# Destination Murder > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Destination_Murder > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Destination_Murder.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destination_Murder > Source revision: 1339333766 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 1950 film by Edward L. Cahn Destination Murder Theatrical release poster Directed by Edward L. Cahn Screenplay by Don Martin Produced by Edward L. Cahn Maurie M. Suess Starring Joyce MacKenzie Stanley Clements Hurd Hatfield Cinematography Jackson Rose Edited by Philip Cahn Music by Irving Gertz Production company Prominent Features Inc. Distributed by RKO Pictures Release date June 15, 1950 (1950-06-15) (Los Angeles)[1] Running time 72 minutes Country United States Language English ***Destination Murder*** is a 1950 American [crime](/source/Crime) [film noir](/source/Film_noir) directed by [Edward L. Cahn](/source/Edward_L._Cahn) and starring [Joyce MacKenzie](/source/Joyce_MacKenzie), [Stanley Clements](/source/Stanley_Clements) and [Hurd Hatfield](/source/Hurd_Hatfield). ## Plot During a five-minute cinema intermission, Jackie Wales leaves the theater. He changes into a messenger's outfit and drives to the house of Arthur Mansfield, whom he shoots before rushing back to the theater and his date. After her father is shot, Laura Mansfield sees the killer hurdle the house's gate. At the police station, she browses suspects in a lineup. One of them is Jackie, whom she chats with outside the station, not revealing her identity. Laura lets him drive her home and then sees Jackie hurdle the gate as the murderer did. Police Lt. Brewster, the lead homicide investigator, ignores Laura's tip and charges Arthur Mansfield's business competitor, Frank Niles, with the crime. Laura begins dating Jackie to keep an eye on him. He loses money gambling and visits the Vogue nightclub to receive a payoff from the men who run it. Instead, the boss Armitage brutally beats Jackie while the club's manager Stretch Norton plays music to hide the noise. Laura is frustrated by Brewster's seeming lack of action in solving her father's case. She takes a job as a cigarette girl at Vogue to learn more about Jackie's employer. Armitage and Stretch reveal that Niles had hired Jackie to kill Mansfield. Alice Wentworth, a gold-digger whom Armitage loves but who flirts with Stretch, approaches Jackie with a plan: if Jackie will write a confession letter implicating Armitage for hiring him, then he will receive a $5,000 blackmail payment that Alice will split with him. The plan is enacted and the scheme works. Laura falls in love with Stretch and divulges her true identity. She does not realize that Stretch is the true boss of the gang; Armitage works for him as a front. Stretch persuades Alice to double-cross Jackie and she gives him Jackie's confession letter. Armitage starts the player piano, kills Alice, and burns Jackie's letter. Stretch orders Armitage to kill Jackie on the way home. Eliminating loose ends, Stretch drugs Armitage, places a gun in his hand and acts as though his partner is about to betray him, forcing Laura to shoot Armitage. Brewster does not believe that the case is solved and recruits Laura and Niles for a [sting operation](/source/Sting_operation) in Norton's office, with Niles offering to take Armitage's place. The recorded conversation implicates Norton as the mastermind. He attempts to take Laura hostage, but Brewster frees her and the two men fight. When Norton has the upper hand and is about to kill Brewster, police detective Mulcahy shoots and kills Norton. ## Cast - [Joyce MacKenzie](/source/Joyce_MacKenzie) as Laura Mansfield - [Stanley Clements](/source/Stanley_Clements) as Jackie Wales - [Hurd Hatfield](/source/Hurd_Hatfield) as Stretch Norton - [Albert Dekker](/source/Albert_Dekker) as Armitage - [Myrna Dell](/source/Myrna_Dell) as Alice Wentworth - [James Flavin](/source/James_Flavin) as Police Lt. Brewster - [John Dehner](/source/John_Dehner) as Frank Niles - [Richard Emory](/source/Richard_Emory) as Police Sgt. Mulcahy - Suzette Harbin as Harriet, Nightclub Maid - [Buddy Swan](/source/Buddy_Swan) as Arthur, Blue Streak Messenger - Bert Wenland as Dave, Blue Streak Messenger - [Franklyn Farnum](/source/Franklyn_Farnum) as Arthur Mansfield, Laura's Father - Steve Gibson and the Redcaps as Singing Group ## Production Producers [Edward L. Cahn](/source/Edward_L._Cahn) and Maurie M. Suess completed *Destination Murder* under the aegis of their Prominent Features Inc. After screening the film for possible distribution rights, [RKO Pictures](/source/RKO_Pictures) owner [Howard Hughes](/source/Howard_Hughes) purchased the film outright for $125,000. Suess used his share of the money to start his own production company for a film project entitled *Strange Reunion*, with [George Raft](/source/George_Raft) tentatively slated to star.[2][3] ## Reception In a contemporary review, critic Herb Rau of *[The Miami News](/source/The_Miami_News)* wrote: For a while, during the early sequences of "Destination Murder" ... we figured it among the average Class B melodramas. But as the script became more and more confused and rambling, and as impossible situations flashed across the screen, it became apparent that its destination was strictly the junk-pile. The basic premise is in itself ridiculous, for it asks the onlooker to believe that a murderer is capable of pitching woo with the daughter of a man he has killed with no more qualms than swatting a fly. You're told that the principal characters are shady—but you never find out whether they represent a master-gang of hoods or gamblers, or whether they hold a monopoly on ice-cream cones. Payoff comes at the finish, as one of the shady characters is plugged by the cops. He dies the most hilarious death you've ever seen on the screen since the [Mack Sennett](/source/Mack_Sennett) comedies.[4] Critic John L. Scott of the *[Los Angeles Times](/source/Los_Angeles_Times)* called the film "a routine crime melodrama".[1] Reviewer Reed Potter of the *Los Angeles Mirror* wrote: "You won't believe ... 'Destination Murder' when you see It. Every line of dialogue you ever heard in a movie is in it. ... Best thing about the abortive murder melodrama of a ruthless night club racketeer are the smart sets by Boris Leven and Jacque Mapes."[5] Syndicated columnist [Jimmie Fidler](/source/Jimmie_Fidler) called *Destination Murder* a "fast-moving whodunit that holds interest despite several very apparent plot fumbles".[6] ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-latreview_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-latreview_1-1) Scott, John L. (June 16, 1950). "Bendix Plays Ball Fan Who Turns Umpire". *[Los Angeles Times](/source/Los_Angeles_Times)*. p. 17. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Schallert, Edwin (March 3, 1950). "'Two of Kind' Hovering for Parks; Otto Kruger Joins 'Story of Divorce'". *[Los Angeles Times](/source/Los_Angeles_Times)*. p. 9, Part II. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Stein, Herb (April 30, 1950). "Hollywood in Review". *[The Philadelphia Inquirer](/source/The_Philadelphia_Inquirer)*. p. 22a. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Rau, Herb (July 6, 1950). "At the Movies". *[The Miami News](/source/The_Miami_News)*. p. 6B. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Potter, Reed (June 16, 1950). "'Kill the Umpire' Speedball Pitched to World Serious". *Los Angeles Mirror*. p. 35. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Fidler, Jimmie (June 17, 1950). "Arline Judge Expected To Ditch Hubby No. 6 Shortly". *[The Durham Sun](/source/The_Durham_Sun)*. p. 12. ## External links - [*Destination Murder*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042394/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) - [*Destination Murder*](https://web.archive.org/web/1/https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2887/enwp) at the [TCM Movie Database](/source/Turner_Classic_Movies#TCMdb) (archived) - [*Destination Murder* preview clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aWRg95crlU) on [YouTube](/source/YouTube_video_(identifier)) ([Warner Bros.](/source/Warner_Bros.) Archive Collection) v t e Films directed by Edward L. Cahn The Homicide Squad (1931) Law and Order (1932) Radio Patrol (1932) Afraid to Talk (1932) Emergency Call (1933) Laughter in Hell (1933) Death Drives Through (1935) Confidential (1935) Bad Guy (1937) Redhead (1941) The Omaha Trail (1942, uncredited) Main Street After Dark (1945) Dangerous Partners (1945) Born to Speed (1947) The Gas House Kids "in Hollywood" (1947) The Checkered Coat (1948) I Cheated the Law (1949) Prejudice (1949) The Great Plane Robbery (1950) Destination Murder (1950) Experiment Alcatraz (1950) Two-Dollar Bettor (1951) Creature with the Atom Brain (1955) Betrayed Women (1955) Silent Fear (1956) Girls in Prison (1956) The She-Creature (1956) Shake, Rattle & Rock! (1956) Runaway Daughters (1956) Flesh and the Spur (1957) Voodoo Woman (1957) Zombies of Mora Tau (1957) Dragstrip Girl (1957) Motorcycle Gang (1957) Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957) Jet Attack (1958) Suicide Battalion (1958) Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) Hong Kong Confidential (1958) The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959) Guns, Girls and Gangsters (1959) Inside the Mafia (1959) Invisible Invaders (1959) Pier 5, Havana (1959) Riot in Juvenile Prison (1959) A Dog's Best Friend (1959) Vice Raid (1960) Cage of Evil (1960) Gunfighters of Abilene (1960) The Music Box Kid (1960) Noose for a Gunman (1960) Oklahoma Territory (1960) Three Came to Kill (1960) Twelve Hours to Kill (1960) The Walking Target (1960) Boy Who Caught a Crook (1961) Frontier Uprising (1961) Five Guns to Tombstone (1961) Police Dog Story (1961) Operation Bottleneck (1961) Gun Fight (1961) The Gambler Wore a Gun (1961) When the Clock Strikes (1961) You Have to Run Fast (1961) Secret of Deep Harbor (1961) Gun Street (1962) The Clown and the Kid (1962) Incident in an Alley (1962) Beauty and the Beast (1962) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Destination Murder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destination_Murder) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destination_Murder?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.