Passport to Destiny
Encyclopedia
Passport to Destiny is a RKO Radio Pictures comedy
adventure
fantasy
war film
. It stars Elsa Lanchester
in her only leading role as an English cleaning woman who, believing herself invulnerable by being protected by a magic eye amulet
, single handedly travels to Nazi Germany
to personally assassinate
Adolf Hitler
.
cleaning woman who is the widow of a Regimental Sergeant Major
(a photo of Charles Laughton
). One day she relates to her friends a story about a "magic eye" charm that her husband obtained during his Army service in India that protected him from all harm. Whilst cleaning her attic
, she goes through her husband's effects and finds the charm that she absent mindedly puts in the pocket of her skirt.
During an air raid she is caught in the middle of the street with a delay-action bomb
. She gets conflicting instructions from two air raid warden
s, one telling her to run, another telling her to lay down. She does the latter and survives the explosion though she is helped to the shelter in a daze. As she recovers she realises that her husband's charm has protected her. She asks a friend what she would do if she was totally invulnerable. Looking up to the street being bombed, her friend replies that she'd go to Germany and "give that Mr. Hitler what for". Ella leaves the shelter impervious to bombs exploding around her as she walks through the streets with her mind intent on her mission.
Boarding a British merchant ship as a stowaway
, Ella is discovered by the crew who think having a woman aboard is bad luck. This is proved when a German airplane bombs and sinks the ship. Ella joins the survivors in a lifeboat that lands in France, where all except Ella are captured by the Germans.
In a rapid montage, Ella works her way across France and Germany as a deaf and dumb cleaning woman, though Ella later says her journey took 10 weeks. In a train compartment she overhears Luftwaffe
Captain Franz Von Weber (Gordon Oliver
) talking with his fiancee's uncle Frederick Walthers (Lloyd Corrigan
) who are both members of the anti-Hitler German resistance
on their way to Berlin
. Von Weber's fiancee Grete (Lenore Aubert) has been arrested by the Gestapo
and Von Weber is determined to find her.
Ella's charm gets her employed as a cleaner in the Reich Chancellery
where she proves she is deaf by not flinching when an SS man shoots off a pistol behind her. Though she doesn't meet Hitler, she trips William Joyce
alias Lord Haw-Haw
with a bar of soap to the delight of the Germans who despise traitors. Noticing Ella's brush stamped MADE IN ENGLAND, Von Weber befriends Ella who has overheard where Greta is being held. She lends Von Weber her Magic Eye in return for his Luger P08 pistol to non democratically remove the head of the German government.
Von Weber is able to have Greta released but in reality it is a ploy by the Gestapo to track the two to discover more members of the German Resistance. Ella's charm works again as when they are captured the Royal Air Force
bombs the Chancellery. They escape to an airfield where pilot Von Weber steals a fueled bomber to fly to England where they parachute in in the manner of Rudolf Hess
.
Feted as a heroine in London, Ella shows the reporter her husband's chest where she found the amulet but discovers an entire box of them that are stamped as souvenir
s.
, Hitler-Dead or Alive, The Strange Death of Adolph Hitler, The Hitler Gang) were in production. Originally filmed as Dangerous Journey; the title was changed to Passport to Adventure perhaps due to the similarity to Warner's Desperate Journey
then to Passport to Destiny. The production was rushed through "before some soldier beats Elsa to Hitler".
Ray McCarey
, the brother of Leo McCarey
, was signed on a contract to Republic Pictures
after the film.
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
adventure
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
war film
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
. It stars Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester was an English-American character actress with a long career in theatre, film and television....
in her only leading role as an English cleaning woman who, believing herself invulnerable by being protected by a magic eye amulet
Amulet
An amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...
, single handedly travels to Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
to personally assassinate
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
.
Plot
Set during the London Blitz, Ella Muggins (Lanchester) is a CamberwellCamberwell
Camberwell is a district of south London, England, and forms part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is a built-up inner city district located southeast of Charing Cross. To the west it has a boundary with the London Borough of Lambeth.-Toponymy:...
cleaning woman who is the widow of a Regimental Sergeant Major
Regimental Sergeant Major
Regimental Sergeant Major is an appointment held by warrant officers class 1 in the British Army, the British Royal Marines and in the armies of many Commonwealth nations, including Australia and New Zealand; and by chief warrant officers in the Canadian Forces...
(a photo of Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
). One day she relates to her friends a story about a "magic eye" charm that her husband obtained during his Army service in India that protected him from all harm. Whilst cleaning her attic
Attic
An attic is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building . Attic is generally the American/Canadian reference to it...
, she goes through her husband's effects and finds the charm that she absent mindedly puts in the pocket of her skirt.
During an air raid she is caught in the middle of the street with a delay-action bomb
Delay-action bomb
A delay-action bomb is an aerial bomb designed to explode some time after impact, with the bomb's fuzes set to delay the explosion for times ranging from very brief to several weeks...
. She gets conflicting instructions from two air raid warden
Air Raid Precautions
Air Raid Precautions was an organisation in the United Kingdom set up as an aid in the prelude to the Second World War dedicated to the protection of civilians from the danger of air-raids. It was created in 1924 as a response to the fears about the growing threat from the development of bomber...
s, one telling her to run, another telling her to lay down. She does the latter and survives the explosion though she is helped to the shelter in a daze. As she recovers she realises that her husband's charm has protected her. She asks a friend what she would do if she was totally invulnerable. Looking up to the street being bombed, her friend replies that she'd go to Germany and "give that Mr. Hitler what for". Ella leaves the shelter impervious to bombs exploding around her as she walks through the streets with her mind intent on her mission.
Boarding a British merchant ship as a stowaway
Stowaway
A stowaway is a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as an aircraft, bus, ship, cargo truck or train, to travel without paying and without being detected....
, Ella is discovered by the crew who think having a woman aboard is bad luck. This is proved when a German airplane bombs and sinks the ship. Ella joins the survivors in a lifeboat that lands in France, where all except Ella are captured by the Germans.
In a rapid montage, Ella works her way across France and Germany as a deaf and dumb cleaning woman, though Ella later says her journey took 10 weeks. In a train compartment she overhears Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
Captain Franz Von Weber (Gordon Oliver
Gordon Oliver
Gordon Oliver was an American actor and film producer. He appeared in over 45 films and television shows between 1933 and 1972.-Selected filmography:* West of Shanghai...
) talking with his fiancee's uncle Frederick Walthers (Lloyd Corrigan
Lloyd Corrigan
Lloyd Corrigan was an American film actor, producer, screenwriter and director who began working in films in the 1920s...
) who are both members of the anti-Hitler German resistance
German Resistance
The German resistance was the opposition by individuals and groups in Germany to Adolf Hitler or the National Socialist regime between 1933 and 1945. Some of these engaged in active plans to remove Adolf Hitler from power and overthrow his regime...
on their way to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. Von Weber's fiancee Grete (Lenore Aubert) has been arrested by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and Von Weber is determined to find her.
Ella's charm gets her employed as a cleaner in the Reich Chancellery
Reich Chancellery
The Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany in the period of the German Reich from 1871 to 1945...
where she proves she is deaf by not flinching when an SS man shoots off a pistol behind her. Though she doesn't meet Hitler, she trips William Joyce
William Joyce
William Joyce , nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an Irish-American fascist politician and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He was hanged for treason by the British as a result of his wartime activities, even though he had renounced his British nationality...
alias Lord Haw-Haw
Lord Haw-Haw
Lord Haw-Haw was the nickname of several announcers on the English-language propaganda radio programme Germany Calling, broadcast by Nazi German radio to audiences in Great Britain on the medium wave station Reichssender Hamburg and by shortwave to the United States...
with a bar of soap to the delight of the Germans who despise traitors. Noticing Ella's brush stamped MADE IN ENGLAND, Von Weber befriends Ella who has overheard where Greta is being held. She lends Von Weber her Magic Eye in return for his Luger P08 pistol to non democratically remove the head of the German government.
Von Weber is able to have Greta released but in reality it is a ploy by the Gestapo to track the two to discover more members of the German Resistance. Ella's charm works again as when they are captured the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
bombs the Chancellery. They escape to an airfield where pilot Von Weber steals a fueled bomber to fly to England where they parachute in in the manner of Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...
.
Feted as a heroine in London, Ella shows the reporter her husband's chest where she found the amulet but discovers an entire box of them that are stamped as souvenir
Souvenir
A souvenir , memento, keepsake or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. The term souvenir brings to mind the mass-produced kitsch that is the main commodity of souvenir and gift shops in many tourist traps around the world...
s.
Production
In August 1943, no less than six Hollywood films about Adolf Hitler or with Hitler as a title (i.e. Hitler's ChildrenHitler's Children (film)
Hitler's Children is a 1943 American black-and-white propaganda film made by RKO Radio Pictures. It was directed by Edward Dmytryk and Irving Reis from an adaptation by Emmet Lavery of Gregor Ziemer's book Education For Death....
, Hitler-Dead or Alive, The Strange Death of Adolph Hitler, The Hitler Gang) were in production. Originally filmed as Dangerous Journey; the title was changed to Passport to Adventure perhaps due to the similarity to Warner's Desperate Journey
Desperate Journey
Desperate Journey is a 1942 American World War II aviation film starring Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan. The supporting cast includes Raymond Massey, Alan Hale and Arthur Kennedy, and the movie was directed by Raoul Walsh...
then to Passport to Destiny. The production was rushed through "before some soldier beats Elsa to Hitler".
Ray McCarey
Ray McCarey
Raymond Benedict "Ray" McCarey was an American film director. He began working at Hal Roach Studios, where he did work on short films with Our Gang and Laurel and Hardy. Most of his feature film work consisted of "B" pictures and low-budget films...
, the brother of Leo McCarey
Leo McCarey
Thomas Leo McCarey was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. During his lifetime he was involved in nearly 200 movies, especially comedies...
, was signed on a contract to Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
after the film.