I saw Dixie Dooley in his demo vids in Penguin and I got interested in escape stuff like Houdini.

Is this video any good? I'm planning to purchase it but I don't know if this is a good buy.

Reviews are highly appreciated.
Thanks.

I would like to see a review too.

Thanks!

I have the full set of this escapology DVD's. The guy himself certainly knows his stuff, he is very clued up on the techniques and history of his art, and you will learn more than enough from him to perform yourself in escapology if you so wish, you will want to watch the DVD's in full one after another as they are excellent teaching materials. Only thing I found negative was his own actual performance footage which was poor, and he looked quite weird too, almost obsessive about Houdini which is OK in escaplogy of course but he should work on his own act more than relying on a history lesson when performing as no one in the audiences he performed to seemed at all interested in his show footage and the backdrop of a huge Houdini picture.

Excellent teaching skills & knowledge, very poor performer in my opinion.

Thank you for the review. I appreciate it! Do you know other escape videos besides this 3 volume set?

http://www.ealib.org/videos.htm

I second the sentiments on Dooleys performance. His teaching was entertaining (although he tended to droan on at times and at one point even actually seemed "bored" when speaking). He taught a lot of useful methods for everything you could imagine that would be associated with the art of escapology. I am not an escape artist and only have a couple of gaffed cuffs that I will "escape" from for fun when we are entertaining for friends who come over at home, but escaping from things like straight jackets and mail bags aren't my thing. I wouldn't of even had these DVD's had I not gotten them for free. I had gotten the DVD set as part of a promotion from Penguin magic some time ago and didn't even remove the cellophane off of them until a couple of years later. To my surprise, the first three DVD's were rather entertaining to watch and I found myself watching all three with equal enthusiasm. Then came the bonus disc, "Houdini Lives". Man, that was as boring and pointless as attending an insurance carrier's convention. Dooley's method and showmanship was not up to snuff and the crowd was as unentertained as I was. No applause and very few of them even seemed as if they wanted to be there. If I were Dooley and Penguin, I would not have included that as part of the 3 dvd set because it really downplayed a lot of the "showmanship" lessons that Dooley gave throughout the first 3 dvd's.

I'd say, if you can get ahold of the first three dvd's, then they are very fine lessons on all manner of escape techniues as well as a nice history lesson about Houdini (and I also agree that Dooley seems to harbor an almost unhealthy obsession about Houdini), but avoid the fourth dvd at all cost and only accept it as part of the set - by no means should ANYONE spend their hard earned money for "Houdini Lives", file that one in the "G" file for garbage.