Michael Pate

A somewhat different take on Custer's motivation that changed him from a defender of Native-American rights into a politically-driven, headline-seeker chastiser of the Sioux during the 1870s. A look at what happened to Custer and his troops at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Custer, an outspoken believer in fair treatment for the Indians, is ousted from his post and forced into retirement. Fueled by ambition when a senator convinces him to run for president, Custer decides to upstage General Terry at Little Big Horn. —Anonymous

An officer accused of cowardice volunteers to bring back General Custers's body after Little Big Horn. Returning to Fort Lincoln, Captain Benson learns of Custer's defeat at the Little Big Horn. At the inquiry as Custer's Officers blame Custer for the defeat, Benson tries to defend him. But Benson was suspiciously absent at the time of the battle and is now despised by the troops. So when an order to retrieve the bodies from the battlefield arrives, Benson volunteers for the dangerous mission of returning back into Indian territory. —Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

Marshal Calem Ware must face unpleasant facts about his past when he attempts to run a criminal gang out of town. Marshal Calem Ware (Randolph Scott) of Medicine Bend is tired and alone. Tired of killing to keep himself from being killed, and alone because of an unspoken past disappointment. The realization that someone in town is paying to have him killed, and the arrival with a show troupe of the special someone from the past, coincide to force more than one type of showdown. —Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

During the main titles, Danny Kaye, dressed as a jester, sings the clever song, Life Could Not Better Be, with lyrics that are apropos to the actors or technicians who are being introduced. A narrator introduces the film while the audience sees a cadre of horsemen riding along the English coastline: "This is the story of how the destiny of a nation was changed by a birthmark, a royal birthmark, on the royal posterior of a royal infant child." Roderick the Tyrant had killed all of the royal family except for a baby boy who survived and has been cared for by a group in the forest. This band of loyalists to the throne is lead by a Robin Hood-type outlaw, the Black Fox (Edward Ashley). The scene changes to the castle where King Roderick (Cecil Parker) is considering an alliance with Griswold of McElwaine in which the King would offer his daughter, Gwendolyn (Angela Lansbury), as Griswold's bride. Gwendolyn is completely opposed to this arrangement. Back in the forest, the audience is led to believe the Black Fox is singing "(You'll Never) Outfox the Fox." He is assisted by a band of midgets, all in Black Fox outfits. However, soon the real Black Fox arrives and we learn that the person who was impersonating the Black Fox is Hubert Hawkins (Danny Kaye), a former carnival entertainer, and the midgets are his pals from the carnival. When the Black Fox reprimands Hawkins for wearing his clothes, he responds that he is only trying to improve the morale of the troops. Maid Jean (Glynis Johns), who is a Captain in the Black Fox's band of outlaws, enters to announce that a group of recruits is arriving. The Black Fox orders Hawkins to get the child - the royal child. Hawkins retrieves the infant and holds the baby on his shoulder to reveal the royal birthmark - the purple pimpernel - for the recruits to see so they will know the Black Fox and his gang are fighting to restore the rightful heir to the throne. The Black Fox orders Hawkins and the Captain to transport the baby to the Abbey in Dover for safekeeping. Hawkins disguises himself as an old man, while Jean transforms from the Captain into a lovely young maiden. They conceal the baby in a fake wine cask. When the King's men stop them on the road, Hawkins claims he is Foutzingdale, the wine merchant, and Jean is his granddaughter. After safely eluding the King's forces, a thunderstorm forces Hawkins and Jean to spend the night in a woodman's hut. Hawkins sings "Baby, Let Me Take You Dreaming," as a lullaby for the baby. Since there is only one straw bed, Hawkins and Captain Jean share it. Hawkins has always been attracted to Jean and she now warms to him. They kiss, but Jean resists. She says, "We daren't think of ourselves until our fight is won." Jean reveals to Hawkins the existence of a secret tunnel leading from the forest to the castle. The problem is it is locked at both ends and the key is in the King's possession. However, if they could get someone inside the castle that could access the King's chambers and retrieve the key, it could be opened so the Black Fox's forces could launch a surprise attack against King Roderick. Suddenly, their planning is interrupted by a stranger entering the hut seeking shelter. He introduces himself as Giacomo (David Carradine; Giacomo is pronounced "Jockamo"), "King of Jesters and Jester of Kings." He is headed for King Roderick's court to become his jester. Jean knocks out Giacomo so Hawkins can become the jester. The wicked Sir Ravenhurst (Basil Rathbone) has hired Giacomo as jester because he is also an assassin. So Hawkins assumes the identity of Giacomo and heads for the castle, while Jean and the infant king continue their journey to the Abbey. However, Giacomo's wagon loses a wheel, so he is delayed on the road and Jean runs afoul of the King's men who are scouring the countryside for the fairest wenches in the land. Therefore, Jean and the wine cart with the precious baby hidden inside arrive at the castle before the new Giacomo has finished repairing his cart. Once at the castle, Jean whistles a secret signal. A blacksmith responds to the signal and takes the child to safety. When Giacomo finally arrives, he sings "My Heart Knows a Lovely Song," which includes the whistle signal. When Giacomo hears the signal returned, he thinks it came from Lord Ravenhurst. Meanwhile, Princess Gwendolyn is fretting to the witch, Griselda (Mildred Natwick), about being forced to marry Griswold. Griselda reassures her that she is destined to wed someone else. When Griselda witnesses the arrival of Giacomo, she tells Gwendolyn he is her intended. Ravenhurst introduces Giacomo to the King. Their conversation about the Italian court is a classic Danny Kaye tongue-twister that ends with, "Yes! The Duchess dove at the Duke just when the Duke dove at the Doge. Now the Duke ducked, the Doge dodged, and the Duchess didn't. So the Duke got the Duchess, the Duchess got the Doge, and the Doge got the Duke!" The King is on his way to select a wench from those who have been recently rounded up by his men. Ravenhurst convinces the King to allow Giacomo to make the appropriate selection. During all of this, the blacksmith is desperately trying to identify himself to Hawkins as his contact. Shortly after Giacomo is shown to his room, the blacksmith comes there, but is interrupted by the arrival of Griselda. Using her evil eye, she hypnotizes Giacomo. He can be brought in and out of this trance by the snap of a finger. She sends him to make love to the Princess. The blacksmith, who has been hiding behind a curtain, has overheard everything. Meanwhile, Jean has made her way to the King's chamber and has found the key to the secret tunnel. As she is leaving, she runs into Giacomo, who is under Griselda's spell. Jean, unaware of the trance, gives the key to Giacomo. When the King arrives, he thinks Jean is Giacomo's choice from the wenches and immediately takes a fancy to her. Giacomo continues to the Princess' chamber. Gwendolyn discovers the key and assumes he has secured it for their escape from the castle. She keeps the key and gives him her silk handkerchief. In several instances, finger snaps bring Giacomo in and out of the trance with comic results. When he leaves Gwendolyn, Giacomo goes to Ravenhurst's chamber, where again finger snaps cause hilarious results. At one instant he is Ravenhurst's assassin-for-hire, at another he is in Griselda's trance as the super confident romancer, and at another he is Hawkins, the scared former carnival performer. When he leaves Ravenhurst, he returns to his room where Griselda puts him to sleep. Meanwhile, Jean is being dressed by ladies-in-waiting for her presentation to the King. She sends the attendants away when she hears the whistle signal from the blacksmith. She tells him to take the baby to the jester. Once Giacomo awakens, he is the jester again. When he arrives at the King's banquet room, he sees Jean seated next to the King. During this sequence, there is great deal of confusion: the blacksmith delivers the baby to Giacomo in a basket, Ravenhurst confuses Giacomo by talking about Plan 1 and Plan 2 in the assassination attempt, and Gwendolyn tells him to meet her at midnight at the north gate. When he finally realizes that the infant king is in the basket, he diverts everyone's attention away from the basket by singing "The Maladjusted Jester." During his performance, Griselda puts poison pellets in three flagons. Just as Jean retrieves the basket and is stopped by some guards, Giacomo proposes a toast to the King. As the guards turn to participate in the toast, Jean gets away. Sirs Brockhurst, Finsdale and Pertwee fall over dead when they drink from the poisoned flagons. Ravenhurst is very impressed by Giacomo's tactics. A page announces the arrival of Sir Griswold (Robert Middleton) at the castle. Jean hands the baby off to the blacksmith again. Griswold enters and accepts the terms of the alliance, but Gwendolyn tells her father she loves someone else and refuses to marry Griswold. She has presented her loved one with her silk handkerchief. Giacomo is arrested and they find Gwendolyn's silk handkerchief stuffed in his blouse. The King throws Giacomo, or whoever he is, in jail. When Ravenhurst learns that Giacomo is an impostor, he suspects he is the Black Fox. He recommends the King knight the jester so he can legitimately joust Sir Griswold. The winner, which should be Griswold, would marry Gwendolyn. The King quickly agrees. It usually takes years to attain knighthood, but Giacomo is rushed through the tests with comic ease. Jean approaches the King in his chamber while his dressers are grooming him. She gets him to dismiss his attendants and while she combs his hair, she retreives the key to the secret tunnel. The King also reveals to her the plans to knight the jester so he can be killed in the fight with Griswold. As soon as she gets away from the King, Jean gives the key to the blacksmith to get it to the Black Fox so he can attack. Just before the knighting ceremony, Jean warns Giacomo/Hawkins about the plot and urges him to run. He doesn't get away, however, and the ceremony begins. It is speeded up with hilarious results to allow the tournament to commence before it can be delayed by a storm that is brewing. Immediately upon being knighted, Hawkins is challenged to a duel to the death by Griswold. Gwendolyn expects Giacomo to be killed, so she warns the witch that if he dies, she dies. Therefore, Griselda puts poisonous pellets in the vessel with the pestle. One of Griswold's men overhears the plot and informs his master. In a scene full of tongue-twisting confusion, the "Vessel with the Pestle (or The Pellet with the Poison)" routine begins. Lightning hits Giacomo's suit of armor making it magnetic. During the hilarious joust, Griswold's weapon sticks to Hawkins' shield, so Hawkins pulls him off his horse and wins the joust. When he is proclaimed the winner, Ravenhurst accuses him of being the Black Fox and Jean as being his accomplice. They are arrested and taken to the castle for judgement. In the forest, the Black Fox and his men prepare to sneak inside the castle, but the secret passage collapses. The Black Fox immediately summons Hawkins' midget friends to infiltrate the castle first. As Hawkins and Jean stand trial, the midgets attack. Jean runs to raise the drawbridge so the Black Fox and his men can attack. Hawkins engages Ravenhurst in a sword fight. Griselda hypnotizes him again into believing he is a great swordsman. In the hilarious scene that follows, finger snaps cause him to alternate between a cowardly carnival performer and a master swordsman. Eventually, with the help of Jean, Hawkins bests Ravenhurst. Once the usurpers of the throne are defeated by the Black Fox and the army of midgets, the rightful King is revealed by the distinctive birthmark - the purple pimpernel. Hawkins embraces Jean and sings a reprise of "Life Could Not Better Be." As the film ends, Gwendolyn and Griswold can be seen in the crowd holding hands.

The year is 1863. The Civil War still rages. Far off in the Arizona desert, captured Confederate soldiers are being held at Fort Bravo by their Union captors. Surrounding them all is the monumental, inhospitable terrain and the implacably hostile Mescalero Apaches. Captain Roper (William Holden) of the US Army drags an escaped Confederate prisoner named Bailey back to the fort on a rope behind his horse. As they enter the grounds, the prisoners in the stockade resentfully glare at Roper. Roper tells his commanding officer that the man had ridden his horse until it gave out and left it to die, then fled on foot before being ridden down. Roper finds that his brutal tactics are unpopular with his commanding officer, his second-in-command Lieutenant Beecher (Richard Anderson), and the post's doctor. The post commander pointedly reminds Roper that the prisoners nearly outnumber the garrison. Roper admits that his actions are designed to intimidate the restless prisoners and keep them in check. Confederate Captain Marsh (John Forsythe) asks Roper for permission to see Bailey, which Roper grants. The young man is in a bad way, exhausted and dehydrated. He apologizes for his foolhardy solo escape attempt but couldn't wait for the pending larger attempt. Some of the more aggressive prisoners question Marsh's delay in staging a larger escape. Roper leads a mounted patrol into the desert to locate an overdue supply convoy carrying rifles to the fort. They find the wagons overturned and burned, the drivers tortured to death on ant mounds. As the slain men are being laid to rest, Roper notices smoke and mirror signals in the distance. An attack is imminent. On the return to the Fort they are ambushed and Beecher takes an arrow to the shoulder as the surprise attack commences. The Mescaleros wheel around the surrounded troopers, inflicting and incurring several casualties. The Apaches soon retreat into the distance and the patrol heads out to the nearest water hole. As night falls, the soldiers make camp and almost immediately hear gunfire. A band of Apaches is pursuing a stagecoach through the desert, with both the shotgun guard and a passenger returning fire. Roper' sends his men to intervene and drive off the attackers. The stagecoach is escorted to the camp, where the beautiful Carla Forester (Eleanor Parker) alights and introduces herself to Roper. She explains that she was on her way to Fort Bravo to see the colonel and his engaged daughter who is soon to be married to Lt. Beecher. Carla dresses Beecher's wound and explains that she went to school with the colonel's daughter, Alice (Polly Bergen). The next evening, sparks fly between the aggressively flirtatious Carla and an amused Captain Roper as she escorts him to his quarters. He agrees to accompany her, when asked, to the post dance the next evening. At the dance, Carla expresses surprise that a pair of Confederate officers have been permitted to attend. One of them is Captain Marsh, who gallantly asks her to dance with him. As they dance closely together, it is revealed that they are in fact lovers, and she has come to the fort to aid in his escape. The breakout is planned for the night of Lt. Beecher's wedding to Alice. Following the dance, Roper takes Carla to see his prized rose garden on the way back to her quarters. Surprised by this softer side of the stern captain, she asks about his late father. He slowly starts to reveal a human side as he falls for her. The next day, Carla and Alice depart for a nearby town to shop for a wedding dress. Roper unexpectedly and inconveniently volunteers to accompany them. Roper and three troopers escort the carriage. In town, Roper accompanies Carla to a dry goods store run by a Mr. Watson, a Confederate sympathizer who has agreed to provide supplies for the escape attempt. While Roper is distracted, she covertly slips Watson a wad of cash and describes the clothing, provisions, horses, and guns that will be required. Watson is to prepare the supplies and on the night of the wedding conceal the escapees in his wagon to leave the fort. After returning to the fort, Roper accompanies Carla on a ride into the beautiful rock formations above the fort. Roper comes on to her and embraces her. She fights him at first but then willingly submits as they kiss passionately. After Beecher and Alice's wedding, Roper tells a conflicted Carla that he in love with her, asking her to stay on and marry him. Meanwhile, the four escapees (including Marsh and Bailey) have climbed into the back of Watson's covered supply wagon. Carla tells Roper that she needs to be alone to think. After he leaves, she runs to the supply wagon and tells Marsh she is going with them. Roper pointedly questions the nervous Watson as he exits with the concealed prisoners and Carla in his wagon. The next morning, the escape is reported. Roper is stunned and bitter at Carla's deception. He is to lead a detail in pursuit of the escapees and Beecher, even though just married, is concerned about Roper's methods and forces his way onto the patrol. Bailey is captured in a saloon, as Roper has judged him to be too cowardly to ride out into the desert again. Another army patrol has been attacked and Roper sends his troops to help them and continues on with just Beecher, the Kiowa scout and Bailey. Out on the desert, Carla seems distracted, and Captain Marsh suspects that she has true feelings for Roper. Roper's pursuit group soon sneaks up on the Confederates' campsite and gets the drop on them. Marsh, upset by losing his girl, hits Roper resulting in a fistfight, with Roper winning handily. Roper gathers up his prisoners and starts back for the fort. Watching from atop the spectacular desert rock formations, the Mescaleros discover Roper's outnumbered party and attack. The group is forced to dismount and take cover in the open in a small defile. Roper arms the Rebs and they acquit themselves well, but the group is hopelessly surrounded and their Kiowa scout killed. As night falls, Bailey bolts from the ditch and flees on one of their horses which has returned. The others curse him as a coward. The following morning, the Apaches attack again, wounding Beecher and one of the Rebels. During the attack, the Apaches curiously bracket the soldiers' position by thrusting lances into the soil around their position. No one knows why. The reason soon becomes apparent as single arrows are carefully lobbed from the surrounding cliffs, registering the distance to Roper's band. Deadly volleys of arrows soon follow, cascading down onto the group. Captain Marsh, Beecher, and others are hit. Two of the Confederates desperately leap from cover to knock down the lances guiding the archers. Both are shot dead. Roper makes his own dash and finishes the task, but the end is near. As night falls, Marsh uses a gun to try to force Roper and Carla to leave together, telling Roper that she fell in love with him and now he has to save her, but Marsh collapses before they can leave. With Marsh and Beecher near death, Roper realizes that his only remaining option is to pretend the others are all dead and break cover himself to face the Apaches and hope they leave the rest to rot and move on. At dawn, he sprinkles Marsh and Beecher with dirt and tells a tearful Carla to play dead. As he walks out of the defile, with two drawn pistols, he is shot twice and collapses. Suddenly, there is a distant bugle call and the Apaches flee past him. The cavalry has arrived. Bailey was not a coward after all; he had ridden to the fort and brought help back. Roper, Carla and Beecher are saved, but it is too late for Captain Marsh, who dies after congratulating Bailey.

At a remote ranch in the desert of New Mexico, homesteader Angie Lowe (Geraldine Page) and her six year-old son Johnny (Lee Aaker) come upon a stranger (John Wayne) drinking water from their river, carrying only a saddle and a rifle. The man tells them only his last name, Lane, and that he is part Apache and was exploring Indian Territory as a US Army Cavalry scout. His horse was stolen a few days earlier, and offers US Army scrip in exchange for one of her horses. Angie tells Lane that her ranch hand had quit recently and hadn't had a chance to break one of her two horses for riding, so Lane offers to break the horse himself. He also asks where her husband is, and she says he is hunting in the mountains and should be back soon. Johnny watches with fascination as Lane takes one of the horses, and saddles and rides the bucking and untamed animal with ease. Lane also offers to do a few chores around the ranch, including sharpening an axe blade and chopping firewood. Lane deduces by the neglected work around the ranch that her husband has not been at the ranch for some time, a fact she is forced to admit. When night falls and the weather grows inclement, Angie offers to put Lane up in her home on a floor bed in the corner. Angie discovers that the butt of his rifle is inscribed to "Hondo" Lane, a name she knows to belong to a criminal, and she pulls a pistol on him and fires, but there is no cartridge in the first chamber. She had left it empty so that Johnny wouldn't shoot it accidentally. Hondo returns to his Cavalry post, leaving Angie and Johnny alone at the ranch, where he meets up with his scout sidekick Buffalo Baker (Ward Bond) and reports to his commanding officer that the Chiricauhua Apache lodges in the area are banding together and attacking settlers. At the ranch, Angie and Johnny are surrounded by menacing Apaches led by Chief Vittorio (Michael Pate) and his sub-chief, Silva (Rodolfo Acosta). Angie is not nervous as she has always let them water their horses at her ranch and they had never hurt her. On this occasion, they threaten and grab Angie. Johnny emerges from the house with the loaded pistol and shoots at Silva, hitting and breaking his weapon. Vittorio is impressed by Johnny's bravery, and makes him an Apache blood brother by cutting Johhny's thumb with a knife and giving him an Apache name. Vittorio wonders where Angie's husband is, and she tells him that he will return soon. Vittorio tells her that the boy needs a father to guide him, and unless her husband returns soon, she must take an Apache husband. A night or two later in a saloon, Hondo calls a friend from his poker game, but one of the poker party objects. He and Hondo get into a fight, and Hondo beats the man up badly, driving him out the door. Buffalo Baker tells Hondo the man called himself "Ed Lowe" (Leo Gordon), and Hondo suspects he might be Angie's missing husband. Feeling guilty, he leaves the fort to return Angie's horse back to her. Seeking revenge for the bar beating, Lowe and an accomplice follow Hondo through the desert as he makes his way back to Angie's ranch. Hondo camps near a river but leaves it when he detects three Indians stalking him nearby. Lowe enters the camp and he and his friend are attacked by two Indians. The friend is killed, but Hondo shoots and kills an Apache about to kill Lowe. Lowe is briefly grateful but turns his gun on Hondo in retaliation for the bar beating. Hondo defends himself, killing Lowe. Hondo finds a photo of Johnny alongside Lowe's body, confirming that Lowe is Johnny's father and Angie's husband. Continuing towards Lowe's ranch, Hondo runs into an Apache party, who pursue Hondo through the desert. He kills several but they eventually capture him. They take Hondo to the top of a nearby mesa when Vittorio appears. They stake him out and begin to torture and prepare to kill him because he is an Army scout. An Indian shows Vittorio the picture of Johnny from Hondo's saddlebag, and Vittoria thinks Hondo is Angie's husband. He orders the Indians to untie him and declares that he must fight Silva for honor, as he is one of Angie's potential suitors. Hondo and Silva fight using knives. Silva wounds Hondo in the shoulder, but Hondo pins Silva to the ground. Hondo puts his knife to Silva's throat, but Vittoria steps forward and Hondo spares Silva's life, temporarily buying his own life in return. Vittorio takes Hondo to Angie's ranch, and when Vittoria asks if Hondo is her husband, she lies, saving Hondo. The Chief warns Hondo to raise Johnny in the Apache way and leaves them. While Hondo recuperates from his wounds, he shows her the picture of Johnny that he tells her he took from Lowe's body. She asks if he died well, and Hondo pauses before saying that he had. Over the next few weeks, Hondo and Angie grow closer. Hondo and Angie express their growing love for each other. Hondo attempts to reveal the truth of her husband's death, but is interrupted by Vittorio's sudden appearance. Vittorio tells them that the pony soldiers will soon return. He asks Hondo not to join them and to keep the Indian's location a secret. Hondo promises to do the first but not the latter, and Vittoria shows respect for Hondo's truthfulness. Angie tells him she loves him, and they cement their relationship with a kiss. The Army arrives at the ranch, commanded by an ambitious, inexperienced young Lt. McKay (Tom Irish) and accompanied by scouts Baker and Lennie (James Arness). McKay is determined to take all the settlers in the area back to the Army post to protect them and defend the territory against Apache attacks. Lennie reveals that he discovered Lowe's body and matched the horse tracks to Hondo's horse. He wants Hondo's Winchester rifle in exchange for keeping quiet about how Hondo bushwhacked Lowe. Angie overhears Lennie's demands. Hondo prepares to leave, but before he goes, he tells her the truth about her husband's death. Hondo is also intent on telling Johnny, but she persuades him not to, telling Hondo she didn't love her husband any longer and had grown tired of his womanizing and gambling. She says it would be an unkind thing to tell the boy about the true nature of his father's death and that the secret won't follow them to Hondo's ranch in California. Hondo responds to her emotional plea with an Indian word that seals a squaw-seeking ceremony, "Varlabania", which he tells her means "forever". The Army leaves to move further on into Apache territory and as promised Hondo refuses to go with them but tells them where Vittorio and his party are. The Army returns after being ambushed by the Apaches, suffering heavy casualties including wounds to Lt. McKay. Vittorio had been killed, causing the Apaches to retreat so they can regroup and select a new chief. Hondo leads the Cavalry and settlers back towards the fort, taking Angie and Johnny with them. The group is attacked by the Apaches, now led by Silva, but the group circles their wagons. They escape the encirclement twice but the Apaches continue their pursuit. Hondo loses his mount and is attacked by Silva, but Honda kills him, retrieving Lt. McKay's uniform shirt from his body. The Indians retreat again to choose a replacement chief. Lt. McKay says the General Crook will be arriving in the territory with a large force to pursue the Apache. Hondo sadly notes the end of the Apache "way of life."

In the 1890s, young Harry Houdini is performing with a Coney Island carnival as Bruto, the Wild Man, when Bess, a naive onlooker, tries to protect him from the blows of Schultz, his "trainer." Harry then appears as magician The Great Houdini and, spotting Bess in the audience, invites her on stage. Harry flirts with the unsuspecting Bess during his act, but she flees from him in a panic. When Bess shows up to watch Harry perform two more times, however, he corners her. Bess admits her attraction, and soon after, the two appear at Harry's mother's house, newly married. Bess becomes Harry's onstage partner, touring the country with him, but soon grows tired of the low pay and grueling schedule. After Bess convinces Harry to take a job in a locksmith factory, Harry works as a lock tester while fantasizing about escaping from one of the factory's large safes. On Halloween, Harry and Bess attend a special magicians' dinner at the Astor Hotel, during which magician Fante offers a prize to anyone who can free himself from a straight-jacket. Harry accepts the challenge and, through intense concentration, extricates himself from the jacket, greatly impressing Fante. Afterward, however, Fante advises Harry to "drop it," noting that Johann Von Schweger, a German magician, retired at the height of his career after performing a similar feat, fearful of his own talents. Bess then persuades Harry to give her his prize, a single, round-trip boat ticket to Europe, so that she can cash it in for a down payment on a house. Later, at the factory, Harry locks himself inside one of the big safes, determined to make an escape. Before he can get out, however, the foreman orders the safe blown open, then fires Harry. That night, in front of his mother, Harry and Bess argue about their future, and frustrated by Bess's insistence that he quit magic, Harry walks out. Soon, a contrite Bess finds Harry performing with a carnival and presents him with two one-way tickets to Europe. Sometime later, at a London theater, Harry and Bess are concluding their magic act when a reporter named Dooley challenges Harry to break out of one of Scotland Yard's notoriously secure jail cells. Harry, who hired Dooley to issue the challenge, accepts the challenge, unaware that the jail's cells do not have locks in the door, but on the outside wall. Despite the added difficulty, the dexterous, determined Houdini picks the cell lock and appears on time for his next performance. Now billed as the "man who escaped from Scotland Yard," Harry begins a successful tour of Europe with Bess. In Berlin, Harry is joined by his mother and begins searching for the reclusive Von Schweger. While performing an impromptu levitation trick with Bess at a restaurant, Harry is arrested for fraud. During his trial, Harry denies that he ever made claims to supernatural powers, insisting that all his tricks are accomplished through physical means. To prove his point, Harry locks himself in a safe in the courtroom and breaks out a few minutes later, noting that safe locks are designed to keep thieves out, not in. Vindicated, Harry then goes to see Von Schweger, who finally has responded to his queries, but learns from Von Schweger's assistant, Otto, that the magician died two days earlier. Otto reveals that Von Schweger summoned Harry to ask him the secret of "dematerialization," a feat he accomplished once but could not repeat. Although Harry demurs, Otto insists on becoming Harry's new assistant and travels with him to New York. There, Harry finds he is virtually unknown, so for publicity, hangs upside down on a skyscraper flagpole, constrained by a straight-jacket. Harry executes the escape and soon makes a name for himself in America. To prepare to be submerged in a box in the chilly Detroit River, Harry bathes in an ice-filled bathtub. During the trick, which takes place on Halloween, the rope holding the box breaks, and the box drops upside down into an opening in the ice-covered river. Although Harry manages to escape from the box, the current drags him downstream, and he struggles to find air pockets under the ice and swim back to the opening. Above, Bess and the horrified audience assume Harry has drowned and proclaim his demise. To Bess's relief, Harry shows up later at their hotel, admitting that he heard his mother's voice, directing him toward the opening. Just then, Harry receives word that his mother died at the exact time that he heard her voice. Two years later in New York, Harry, who has not performed since his mother's death, reveals to Simms, a reporter, that he has been trying to contact his mother's spirit, without success. Harry invites Simms to attend a seance with him, and after the medium appears to have communicated with his mother, Harry and Otto expose her as a fake. After a public crusade against phony mediums, Harry decides to return to the stage and builds a watery "torture cell" for the occasion. Terrified, Bess threatens to leave Harry unless he drops the dangerous trick, and he agrees not to perform it. Before the show, Harry admits to Otto that his appendix is tender, but goes on, despite the pain. When the audience noisily demands that he perform the advertised "water torture" trick, Harry succumbs and is immersed, straight-jacketed and upside down, in a tank of water. Weak, Harry cannot execute the escape and loses consciousness. Otto breaks the tank's glass, and after reviving, Harry vows to a weeping Bess that he will "come back."

The growing ambition of Julius Caesar is a source of major concern to his close friend Brutus. Cassius persuades him to participate in his plot to assassinate Caesar but they have both sorely underestimated Mark Antony. Brutus, Cassius, and other high-ranking Romans murder Caesar, because they believe his ambition will lead to tyranny. The people of Rome are on their side until Antony, Caesar's right-hand man, makes a moving speech. The conspirators are driven from Rome, and two armies are formed: one side following the conspirators; the other, Antony. Antony has the superior force, and surrounds Brutus and Cassius, but they kill themselves to avoid capture. —John Oswalt <jao@jao.com> Brutus is convinced by a scheming band of Roman senators, led by Caius Cassius, that his dear friend Julius Caesar intends to dissolve the republic and install himself as monarch, and he joins a conspiracy to assassinate him. Brutus stirringly defends his actions, but when Mark Antony responds with a speech that plays upon the crowd's love for their fallen leader, a battle between the two factions is assured. —Jwelch5742