 The movie contains several factual errors, the most telling of which  is the dramatization of his death. In the film he runs into a prop  sword handle and ruptures his appendix, then almost drowns in the  torture tank trick and dies on the stage in the arms of his wife. In  real life he was punched in the stomach by a college boy who had  heard that Houdini could withstand any blow without harm. This did,  indeed, rupture his appendix. He later collapsed on stage, was taken  to the hospital and died there.