Man of Destiny (film)


Man of Destiny is a 1963 Australian television play directed by Christopher Muir. It was based on the 1897 play Man of Destiny by George Bernard Shaw. Just like the play it revolves around the early career of Napoleon Bonaparte. Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.

Plot

In Tavazzano in May 1796, after the battle of Lodi, Napoleon meets a young Lady who he believes could be a spy, but to whom he is attracted.

Cast

It was Hepple's first production in Melbourne though he had done numerous TV plays such as The Square Ring, The Little Woman and The Patriots.

Reception

The Sydney Morning Herald said director Muir "thew away much of the impact" of the central situation bu casting Edward Hepple as Naploeon saying Heple "in many ways an excellent actor but he is better at portraying craftiness than common sense" and saying it was " an outwardly competent production that missed most of the special slang and flavour of Shaw's view of history."

1967 Production

The play was re filmed by the ABC in 1967 as an episode of Love and War. That aired on 13 September 1967.

Cast