''Daughter of Destiny'' is a 1917 American silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by George Irving, produced by and starring

Olga Petrova Olga Petrova (born Muriel Harding; 10 May 1884 – 30 November 1977) was a British-American actress, screenwriter and playwright. Life and career Born Muriel Harding in England, she moved to the United States and became a star of vaudeville u ...

, and distributed by

Metro Pictures Metro Pictures Corporation was a Film, motion picture production company founded in early 1915 in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a forerunner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The company produced its films in New York, Los Angeles, and sometimes at leas ...

Plot

As described in a

film magazine Film periodicals combine discussion of individual films, genres and directors with in-depth considerations of the medium and the conditions of its production and reception. Their articles contrast with film reviewing in newspapers and magazines whi ...

, Marion Ashley (Petrova), daughter of the newly appointed American ambassador to Belmark, is married to Franz Jorn (Randolf), a French artist who also is a spy in the employ of the imperial government. Jorn is anxious to learn certain American war secrets through Marion, but is unsuccessful. Returning to his studio he finds a detective, and in a fight the detective is killed. Jorn places his ring on the dead man's finger and sets fire to the studio. The burned body is mistaken for Jorn. Marion goes to Belmark with her father Ambassador Ashley (Broderick). There she falls in love with Leopold (Harding), the Crown Prince, who asks her to marry him. Marion learns that, if Leopold marries her, war will be declared on Belmark and the country will be devastated, so she gives Leopold up. Jorn appears and tells Marion that Belmark is connected to a worldwide war for greed. The people are demanding peace and Marion goes to tell them that the American government will help them. Jorn places a bomb at the feet of Leopold and Marion, seeing it, throws herself at his feet. The bomb explodes and Marion is severely injured while Jorn is killed.

Cast

as Marion Ashley *

Thomas Holding Thomas J. Holding (25 January 1880 – 4 May 1929) was a British-born stage and film actor. Biography Born in England in 1880, Holding possibly had an extensive stage career in his native Britain before arriving in the United States. He was po ...

as Leopold, The Crown Prince *

Anders Randolf Anders Randolf (December 18, 1870 – July 2, 1930) was a Danish American actor in American films from 1913 to 1930. Biography Anders was born in Viborg, Denmark, where he became a professional soldier in the Danish army and a world-class sw ...

as Franz Jorn *Robert Broderick as Ambassador Ashley *Henry Leone as Police Agent Morhange (credited as Henri Leone) *

Richard Garrick Richard Garrick (December 27, 1878 – August 21, 1962) was an Irish-born American actor and director. Life and career Garrick was born Richard Thomas O'Brien in the townland of Portlaw, County Waterford, Ireland. His father, James E. O'Brien ...

as Graham West *Carl Dietz as Secret Service Man *Nita Allen as The Maid (credited as Anita Allen) *

Beatrix Sherman Beatrix (Beatrice) Sherman (10 January 1894 – 1 January 1975) was an American 20th-century silhouette artist.City of Scranton. The Board of Health. Return of a Birth, 18356. Early life Beatrice Sherman, later known as Beatrix, was born in S ...

as Art Student

Reception

Like many American films of the time, ''Daughter of Destiny'' was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. The Chicago Board of Censors required a cut of the cafe scene with a husband embracing a young woman sitting on his lap, setting a dead body on fire, and lighting and throwing an explosive to the balcony.

Preservation status

The last known print was destroyed in the

1965 MGM vault fire On August 10, 1965, a fire erupted in Vault 7, a storage facility, at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio (MGM) backlot (now Sony Pictures Studios) in Culver City, California. It was caused by an electrical short explosively igniting stored nitrate f ...

. ''Daughter of Destiny'' is now considered to be a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Daughter of Destiny 1917 films Lost American films American silent feature films Films directed by George Irving 1917 drama films Silent American drama films American black-and-white films 1917 lost films Lost drama films 1910s American films