As promised in a previous post, I am sharing escape scenes from my script for a Houdini movie that was never made:
This week, I share the Buried Alive scene:
HOUDINI hands BESS the silver kerchief as he strides to the grave. Wild cheering.
A TIME CUT: HOUDINI lays back in the grave. The earth mover’s engine rumbles above.
Click on images to enlarge for reading.
BESS and COLLINS hold him up, half carry him.
HOUDINI (croaks) I saw it, Bess… I saw it…
BESS Saw what, Harry?
HOUDINI I saw the curtain…
COLLINS Steady on, Mr. H.
HOUDINI It’s a curtain, Bess just like she said… It’s white…
OTIS steps in front of HOUDINI with a photographer, holds out then crisp thousand-dollar bills. HOUDINI takes them, looks at them a long moment, hand trembling. Then: he drops the money into the grave.