Destiny

Destiny is the dopey English title given Fritz Lang's 1922 silent feature whose title is literally "The Tired Death" . When a man dies prematurely, his fiancée convinces Death to give her three chances to get her man back. This gives Lang the opportunity to picture his beleaguered lovers in three separate exotic locales, a la Intolerance. The Orientalism of two of the episodes is a recurring feature of Lang's work in such films as Hara-kiri, The Blue Gardenia, and The Indian Tomb. What struck me was how spritely the film's tone was compared the dark determinism of most of Lang's oeuvre. Death is always in the frame, but has more compassion for his victims here than in, say, The Seventh Seal.

The special effects, ghost images, miniature army and such, are why the film is remembered historically. Douglas Fairbanks Sr. was inspired by Destiny's magic carpet ride to produce his The Thief of Baghdad. Destiny was such an enormous production that Lang utilized five cinematographers. The film's look is more Art Deco than expressionist, especially the décor of the Oriental sequences. 

Lang is very restrained here. The camera barely moves and the use of close-ups is limited. Lang goes for a tableau vivant effect as he did in Die Nibelungen. The ensemble offers well etched performances. Both Bunuel and Hitchcock admired the film, no doubt appreciating the story book surrealism. An undoubted masterpiece, I enjoyed it even more than Die Nibelungen or Metropolis.