| Destiny | |
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| 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) | October 6, 1921 |
| Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | Weimar Republic |
| 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.
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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.
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]
The film was highly influential, most notably in helping persuade Alfred Hitchcock and Luis Buñuel of the promise of the medium[1].
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