't under nearly as long as portrayed in the film. He went off the Belle Isle Bridge in Detroit (my hometown), wasn't unconscious, and was carried off by the current. A rope was lowered into the water, which he eventually saw. He did breathe by means of air pockets under the ice but didn't hear his mother's voice (which, with the duration of time spent underwater, comprises the Hollywood spin on this particular incident). Given that seeing the rope saved his life, one has to assume that he'd drifted too far from the hole to have used "the ocean floor" of the river as a gauge.
Detroit wasn't lucky for Houdini; he died there as well.
The "pool of light", (if there was one visible) would have been a distance away from the surface hole due to the angle at which the daylight would be shining through it. I would not be directly underneath the hole, unless it was noon, and even then, the time of year would change the angle. Plus the river is not crystal clear anyway, it would be difficult to see anything on the bottom.
share