Passport to Destiny (1944)
Directed by Ray McCarey
Genres - Drama, War |
Sub-Genres - War Adventure |
Release Date - Jan 31, 1944 (USA), Feb 25, 1944 (USA - Unknown) |
Run Time - 65 min. |
Countries - United States |
MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson
Originally titled Passport to Destiny, RKO's Passport to Adventure manages to be both whimsical and melodramatic all at once. Elsa Lanchester stars as a Cockney charwoman who sneaks into wartime Berlin, fully intending to kill Adolf Hitler. Lanchester is convinced that a snake-eyed charm left to her by her late military-officer husband will protect her from harm-and, given the ease with which she obtains a domestic job in the Berlin chancellory by posing as a deaf-mute, who's to say that the charm doesn't work? Once the Nazis catch on to Lanchester's mission, she is rescued by German officer Gordon Oliver, who happens to be a member of the underground resistance. One of the best bits in Passport to Adventure occurs at the beginning, when Elsa Lanchester gazes reverently upon a photo of her dear departed husband-whom we immediately recognize as Lanchester's real-life hubby Charles Laughton.
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Keywords
politician, assassination, escape, impersonation, Nazism, servant, war, widow/widower, working-class