st-shot Double and triple cross reign in this convoluted low grade noir where the five lead characters take turns deceiving each other. When Laura Mansfield's father is murdered at the front door by a deliveryman she sets out to trap the killer. She first becomes involved with one and eventually all three of the conspirators.Destination moves at a pretty fast pace in spite of its complicated plot as threats, plans and murders fill nearly every scene. Romance and cynicism constantly shifts between this unusual casts of suspects.Performance wise Hurd Hatfield has a menacing flatness about himself while Myrna Dell is a convincing hard boiled bleached blond fatale. It is Albert Dekker though that takes acting honors as a flunky who tortures to classical music. Unfortunately, Joyce McKenzie in the lead role as the amateur sleuth prevents Destination from getting a passing grade. Highly unemotive with her delivery we are left with a series of facial expressions to convey her feelings. She moves and acts like she's selling refrigerators.Quirky and quick, you could do worse than Destination Murder.

blanche-2 Is it possible that Hurd Hatfield's career took this much of a nosedive in 5 years? Evidently. "Destination Murder" is a B movie for sure that stars Hatfield, Joyce MacKenzie, Albert Dekker, and John Dehner. A young woman (MacKenzie) investigates the murder of her father by a uniformed messenger hired by someone else. She has no trouble picking out the messenger in a lineup, and he leads her to a club run by Armitage (Dekker) whose manager is Hatfield. That's the way it seems anyway. People start turning up dead. The villain hatches an ingenious plot to beat the rap.MacKenzie is very attractive with a beautiful figure, but she is not much of an actress. Albert Dekker plays a monster well. Hatfield, with those imposing looks, sports a New York accent beautifully. A New York accent is one of the hardest, most of the time sounding put on and phony. Hatfield's sounds natural. Perhaps it was - I only heard him speak in Dorian Gray (British) and I can't remember what he sounded like on Murder, She Wrote. At any rate, he's smooth in this role. But every time I looked at him, I thought of Dorian Gray. Perhaps his link to that character is why his film career crashed."Destination Murder" is a nothing special B with some noir features, interesting for the cast.

210west "Destination Murder" makes for an enjoyable 70-plus minutes, assuming you're a noir fan and are not bothered by the sort of unlikely plot developments so characteristic of this genre. Notable are the solid performances of Hurd Hatfield (whose name will always be linked with "Dorian Gray") as a sleazy but debonair nightclub manager, the beefy Albert Dekker (whom I will always think of as "Dr. Cyclops"), and Joyce Mackenzie -- a really classy beauty in the sort of wholesome Jane Wyatt mode -- as the plucky heroine who, Nancy Drew-like, disguises herself as a nightclub cigarette girl to help solve the mystery of her father's murder. Also notable is the odd relationship -- odder than we initially assume -- between the Hatfield and Dekker characters. There are several clever plot twists and some interesting little bits of directorial business (e.g., a scene in the ladies' powder room of the nightclub, which offers an unexpected little study in social pecking order when two women ask for a glass of water; and a player piano that's activated when violence is going to take place). What stays with me longest is the memory of Mackenzie's gorgeous eyes and cheekbones.

Paul Curtis This is a good crime/suspense drama, of a piece with the other film noir dramas presented by Turner Classic Movies (and therefore well worth the time to watch). There is at least one neat twist in the plot which makes the film better than most of its kind. If you have seen a LOT of postwar crime films (as I have) you may find them predictable...and this adds to your appreciation of clever plot devices.Fans of radio's "Have Gun Will Travel" will enjoy seeing John Dehner in a small but crucial part.