Death Defying Acts

[Byzantine Magpie]

I was wondering if anyone knew anything about this movie? It's about a fake psychic trying to win the $10,000 prize offered by Harry Houdini for genuinely contacting his dead mother.

What bemuses me about the film is the impression I get that the fake psychic's daughter is supposed to be genuinely psychic, and that Houdini is being deceptive about the message he seeks.

Is it true to history? Or has the scriptwriter twisted things in some way?

 

[Bob Klase]

the fake psychic's daughter is supposed to be genuinely psychic...

That alone would indicate that it's not true to history.

From this review:http://www.smh.com.au/news/film-reviews/death-defying-acts/2008/03/14/1205126184257.html

You may not be surprised to learn that the script does quite a bit of tinkering with the facts of Houdini's life.

The script was initially devised without Houdini as a story about the art of the con trick

So Houdini was added as a character to a script that had already been written (although no doubt the script was changed after making him the main character- still, not a biography and not a documentary, just a fictional movie with at least one reality based character).