The Man from Beyond

1922 MysteryDrama 74 minutes Directed by Burton L. King

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About The Man from Beyond

Dr. Gregory Sinclair and his party chop Howard Hillary out of Arctic ice and thaw him. Hillary has been frozen a hundred years. He remembers a mutiny and Felice, the captain's daughter he loved. Sinclair hides the century he has lost. On the wedding day of Sinclair's ward, Felice Strange, Hillary takes her for that earlier Felice. Her suitor, Dr. Gilbert Trent, has kidnapped her father. Hillary and Sinclair rescue him. When Trent's man pursues Felice, Hillary swims the Niagara rapids, fights Trent on a cliff, and throws him over. The film ends with the spirit of the 1820 Felice entering the 1922 woman.

Cast & crew

More about The Man from Beyond

Harry Houdini wrote the story and stars as Howard Hillary. Burton L. King is the credited director; the press book claimed Houdini's supervision overrode King, which later accounts treat as publicity. Harry Fischbeck photographed. Houdini Picture Corporation distributed it. Released 2 April 1922. Runtime 74 minutes. Houdini did his own stunts, including the ice and the Niagara rescue.

Themes

  • a man thawed after a century
  • reincarnation of a lost love
  • a Niagara rescue
  • Harry Houdini
  • Arctic ice
  • reincarnation
  • Niagara Falls
  • kidnapping
  • spiritualism

Background

The picture is often read as Houdini's reply to his break with Arthur Conan Doyle over spiritualism. Doyle was a believer; Houdini was its best-known critic. By 1922 they were not speaking.

Making

Houdini performed the stunts himself. The Niagara sequence sends him into the rapids after Felice.

Reviews

Arthur Conan Doyle called it one of the great contributions to the screen and said it held him breathless from the ice scene to Niagara. The publicity campaign printed the quote.

Look

Harry Fischbeck photographed it, including the Arctic ice and the Niagara rescue.

Preservation

A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.

Notes

  • Nita Naldi plays Marie Le Grande. Jane Connelly plays Felice Strange and the earlier Felice Norcross.
  • Arthur Maude plays Dr. Gilbert Trent, Albert Tavernier Dr. Crawford Strange, Erwin Connelly Dr. Gregory Sinclair.
  • The last title card reads "You must believe.
  • The closing image of one Felice's spirit entering the other repeats the cover idea of Arthur Conan Doyle's 1918 book The New Revelation.
  • Doyle and Houdini had split over a séance in which Houdini's mother, who spoke only German, was said to speak English. Doyle still praised the film, and the ads used his quote.
  • Doyle wrote that the picture runs from the chopping of a frozen man out of the ice to the rescue at Niagara Falls.

Scenes

  • Explorers chop Howard Hillary out of a block of Arctic ice and thaw him.
  • He recognizes the bride Felice Strange as the woman he loved in 1820.
  • He swims the Niagara rapids to pull Felice back from the falls, then throws Trent off a cliff.

Influenced by

  • Arthur Conan Doyle's The New Revelation, echoed in the final spirit image

Also available

  • Wikimedia Commons (The Man from Beyond (1922).webm)

Quotes

You must believe.