Destiny | |
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Directed by | Reginald Le Borg Julien Duvivier (uncredited) |
Screenplay by | Roy Chanslor Ernest Pascal |
Story by | Jean Levy-Strauss (uncredited) |
Produced by | Roy William Neill Howard Benedict (uncredited) |
Starring | Gloria Jean Alan Curtis Frank Craven |
Cinematography | Paul Ivano George Robinson |
Edited by | Paul Landres |
Music by | Frank Skinner Alexandre Tansman |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 65 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Destiny is a 1944 American drama film noir directed by Reginald Le Borg and starring Gloria Jean, Alan Curtis, Frank Craven, and Grace McDonald. [1] [2]
Cliff Banks is a hard-luck drifter, wanted by the police after becoming an unwitting accomplice in a bank robbery. He encounters a succession of women: a showgirl who steals his money; a librarian who listens to his story sympathetically but is left stranded when Cliff takes off with her car; a roadhouse proprietor who tries to turn Cliff in for a reward; and finally Jane Broderick, a blind girl who lives with her father at a secluded farmhouse. Cliff intends to rob the farmer and move on, but Jane discovers the theft and compels him to stay. When the bank robber confesses, Cliff is exonerated and begins a new life with Jane.
Destiny was originally planned as the opening segment of the episodic all-star drama Flesh and Fantasy (1943), directed by Julien Duvivier. Universal Pictures previewed the film to enthusiastic response; Gloria Jean's performance received the highest praise, but the studio recut the feature from four sequences to three and shelved the first half-hour. [3]
Two years later, the studio assigned producer Roy William Neill to expand the half-hour Gloria Jean sequence into a full-length feature.(Neill produced and directed the Sherlock Holmes film series starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.) [4] Neill produced the new material but did not direct; the project was rushed through production in two weeks while Gloria Jean was available, so Neill had no time to plan his artistic, carefully composed scenes. Indeed, Neill never appeared on the set during filming of Destiny. [5]
The new director was Reginald Le Borg. Screenwriter Roy Chanslor wrote additional material: his action-melodrama script covered the first half of the new feature, with Alan Curtis the focal point; Gloria Jean does not appear until the second half, constituting the original Flesh and Fantasy footage with the blind girl and her father. Chanslor tacked on a new, happier ending to replace the tragic ending staged for Flesh and Fantasy. [6] Because the new footage had not only a different director but also a different cameraman and art director, sharp-eyed viewers can easily tell the new LeBorg scenes photographed by George Robinson (which have the "flat" look of most of that era's Universal crime thrillers) from the Duvivier sequence photographed by Paul Ivano, which is much more atmospheric and shadow-laden. [7] The new footage for Destiny (under the working title The Fugitive) was filmed in September 1944; the film was released to theaters in December.
Critical response was generally very good to excellent. The Independent: "Here's a gem of a sleeper in the program division... a sterling attraction for the lower half of any bill. As a matter of fact, in the average house, it will serve very nicely as a topper." [8] Showmen's Trade Review: "Well above the average in general entertainment. A picture most theatergoers will enjoy so much that they'll carry the 'must-see' message to their friends... Alan Curtis gives an unusually strong characterization of the ex-convict. Gloria Jean is excellent as the blind girl and Frank Craven unusually good as her father." [9] Charles Ryweck of Motion Picture Daily was more discerning, noticing the film's patchwork: "The transition from a tough, fast-moving thriller, depicting Alan Curtis as an innocent who has twice been implicated in crimes, to idyllic sequences between Curtis and Gloria Jean, playing a straight role as a sensitive, blind girl who is instrumental in purging Curtis of any impulse to do wrong, is difficult to follow... The parts are more interesting than the whole as the sharp break in mood mitigates against the film." [10]
Gloria Jean singled out Destiny as her favorite performance and her greatest professional disappointment. She recalled seeing Destiny in a studio projection room: "First I got the shock that it was cut out of Flesh and Fantasy. They said it was so good they had to make a full-length movie out of it... They didn't tell me it was going to be a B with a bad ending!" [11]
Julien Duvivier was a French film director and screenwriter. He was prominent in French cinema in the years 1930–1960. Amongst his most original films, chiefly notable are La Bandera, Pépé le Moko, Little World of Don Camillo, Panic (Panique), Deadlier Than the Male and Marianne de ma jeunesse.
Destiny is a predetermined course of events or fixed natural order of the universe.
Alan Curtis was an American film actor who appeared in over 50 films.
Roy William Neill was an Irish-born American film director best known for producing and directing almost all of the Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, made between 1943 and 1946 and released by Universal Pictures.
Gloria Jean was an American actress and singer who starred or co-starred in 26 feature films from 1939 to 1959, and made numerous radio, television, stage, and nightclub appearances. She may be best remembered for her appearance with W. C. Fields in the film Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941).
Flesh and Fantasy is a 1943 American anthology film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Edward G. Robinson, Charles Boyer, Robert Cummings, and Barbara Stanwyck. The making of this film was inspired by the success of Duvivier's previous anthology film, the 1942 Tales of Manhattan. Flesh and Fantasy tells three stories, unrelated but with a supernatural theme, by Ellis St. Joseph, Oscar Wilde, and László Vadnay. Tying together the three segments is a conversation about the occult between two clubmen, one played by humorist Robert Benchley.
Calling Dr. Death is a 1943 mystery film, and the first installment in The Inner Sanctum Mysteries anthological film series, which was based on the popular radio series of the same name, the film stars Chaney Jr. and Patricia Morison, and was directed by Reginald Le Borg. Chaney Jr. plays a neurologist, Dr. Mark Steele, who loses memory of the past few days after learning that his wife has been brutally murdered. Aware of his wife's infidelity and believing he could be the killer, Steele asks his office nurse Stella Madden to help him recover his lost memories.
Dead Man's Eyes is a 1944 noir-mystery film, and the second installment in The Inner Sanctum Mysteries anthological film series, which was based on the popular radio series of the same name. Directed by Reginald Le Borg, and starring Lon Chaney Jr. and Jean Parker, the movie was distributed by Universal Pictures.
Heavenly Music is a 1943 American musical short fantasy film directed by Josef Berne. It won an Oscar at the 16th Academy Awards in 1944 for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel).
Reginald LeBorg was an Austrian-American film director. He directed 68 films between 1936 and 1974.
Voodoo Island is a 1957 American horror film directed by Reginald Le Borg and written by Richard H. Landau. The film stars Boris Karloff, with a cast including Elisha Cook Jr., Beverly Tyler and Rhodes Reason. It is set in the South Pacific and was filmed on Kauai, Hawaii back to back with Jungle Heat. Adam West appears in a small pre-"Batman" uncredited role.
Walter Percy Day O.B.E. (1878–1965) was a British painter best remembered for his work as a matte artist and special effects technician in the film industry. Professional names include W. Percy Day; Percy Day; "Pop" or "Poppa" Day, owing to his collaboration with sons Arthur George Day (1909–1952) draughtsman, Thomas Sydney Day (1912–1985), stills photographer and cameraman, and stepson, Peter Ellenshaw, who also worked in this field.
House of the Black Death is a 1965 American horror film directed by Harold Daniels, Reginald LeBorg and Jerry Warren. The film was written by Richard Mahoney, based on a novel titled The Widderburn Horror by Lora Crozetti. The movie starred Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine, although the two actors shared no scenes in the film.
Adventure in Music is a 1944 American concert film directed by Reginald Le Borg and Ernst Matray. It stars José Iturbi, Emanuel Feuermann, and Mildred Dilling.
Little Iodine is a 1946 American comedy film directed by Reginald Le Borg and written by Richard H. Landau. The film is based on the comic strip Little Iodine by Jimmy Hatlo. The film stars Jo Ann Marlowe, Marc Cramer, Eve Whitney, Irene Ryan, and Hobart Cavanaugh. Little Iodine was produced by Comet Productions and released on October 20, 1946, by United Artists. All prints of the film were believed to be destroyed after 10 years, effectively making it a lost film.
The White Orchid is a 1954 American adventure film directed by Reginald Le Borg and written by Le Borg and David Duncan. The film stars William Lundigan, Peggie Castle, Armando Silvestre, Rosenda Monteros and Jorge Treviño. The film was released in November 1954 by United Artists.
G.I. Jane is a 1951 American musical comedy film directed by Reginald Le Borg and released by Lippert Pictures.
So Evil, My Sister is a 1974 American horror film, starring Susan Strasberg and Faith Domergue. It was directed by Reginald Le Borg and produced by Zenith Productions.
Philo Vance's Secret Mission is a 1947 American mystery film directed by Reginald Le Borg and starring Alan Curtis, Sheila Ryan and Tala Birell. It was part of a series of films featuring the detective Philo Vance made during the 1930s and 1940s.
The Phantom Carriage or The Phantom Wagon is a 1939 French drama film directed by Julien Duvivier and starring Pierre Fresnay, Marie Bell and Micheline Francey. It is based on the novel Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! by Selma Lagerlöf, which had previously been adapted into the 1921 Swedish silent film The Phantom Carriage by Victor Sjöström.