The Man from Beyond

Filmmaker: Burton King

Year: 1922

Run Time: 67 minutes

Two scientists on an Arctic expedition uncover a frozen man who’s been preserved in ice for a century. The "man from beyond" is none other than Harry Houdini, who punches up a gothic melodrama with escape acts and a dashing rescue above Niagara Falls. His character encounters the same woman he left behind a hundred years earlier living in 1920 but in this century she’s set to marry dastardly Dr. Trent. The villain has the "man from beyond" committed to an asylum, giving Houdini opportunity to show his skill in slipping out of straitjackets. The magician’s acrobatics are THE MAN FROM BEYOND’s main attraction, though the film’s romantic atmosphere suggests a more mystical understanding of the unexplained.