Houdini is taken to an asylum.  He breaks away.  All exits blocked, he makes his way to the roof.  He is pursued by the attendants, one of whom has seized a straight-jacket. He is overpowered.  

Picture the attendants putting the straight-jacket on him and binding his feet with a long rope.

When, they finish binding him, Houdini, with superhuman effort, rolls over, he throws himself over the edge of the roof.  The attendants catch hold of the rope and hold him just below the cornice, suspended, head downward, in midair.  The attendants on the roof tie a half hitch around the chimney to hold Houdini and he begins to sway back and forth at the end of the rope tied to his feet, which he braces against the cornice to prevent them pulling him back on the roof.

With all the strength at his command, he releases himself from the jacket.  He then bends his body upward and grabs hold of the rope which is tied to his feet.  Holding on with one hand, he unties his feet with the other, kicks off his shoes and then drops his feet down and swings from one end of the rope.  A small window below his body offers a means of escape.  He swings like a pendulum at the end of the rope and catapults his body through this small window.

The attendants on the roof feeling his weight released rush to the edge of the roof expecting to see him dashed to pieces below.  This gives Houdini the opportunity to escape.

You can guess what happens next.  That’s right, Houdini on the run, scales a wall by pulling himself up and disappears over the other side.

[Paraphrased from Paramount Files at Margaret Herrick Library]

This is just one of the exciting escape sequences from the “The Grim Game”.

Here are some others:

• Forty Winks by the Star Reporter
• Stone Walls and Chains Do Not Make a Prison – For Houdini