The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

Admirable film.

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

The first cinematic version of this famous story opens with a potent shipwreck / shark attack scene, though it's a little too obvious in setting up its theme ("How would you like to change places with the tiger?", someone asks hunter Joel McCrea). The exposition segment in the middle could have been shorter, and could have used less of Fay Wray's tipsy brother. But the final third is exciting and relentlessly paced. Leslie Banks must have studied Bela Lugosi's performance in "Dracula" the previous year; he is not a vampire, but he also wants blood. Fay Wray is so beautiful that you can't take your eyes off her. *** out of 4.

What a deliciously creepy and suspenseful film this is. We know what's coming, but that doesn't stop us from feeling real tension that builds into a crescendo with an extended hunt sequence in the second half of the film. Leslie Banks is fantastic as the intellectual and cruel Count Zaroff, and Joel McCrea and Fay Wray play their parts well. The film is hokey in places (such as a rather comical fighting/wrestling scene), but that adds to its camp value, as did recognizing some set elements from 'King Kong'. I found it easy to overlook the sillier things because the story itself is so strong – well ahead of its time, and re-used in countless movies and TV shows over the decades. A small example of that is the ending, which may remind modern viewers of 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'.Early on we're given some food for thought with this line: "I was thinking of the inconsistency of civilization. The beast of the jungle, killing just for his existence, is called savage. The man, killing just for sport, is called civilized. It's a bit inconsistent, isn't it?" We get action in the form of a shipwreck and shark attack. We get eeriness and sadism in the Count, as well as a pre-Code ominous hint of intended rape ("Kill! Then love."), and that's all before an exciting game of "outdoor chess". There's a lot to like in this action-packed and fun film.

The first, the original, an essential! This adventure drama horror thriller features a big game hunter who's grown bored with hunting animals, so now he desires to hunt the most cunning and adaptable prey on earth ... man!This Richard Connell story, first adapted by James Ashmore Creelman, has been remade so many times into movies, radio and television programs that it's a classic. Surprisingly, it has yet to be added to the National Film Registry even though the other well known and oft-remade classic from Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, King Kong (1933), which used many of the same sets, two of its cast members - Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong - and a music score written by the same composer (Max Steiner), was so recognized in 1991.Cooper was associate producer for executive producer David O. Selznick; Schoedsack shared directing duties with heretofore actor Irving Pichel (his directorial debut). This original runs barely an hour, which made it perfect for the other mediums mentioned above.Joel McCrea stars as the hunter's most capable challenger, Bob Rainsford, an adventurer author who's also a hunter himself. After a shipwreck and shark attacks which kill everyone else that was aboard, Bob swims to a remote uncharted island which is owned by a mad Russian Count named Zaroff (Leslie Banks). Eve Trowbridge (Wray) and brother Martin (Armstrong) had already been stranded on the island earlier and, as Bob comes to learn, are effectively Zaroff's prisoners.When Bob learns the Russian's game, he understands why Martin drinks excessively, especially after he sees the macabre trophy room. Of course, much like Lon Chaney's character in The Phantom of the Opera (1925), Zaroff loves classical music and plays the piano (Banks overplays it a bit as he mugs for the camera, a sinister expression on his evil character's face).The most suspenseful part of the film is the hunt and chase through the island's thick (and what should be familiar) foliage. Zaroff gives Bob a knife and a head start, but also saddles him with Eve and uses dogs to pursue them. The outcome is pure Hollywood.

Leslie Banks stars as Count Zaroff, who is a mad hunter living on an isolated island. He likes to hunt any human being unfortunate enough to come ashore, and even has a trophy room where he displays his gruesome kills. A new quarry comes ashore when luxury cruise ship survivor Bob Rainesford(played by Joel McCrea) is at first welcomed, where he meets fellow castaways Eve(played by Fay Wray) and her brother Martin(played by Robert Armstrong), but will soon be shocked to find themselves in a life and death struggle with Zaroff in his jungle lair. Surprisingly potent film holds up well today. Plot may be obvious but acting and direction is solid, making this an effective, thought-provoking adventure.