Portland Public Library

Disappearing tricks, silent film, Houdini, and the new magic of the twentieth century, Matthew Solomon

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages [129]-187) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Disappearing tricks

bibliography

423388225

Matthew Solomon

silent film, Houdini, and the new magic of the twentieth century

Solomon revisits the golden age of theatrical magic and silent film to reveal how professional magicians shaped the early history of cinema. While others have called upon magic as merely an evocative metaphor for the wonders of cinema, the author focuses on the work of the professional illusionists who actually made magic with moving pictures between 1895 and 1929. He combines film and theater history to uncover new evidence of the exchanges between magic and filmmaking in the United States and France during the silent period. Chapters detailing the stage and screen work of Harry Houdini and Georges Méliès show how each transformed theatrical magic to create innovative cinematic effects and thrilling new exploits for twentieth-century mass audiences. The book also considers the previously overlooked roles of anti-spiritualism and presentational performance in silent film. Highlighting early cinema's relationship to the performing body, visual deception, storytelling, and the occult, Solomon treats cinema and stage magic as overlapping practices that together revise our understanding of the origins of motion pictures and cinematic spectacle. --From publisher description

An anti-spiritualist medium: stage magic and the beginnings of cinema -- The death of magic? Presentational performance and early film -- Behind the curtain: Méliès at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin -- Up-to-date magic: theatrical conjuring and the trick film -- Houdini's actuality magic: escaping the "ghost house" with moving pictures -- Lost in transition: sensational fiction and the limits of narrative integration

Silent film, Houdini, and the new magic of the twentieth centurySilent film, Houdini, and the new magic of the 20th century