User reviews

This is a good crime/suspense drama, of a piece with the other film noir dramas presented by Turner Classic Movies (and therefore well worth the time to watch). There is at least one neat twist in the plot which makes the film better than most of its kind. If you have seen a LOT of postwar crime films (as I have) you may find them predictable...and this adds to your appreciation of clever plot devices.

Fans of radio's "Have Gun Will Travel" will enjoy seeing John Dehner in a small but crucial part.

Is it possible that Hurd Hatfield's career took this much of a nosedive in 5 years? Evidently. "Destination Murder" is a B movie for sure that stars Hatfield, Joyce MacKenzie, Albert Dekker, and John Dehner. A young woman (MacKenzie) investigates the murder of her father by a uniformed messenger hired by someone else. She has no trouble picking out the messenger in a lineup, and he leads her to a club run by Armitage (Dekker) whose manager is Hatfield. That's the way it seems anyway. People start turning up dead. The villain hatches an ingenious plot to beat the rap.

MacKenzie is very attractive with a beautiful figure, but she is not much of an actress. Albert Dekker plays a monster well. Hatfield, with those imposing looks, sports a New York accent beautifully. A New York accent is one of the hardest, most of the time sounding put on and phony. Hatfield's sounds natural. Perhaps it was - I only heard him speak in Dorian Gray (British) and I can't remember what he sounded like on Murder, She Wrote. At any rate, he's smooth in this role. But every time I looked at him, I thought of Dorian Gray. Perhaps his link to that character is why his film career crashed.

"Destination Murder" is a nothing special B with some noir features, interesting for the cast.

This nifty little programmer from the post-World War II era gives viewers a chance to see several second-lead actors strut their stuff. The weasel-eyed Stanley Clements who made a living playing gunsels and Bowery types gets a chance to play, yes, a playboy hit man. It's a good thing he had money and a sporty-looking car to supplement his looks. Albert Dekker as Armitage does fine in a difficult role, having to play two facets of the same character. Alice Wentworth (Myrna Dell) turns out to be a femme fatale failure in the movie, but not in the acting department--seems the blonde bombshell is just not smart enough to pull off her double dealings. The lead part of Laura Mansfield is portrayed by Joyce Mackenzie, sort of a poor woman's Barbara Hale. Then there's Hurd Hatfield as the sneaky Stretch Norton, a pivotal part that fits his talents perfectly.

The story involves a murder man's daughter tracking down the person responsible for her father's death, since she is led to believe that the police aren't really doing their job. She begins dating the trigger man, hoping he will lead her to the mastermind. The trail leads to a nightclub operated by mobsters. The nefarious Armitage has a nasty habit of torturing and killing his victims to the tune of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata." He is also adept at using his belt to silence those who disagree with his methods or who attempt to extort money from him. The plot has a major twist toward the middle of the film. It's surprising that other writers and directors haven't expropriated it (politically correct for stealing).

As with most noir-like films of the period, music serves a vital link between story and character development. "Moonlight Sonata" has already been noted. Listen to the words of the songs sung by the popular jump and jive group Steve Gibson and the Redcaps (early doo wop). At times the musical selection can even be ironic. For example, just before Armitage gives Jackie Wales (Clements) the treatment, the Redcaps blast away with, "Let's Go To A Party."

Low-budget but you really don't need a big budget for this type of contemporary 1950 murder-mystery. It does have sort of early Perry Mason black-and white television production values, but check out the cool 1950 cars.

Hurd Hatfield's "presence" dominates this film and keeps it believable. The best way to describe this guy's acting is polished and smooth. In contrast, the lead actress is nowhere near Hatfield's acting league. However, she is attractive and OK for this B-movie role.

The casting of the supporting roles is perfect and the director utilizes them to good effect. Watch for solid James Flavin (King Kong '33), and for very early silent star Franklyn Farnum in a brief part at the beginning.

"Destination Murder" overcomes its cheapness. Hatfield was a bargain for the cheap salary they probably paid him. This film will hold your attention all the way through until the ending, mainly due to the good plot twists throughout.

The plot of this little crime drama was excellent, minus a few plot holes. The execution was not so great mainly because of the blunted acting. There are mainly B players in this one, and the only one I immediately recognized was Hurd Hatfield of "Picture of Dorian Gray".

A man answers the door one night only to be shot by a messenger boy, or at least somebody who is dressed up like one. His daughter, Laura Mansfield, (Joyce MacKenzie) gets a fleeting look at the assassin, but not good enough for a positive ID. Meanwhile, Frank Niles is arrested for the crime because he was a business competitor of the murdered man and his car was in the neighborhood at the time of the murder.

This entire thing boils down to Laura trying to solve this crime from the bottom up, once she becomes convinced that the person she thought did the actual shooting is guilty (Stanley Clements as Jackie Wales). The police ignore her attempts to help and her tips because they are interested in the "Mr. Big" who ordered the hit. So why did the police have a lineup of messenger boys if they had no intention of arresting one? Plot hole number one. So Joyce gets hired as a cigarette girl at a club, "The Vogue", that she is sure is involved in her dad's murder.

Meanwhile there is so much back stabbing and double dealing among the actual criminals you must pay attention or you will get lost, for this is a pretty fast paced film. And the weird thing is that none of them seem unnerved about a murder victim's daughter nosing around their nightclub.

This thing has great atmosphere, a good pace, and a pretty good story, but the acting is flat and mediocre, making it hard to care about the characters that much. Plus, no reason is ever given as to WHY anybody would have killed Laura's dad in the first place - Plot hole number two. It is a passable time killer, though, if you are a student of noir.

This film held my interest from beginning to the very end with one outstanding actor, Hurd Hatfield (Stretch Norton) who gave an outstanding performance and kept this film moving along in his night club owned by mobsters. Laura Mansfield, (Joyce Mackenzie) played the role as a young girl coming home from college and witnesses her father being killed by a delivery man at their front door. Laura decides to do her own detective work, because the police do not seem to be working fast enough in their investigation and Laura does determine who the killer is but has to find ways of getting more evidence. Albert Dekker, (Armitage) gives a great supporting role and Joyce Mackenzie lightens up the film which her charming female looks. Although, this film is a low budget film, it has many twists and turns and will entertain you.

Double and triple cross reign in this convoluted low grade noir where the five lead characters take turns deceiving each other. When Laura Mansfield's father is murdered at the front door by a deliveryman she sets out to trap the killer. She first becomes involved with one and eventually all three of the conspirators.

Destination moves at a pretty fast pace in spite of its complicated plot as threats, plans and murders fill nearly every scene. Romance and cynicism constantly shifts between this unusual casts of suspects.

Performance wise Hurd Hatfield has a menacing flatness about himself while Myrna Dell is a convincing hard boiled bleached blond fatale. It is Albert Dekker though that takes acting honors as a flunky who tortures to classical music. Unfortunately, Joyce McKenzie in the lead role as the amateur sleuth prevents Destination from getting a passing grade. Highly unemotive with her delivery we are left with a series of facial expressions to convey her feelings. She moves and acts like she's selling refrigerators.

Quirky and quick, you could do worse than Destination Murder.

A messenger boy comes to Laura Mansfield's home and kills her father. The messenger quickly leaves and goes back to his perfect alibi. Laura does not remember his face and the police is unhelpful. She has to do the investigating herself.

The basic premise is outrageous. There are questionable moves by some of the characters. The twists and turns are unrealistic. I do like the crime noir genre style. At a certain point, I stop caring. I think it's when she's turning off the lights. It's such a weird series of moves that I lost my concentration on the story.

"Destination Murder" makes for an enjoyable 70-plus minutes, assuming you're a noir fan and are not bothered by the sort of unlikely plot developments so characteristic of this genre. Notable are the solid performances of Hurd Hatfield (whose name will always be linked with "Dorian Gray") as a sleazy but debonair nightclub manager, the beefy Albert Dekker (whom I will always think of as "Dr. Cyclops"), and Joyce Mackenzie -- a really classy beauty in the sort of wholesome Jane Wyatt mode -- as the plucky heroine who, Nancy Drew-like, disguises herself as a nightclub cigarette girl to help solve the mystery of her father's murder. Also notable is the odd relationship -- odder than we initially assume -- between the Hatfield and Dekker characters. There are several clever plot twists and some interesting little bits of directorial business (e.g., a scene in the ladies' powder room of the nightclub, which offers an unexpected little study in social pecking order when two women ask for a glass of water; and a player piano that's activated when violence is going to take place). What stays with me longest is the memory of Mackenzie's gorgeous eyes and cheekbones.

If you find yourself up all some stormy Tuesday night with a bad cold, this movie may be just the thing to go with your hot toddy. It's a grade C or maybe D movie with a couple of good lines, plot twists and not-too-bad performances. A young(ish) lady home from college witnesses her father's murder by a delivery boy; when the police don't move fast enough for her, she turns sleuth herself. Most remarkable is Hurd Hatfield (the charmless star of The Picture of Dorian Gray five years earlier and virtually the only recognizable name in the cast), now come to this poverty-row sump of the movie industry. Destination Murder qualifies as film noir, but just barely; Noir can be cheap, but it's usually a little better than this.

**SPOILERS** Using the intermission between two movies at a local theater as cover Blue Streak Messenger Jackie Wales, Stanley Chements, goes out to big-time businessman Authur Mansfield's, Franklyn Farnum, home with his gangster boss Armitage(Albert Dekker) behind the wheel to murder him and get back,to the movie house, just in time for the second feature.

Mansfield was a torn in the side to Armitage's nightclub rackets and by getting ride of him and then framing his murder on his business rival Frank Niles, John Dehner, was a stroke of genius on Armitage's part; knocking out two threats to his criminal operations with one stone.

One thing that Armitage didn't count on was that Mansfield's young daughter Laura, Joyce Mackenzie, was at his home visiting from out of town and the greed and brazenness of the person who did his killing messenger Wales.

After recognizing Jackie Wales in a police lineup Laura, who got a glimpse of the fleeing gunman, starts to work on Jackie by getting overly friendly with him. This lead her to the nightclub that his boss Armitage runs. Getting a job as the cigarette girl there from the real boss Stretch Norton,Hurd Hatfield, who feel in love with her. Laura was now in a position to get the goods on both gangsters, Armitage & Norton, and at the same time solve her dad's murder.

After Jackie gets the hell beat out of him by Armitag, who likes to do his beatings to the sound of music, for asking for more money for the "hit" he did for him he later writes out an "insurange policy" by confessing in writing to Mansfield's murder. Jackies policy implicates his boss Armitage in case he, Jackie, ended up dead and then stupidly goes back to blackmailing him. Jackie gets this idea from Armitage's mob-doll Alice, Myrna Dell, who didn't realize that he was only a stooge to Norton, not visa versa, and together with Jackie, ends up getting murdered by him. While all this is going on the police are using Laura, without her knowledge, and Frank Niles, with his cooperation, to trap both Armitage & Norton in order to get "The goods" on them in Mansfield's murder.

Laura who fell in love with Norton who unknowing to her had her father murdered didn't find this out until the end of the movie when Niles, with the police and Laura listening in and recording the conversation, got Norton to spill the beans on him and his operation. This was to make him, Niles, a partner after he earlier murdered his former partner Armitage, who was getting a bit drunk and a lot out off line, and made it look like self-defense.

Decent film-noir with both Joyce Mackenzie and Hurd Hatfield doing as good as they could as two star-struck lovers who up until the end of the movie didn't really known that much about each other even though they were planing to get married.

Best thing about this so so noir are the villains. What a wonderful assortment of sleazoids and psychos! Let's list them, shall we? You have Albert Dekker as a gangster who prefers to beat and strangle his victims to the strains of the Moonlight Sonata on a player piano while referring to himself in the third person. Then there's Hurd Hatfield channelling his inner Zachary Scott while Stanley Clements is doing the same with young Dick Widmark. And rounding out the magnificent criminal assemblage is Myrna Dell as the ultimate malign floozie. These four partially redeem a film with undistinguished cinematography, cliche dialogue and a rather bland lead performance by Joyce Mackenzie who, I'm happy to see, jettisoned acting for my old profession, English teacher, and is still with us today. Give it a C plus.

When Jackie returns to the theater he buys two containers of popcorn. But when he sits down he only has one. What happened to the other container???

The worst actress since Jane Russell. Oh, that's right, both were hired for their physical talent, not so much otherwise. With McKenzie, her amateurish self consciousness so obviously showing through her mechanical "acting" with every high school play-look she gave us, was too distracting to make even this D movie disguised as a B movie look anything but awful. A few decent actors(John Dehner was one) were in the cast, but McKenzie ruined it for all of them. She had to have done something intimate with a producer to get the role, she was that bad.

Convoluted murder plot too dumb to stand much scrutiny, as this mid-century crime drama was hardly watchable in its "he did it, no he did it, no he did it" moronity. The characters and plot were too dumb to believe for a second.

Fortunately for us, MacKenzie's "acting" career went nowhere, as it should have. Forget this film, a real waste of time.

Oddball Film-Noir. A Low-Budget Gem from Low-Budget Director Cahn. It is Quite the Quirk This. A Movie that has Gritty Characters with Hard-Boiled, Cold Blooded Killers. One (Stanley Clements) Looks and Acts Like a Teenaged Ticket Taker at the Local Bijou.

Albert Dekker and Hurd Hatfield are a Nasty Duo. Hadfield has a Bi-Sexual Bent and Dekker Again Plays One of His Sublime Criminals with the Personality of a Profiled Psycho Killer. The Females are Joyce MacKenzie and Myrna Dell, Both Engaging Enough in Their Perspective Personas, Although MaKenzie Seems a Bit Old for a College Student.

The Tone of the Thing is The Thing Here. Director Cahn, As Always, Manage to Take a Miniscule Budget and Make it All Look Attractively Demented with Echoes of Pulp. It Should Also be Mentioned that the Negro Musical Group at the Nightclub Stands Out and at the Beginning of the Decade Foreshadow a Musical Revolution just a Few Years Away when Race Records Crossed Over.

Overall, a B-Noir that is Made Interesting by its Very Cool Ambiance and Some Off Beat Actors. Worth a Watch for Fans of Film-Noir, B-Movies, and Those that Appreciate a Strange Atmosphere.

I won't rehash the plot, enough people have done that already. It's easy to imagine this movie as part of MST3K's catalog of low budget schlock. There are plot twists that leave you saying "WTF?" Characters that border on cartoons like "Armitage." Joyce McKenzie is beyond beautiful here, but she appears way too mature for a college student, even though she actually was 20 years old at the time. Especially fun for me are the period relics of a time long gone. The swanky nightclub, the movie house with only 1 screen, the big gas guzzling cars, men and women dressed to kill, no matter what time of day. Look for the jazz band at the Vogue, they were a real band the played around LA for years in various night spots.

A problematic film noir from 1950. A woman at home has just witnessed her father killed when he went to answer his doorbell. She only sees the shooter from the back as he leaps over her picket fence into an escaping car. The father was bumped off by a rival club owner (actually a front for a criminal enterprise) so when the police investigation appears to go nowhere (a definitive id is not made by the daughter) she decides to go undercover at the club (as a cigarette girl) & even starts dating the shooter (she vaguely recognizes him but when she sees him leap over another fence her antennas go up). The shooter it turns out is a bit of a gambling addict & after his money goes boom he decides to blackmail the club owner for big bucks (he says he has a written confession he's willing to turn over to the authorities) which is spurned on by the club impresario's girlfriend (who has a thing for his second in command). As the blackmail attempt doesn't go anywhere & bodies start to drop (the shooter & the girlfriend each bite their respective bullets), the cops have no other recourse (especially since the businessman's daughter is ensconced in the club already) to let her move things along but in reality she really doesn't do anything & a lot of the criminal recriminations happen when she's off the clock (as it were). A late film reveal as to who is actually the criminal ringleader is a bit of a 'wtf' but that's the least of this film's problems. Also starring John Dehner as a fellow club owner & Albert Dekker (famous in his role in Kiss Me Deadly) as the club owner.