Cast member Mabel Allen may actually be Mabel Adams.
       An item in the 13 September 1919 Motion Picture News announced that story writer Captain F. F. Stoll had engaged J. J. Livingston to take charge of production details on Determination, which Stoll had written after spending six months in the Whitechapel district of London, England, and also some time in Paris, France, both settings for the story. A production budget of $500,000 was planned. Months later, a 5 January 1920 Wid’s Daily news brief reported that the picture was to be produced by the United States Photoplay Corp., which was currently offering $1-million worth of stock options via the brokerage firm A. J. Peyton & Co. The company was slated to produce four ten-reel films at the E. K. Lincoln Studio in Grantwood, NJ, which it had leased for a two-year term; and, according to the 21 February 1920 Motion Picture News, United States Photoplay Corp. planned to build its own studio at a cost of $750,000 upon the completion of its first four productions.
       The 2 Feburary 1920 Wid’s Daily published an announcement that M. Celestia Ferron had entered the states’ rights field as the rights owner to Determination. Later that month, the 28 February 1920 Exhibitors Herald stated that Stoll had hired Henry McRae Webster (a.k.a. H. McRae Webster) to direct Determination, starting 1 June 1920. The casting of Richard C. Travers was reported in the following day’s Film Daily. Stoll claimed to have recruited “real Whitechapel characters” to lend authenticity to the cast, as noted in the 27 March 1920 Moving Picture World. The London locals were identified only by their nicknames, including “Coster Dan,” “Coster Neilan,” “Buck the Preacher,” and “Mary the Saint.”
       Although a 1 June 1920 start of principal photography had previously been announced, the script was still being written in early June 1920, according to a 5 June 1920 Motion Picture News item which listed Howard Hall as scenario writer. The December 1920 Photoplay later suggested that a prologue was filmed around that month, with Eva Pearson set to appear in it, as noted in the 29 June 1920 Wid’s Daily. By early September 1920, Garfield Thompson had taken over as scenarist, according to the 4 September 1920 Camera, which also announced that John L. McCutcheon had taken over as director. Serving as McCutcheon’s assistants were G. R. Murphy and Leslie King, as noted in the 9 October 1920 Camera, which identified Ted Beasley as a cameraman. Principal photography began sometime that month. In addition to shooting in Grantwood, NJ, items in the 23 October 1920 and 11 December 1920 issues of Camera indicated that location filming was slated to take place in England and New Orleans, LA, although it is unlikely those trips occurred. Production was still underway in early 1921. The 8 January 1921 Camera noted that filming was set to resume in a few weeks, following a “temporary delay.”
       In the meantime, Stoll was sued for breach of contract by Henry McRae and Richard C. Travers, both of whom had apparently left the production by late September 1920, according to a 27 September 1920 Wid’s Daily item. A month later, the 20 October 1920 Wid’s Daily reported that Claude A. LaBelle had taken over as publicity director for the United States Photoplay Corp. Stoll subsequently disappeared, and was sued again by the United States Photoplay Corp., which successfully sued him for $16,166 in wages he had paid himself, as treasurer, which had been agreed upon as a directing fee; the company alleged that Stoll had falsely presented himself as a skilled film director, when in fact, he was unable to perform any such duties. In his absence, Stoll was removed as president of the company, according to a 1 February 1921 Wid’s Daily brief. An item in the 17 March 1921 Wid’s Daily announced the sale of all United States Photoplay Corp.’s assets, including rights to Determination, which existed at the time as “103,000 feet of exposed film.”
       On 21 January 1922, Moving Picture World indicated that the film had opened recently in Cumberland, MD, but in response to a complaint by a defrauded stockholder in the United States Photoplay Corporation (identified as the United States Moving Pictures Corporation), the picture was seized by local authorities. Nearly seven months later, the 12 August 1922 Motion Picture News reported that the company (identified in this item as the United States Pictures Corporation) had declared an “absolute loss,” causing an estimated 1,200 stockholders to lose a total of $125,000. The picture did have a theatrical release despite the legal troubles, beginning the week of 5 March 1920 at the Cameo Theatre in New York City. A review in the 10 March 1922 Variety claimed that it appeared to have cost $8,000, instead of the $800,000 budget that had been reported.
       The following were named as cast members in contemporary news items published between January 1920 and February 1921 in Motion Picture News, Camera, and Wid’s Daily: Lt. Belvin W. Maynard, a.k.a. “The Flying Parson”; Tod Sloan, a jockey; pugilist-turned-actor Kid Broad; William H. Turner; Leslie Stowe; Sylvia Nadina in the role of “Madame Todoharda”; Dora Mills Adams; William Corbett; Herbert Haywood ; Carlotta Coerr; Joe Herbert, Jr.; Audrey Hagen; and William Black.
       The National Film Preservation Board (NFPB) included the picture on its list of Lost U.S. Silent Feature Films as of February 2021.