The Magic of David Copperfield XII: The Niagara Falls Challenge (1990)

This is the 12th CBS Copperfield TV special, introduced by a voice offstage who describes the location of the escape that David Copperfield will perform in this special as his last challenge: the Niagara Falls. Just like his 5th special, this one is not introduced by a host. During the opening credits Copperfield reaches the stage from the backstage on his Harley Davidson, ready to use it to perform the first illusion. So, the illusions performed are: "Motorcycle Vanish", "Camera Trick" (aka "Camera Vanish"), "Cardiographic" (aka "Card From Paper"), "Slicer", "Misled" (aka "Pencil Through $100 Bill"), "Walking Through A Mirror", "Ring On The Hourglass", "Memories" (aka "The Attic") and then "Niagara Falls Challenge". For this feat Copperfield has his hands and feet chained to an axle which is almost entirely covered by a yellow steel box (leaving only his hands and legs exposed) and then suspended in midair by chains inside a cubic platform built over a raft. A Jet Ski is attached to the raft, and the raft is set on fire, raised from the lawn and dropped in the middle of the river, at about 152 meters, or 500 feet, from the falls. Copperfield has less than 60 seconds to escape from the box, detach the Jet Ski and rise upstream before the raft goes over the edge of the falls, with a vertical drop of about 51 meters, or 167 feet. This feat has been filmed in long take and is one of the few escapes no more repeated. This is the first CBS Copperfield TV special produced by his own production company DCDI Productions, that will also produce all the following ones.