Destiny (1921 film)

Destiny
DVD cover
Directed by	Fritz Lang
Produced by	Erich Pommer
Written by	Thea von Harbou Fritz Lang
Starring	Lil Dagover Walter Janssen Bernhard Goetzke Rudolf Klein-Rogge Hans Sternberg Erich Pabst Max Adalbert Georg John
Cinematography	Bruno Mondi Erich Nitzschmann Herrmann Saalfrank Bruno Timm Fritz Arno Wagner
Distributed by	Decla-Bioscop
Release date(s)	6 October 1921
Running time	105 minutes
Country	Germany
Language	Silent film German intertitles

Destiny, or in the original German, Der müde Tod (Weary Death) is a 1921 silent film directed in Germany by Fritz Lang. The German language title literally means Weary Death (in the sense of personified Death); the film was originally released in the United States as Behind the Wall and in the United Kingdom as Destiny, the title under which it has been reissued on DVD . The film, rich in special effects, is structured as a frame tale with three stories within the story.

Plot

In the Expressionistic frame story, in which human lives are each represented by a candle, Death grants a woman three chances to save her lover, if love can triumph over death. The three stories within the story each occur in a setting that is nominally historic, but really in the realm of fantasy: an adventure tale with a Persian setting out of the Arabian Nights, a Renaissance Venetian romance, and a largely comic story set in China.

Release

In Germany, the film was poorly received at first, with critics complaining that it was not 'German' enough, but the film was much more successful overseas.^[1] Douglas Fairbanks purchased the American rights, to delay its general American release while he copied the effects of the Persian segment for his 1924 The Thief of Baghdad. [1]

Legacy

The film was highly influential, most notably in helping persuade Alfred Hitchcock and Luis Buñuel of the promise of the medium^[1].

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Hardy 1995, p. 29.

Citations

• Hardy, Phil, ed. (1995), The Overlook Film Encyclopedia, 3, Overlook Press, ISBN 0-87951-624-0, http://books.google.com/books?id=3-ehQgAACAAJ&dq=overlook+film+encyclopedia 

External links

• Destiny at the Internet Movie Database
• Destiny at AllRovi
• Destiny at Rotten Tomatoes
• Der müde Tod on SilentEra.com.

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  Lil Dagover

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