The Most Dangerous Game

The.Most.Dangerous.Game.1932.1080p.BluRay.H264.AAC-RARBG

This is an exceptional film and the granddaddy of all ripoffs of the story, THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME. Countless TV shows (such as FANTASY ISLAND and GET SMART!) have "appropriated" the plot, and so it's nice to see the original. What some may see as a shortcoming, I see as a strength--and that is that the film was made by a lower-budget studio (Radio Pictures). Because of that, the acting (especially by bad guy Leslie Banks) is over-the-top and the action is a little more sensationalistic. And for this movie, it definitely works. If the movie were done by a more high-minded studio (such as MGM), it probably would have been more cerebral, longer and less violent. I loved most all of the film. However, I paid very close attention to Fay Wray's performance because I recently heard someone say she was a terrible actress. Well, they were right--repeatedly, she stumbled on her delivery and was not an asset to the film. Well, no matter as the film is definitely more of a battle between good guy Joel McCrae and sadistic Banks. This movie would be appreciated by fans of old horror or adventure films, such as the original ISLAND OF LOST SOULS.

Well, this was a bit of a disappointment, nothing like the incredible reviews national critics have always given it. Watching this yesterday, I did find out why one big reason this is held in such regard. Critics are overwhelmingly left- wingers and most liberals hold animals in higher esteem than they do human beings. Hurt a human? No big deal. Hurt an animal? Why, Liberals think you should be executed! In this movie, the tables are turned on a hunter. He finds out what it's like to be hunted, like those poor animals. "Oh, wow, this is great," says the liberal critic. "This is exactly how I feel." (By the way, I have never hunted and never will, either.) Anyway, the fun doesn't start until the last 24 minutes in this very short (62 minutes) but mostly talky film. Before that, we have to endure a lot of obnoxious ramblings by a drunk played by Robert Armstrong. He plays "Martin Trowbridge," a guest at the island castle of "Count Zaroff" (Leslie Banks). Armstrong's voice is irritating. I put up with it in "King Kong" because the film is so entertaining, start to finish, but that's not the case here. Thankfully this loud, boorish "Trowbridge" disappears halfway through. That still leaves his sister "Eve," played by another "Kong" star, Fay Wray. She looks lovely again and, when called upon, plays the usual screaming, hysterical and helpless woman so often portrayed in the 1930s films. Wray and Joel McCrea ("Bob Rainsford") star in the what really counts in this film: those last 24 minutes. That's when "The Most Dangerous Game" begins to be played. Bob had been the lone survivor of a ship wreck off the island and managed to find his way up to the castle, where he met the others including "Zarloff," who is the villain. The Russian Count is the guy who hunts humans instead of animals, for sport and sexual pleasures. (That comes afterward and why Zaroff won't kill Wray.) The Count explains the whys and wheres and soon, Bob is off and running, deciding to take Fay with him, dress, high heels and all, into the jungle. She was a big help, as you can imagine. The actual 15-minute hunt scene in the jungle with the Count, a couple of his cronies and a pack of dogs all hunting down Bob is very suspenseful. It is well-photographed and especially good considering the film was shot 75 years ago. It's easily the best part of the movie. There are good closeups and some nice low-angle shots. The action scenes don't look as hokey as you might assume for a film so old. In case you didn't get the anti-hunting messages earlier, McCrea, in the middle of the suspense, proclaims: "Those animals I cornered; now I know how they felt!" The manhunt is not the end of the action, as McCrea turns into "Rambo" for the last 5-10 minutes back in the castle, killing all the villains in sight and rowing off the island with the girl. It's hard for a film to be intolerably boring when it is this short, but that middle part could have edited down, the jungle scenes expanded, and then it might have been a true classic

"The Most Dangerous Game" of 1932 is a masterpiece the production of which largely included the same team as one of the most famous films in history, "King Kong" (1933), and while this film does not reach the same level of fame, it easily is an equally impressive milestone and maybe one of the most exciting films ever brought to screen. Adapted from Richard Connel's story of the same name and directed by Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack (who also co-directed "King Kong"), "The Most Dangerous Game" simply is an overwhelming cinematic experience in all aspects: exceptionally filmed in fantastic settings, this film is an incredibly suspenseful thriller with a genuinely macabre premise, that is pioneering in its effects and action sequences and, probably most importantly, it introduces one of the most memorable villains ever in cinema, the demented hunter. This demented hunting enthusiast is Count Zaroff, and while the story has often be re-filmed, Leslie Banks' diabolical Count Zaroff in this film remains cinema's most memorable 'Mad Hunter' (and one of the all-time greatest villains) to this day. After surviving a shipwreck, famed hunter and hunting-book author Bob Rainsford (Joel McCrea) strands on a remote island where the Russian Count Zaroff welcomes him into his eerie mansion. After Bob is introduced to fellow castaways, the beautiful Eve (Fay Wray) and her drunken brother, it turns out that Zaroff is a fellow hunting enthusiast. What Bob doesn't know, however, is that Zaroff prefers to hunt for a very particular kind of 'game'... This film simply is amazing in all regards. As said above, Zaroff is one of the greatest villains in cinema history. Villains are usually more interesting than heroes, especially in classic 30s cinema. Yet this film also has an interesting hero, greatly portrayed by Western star Joel McCrea. Bob Rainsford is an early form of the action hero, so the film's character as a milestone even includes the hero. Leslie Banks still steals the show as Count Zaroff, though. Banks is brilliantly sinister in the role of the insane hunting enthusiast, whose macabre hobby is the hunting of humans. Zaroff is so dedicated to the hunting-sport that he cannot understand Rainsford's abhorrence for the idea of hunting human beings. The Count's dedication is manifested in unforgettably creepy speeches. At the same time, he is wonderfully cynical, sarcastically repeating what others have said. Fay Wray's female leading character may seem extremely defenseless and dependent on male help by today's standards; on must keep in mind that this was made in the 30s, however, and Miss Wray is lovable and very beautiful. The film is extremely fast-paced and exciting and does not include a single length. Maybe more than any other film from its time, "The Most Dangerous Game" offers non-stop thrills paired with some of the most remarkable action sequences of its time. The shark-sequence in the beginning and the breathtaking chase near the end are just two examples for this. Some of the settings were re-used for "King Kong" a year later, and they also form the perfect scenery for this brilliant film. In a nutshell: This film is as memorable as its villain. One of the most influential classics of the 30s and simultaneously one of the most exciting films ever made, "The Most Dangerous Game" is a sensational masterpiece that everyone even remotely interested in cinema MUST see! Is there a higher rating than 10 out of 10?

"The Most Dangerous Game" is one of the greatest films of the classic era and it definitely is the best (and most loyal) interpretation of Richard Connell's short story with the same name. Thanks to the flawless directing, the terrific acting performances and – especially – the masterfully choreographed hunting sequences, this little film (only 63 min. running time) immediately became a gigantic milestone that has yet find an equal in tension and atmosphere. The undeniable star of this production is Leslie Banks' Count Zaroff, who actually is an even more dangerous monster than the creators' other legendary cinema icon King Kong. Zaroff is a relentlessly insane island owner who ensures that all the passing ships are diverted to his island and then wrecked on the cliffs. The survivors of those shipwrecks are initially given a warm welcome, but Zaroff's only real intention is to hunt them down like animal preys. "The Most Dangerous Game" is neatly divided into two parts. One would think that the first half, which is very talkative, is rather dull but the opposite is true! The dialogues between the hunter and the soon-to-be hunted are truly compelling and Count Zaroff's extended "ode to the hunt"-speeches are genuinely disturbing. Simply put, you'll be kept on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

A solid little thriller with several things going for it, "The Most Dangerous Game" easily holds your attention all the way through, even at the more predictable points. It takes good advantage of an often-used plot idea, without trying to squeeze too much out of it. Joel McCrea makes a likable and confident hero, and he fits in well with Leslie Banks and with "King Kong" stars Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong. Banks's performance is a little on the eccentric side, but he has enough energy to make the character and the plot work most of the time. The opening sequence is a little slow, but it does set up some of the themes of the rest of the movie. The first half of the movie is generally predictable, yet even so it builds up a good amount of tension. In the last half, the suspense is sustained quite well for an extended time, and though the last few scenes may lack plausibility, they work well dramatically because they were set up carefully. Overall, it is an effective and rather efficiently-made thriller.

The Most Dangerous Game is a film totally dominated by Leslie Banks's florid portrayal of the mad Russian Count Zaroff who has built is own little world on a Pacific island where he hunts for sport and pleasure what he considers The Most Dangerous Game. Though I'm sure he must have had a lot of offers from American studios after this film, Leslie Banks went back to the United Kingdom where he was a stalwart presence in a variety of roles for British cinema. Still Banks never got a part as good as Count Zaroff in which he could chew enough scenery for a three course meal and not be noticed. Joel McCrea plays an American big game hunter who is the sole survivor of a shipwreck who is washed up on Banks's island. In the palatial home he's built out of an old Portugese fort, McCrea encounters brother and sister Robert Armstrong and Fay Wray. Armstrong, in an unusual part for him, plays a wastrel playboy who is consuming the liquor at the home at a prodigious rate. He's taken to the 'trophy' room and not seen again. The next night McCrea and Wray discover that The Most Dangerous Game is man himself. Banks sends his guests out into the woods and stalks them like wild animals. Supposedly if they can elude him for 24 hours they earn their freedom, but no one ever has. The Most Dangerous Game is one of those films where you have no doubt who the hero and villain are. No moral ambiguities in this one. For all of Banks's talk about man being the most challenging animal to hunt, the only other man besides McCrea we see him hunt is drunk and pathetic Robert Armstrong. In McCrea because he's a hunter Banks finally meets an opponent who's a challenge. If Armstrong is a sample of what he hunted before, Banks ranks as one of the most malevolent villains ever portrayed on screen. If the sets look familiar to you remember the team of Meriam C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack is bringing you this film. A year later these same sets were utilized by RKO for the classic King Kong. Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong got to know that back lot jungle very well. Banks meets a most fitting end for one as evil as he which I can't reveal, but viewers will find it poetic indeed. After 75 years, The Most Dangerous Game is still one exciting, heart pounding, entertaining film.

Imagine this: a remote jungle island set in a lonely sea. A solitary chateau outfitted with every luxury & inhabited by a charming lunatic. A lovely young woman & her drunken, boorish brother. And a celebrated big game hunter who suddenly finds himself to be the prey. This is an excellent adventure movie, imitated many times but never equaled. Once the hunt begins, the suspense doesn't let up. It keeps on pounding until the last bark of the savage hounds used to track down the helpless quarry. The film was shot, largely at night, on the same jungle sets being used by day for KING KONG; four cast members appeared in both films. Joel McCrea & Fay Wray make a fine romantic couple, with Robert Armstrong suitably annoying in the small role of the intoxicated brother. But it is Leslie Banks as the mad Russian, Count Zaroff, who remains in the mind the longest. Like a sophisticated & urbane serpent, he coils himself around his florid role of the master huntsman who has discovered a new sensation - that of stocking his island & hunting through its jungles the most dangerous big game of them all...

Cooper and Schoedsack are, of course, the same directors who made King Kong. They actually made it right after they made this film on some of the same sets, and you'll recognize that, if you're a Kong aficionado. The Most Dangerous Game probably would be as well known as King Kong if it were a half-hour longer. As it stands, it's only 63 minutes. Half of that is exposition, and the other half the chase. That first half does drag a little. Some people will say the same thing about the exposition of King Kong, though I'd disagree. The comical drunk in The Most Dangerous Game is quite annoying, I must say. No matter. Once the hunt begins, I dare you to try to take a breath. I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat that entire half-hour. Bravo, good sirs. Once again, you have proved yourselves to be entirely undervalued filmmakers. Make sure, if you like this and/or King Kong, to see their early documentaries Grass and Chang, which are two near masterpieces themselves. 8/10.

I must have been about 5 years old when I saw this film just before the WAR, in a flea-ridden "picture-house" in Dublin, Ireland, where I was born and brought up. It made such an impression on me that I remembered it all my life, but never remembered the name or any of the cast. I tried without success, and as time passed I began to believe that the Island owner was, perhaps, Conrad Veidt, this was the sort of persona he portrayed to me. I remembered that there were people on a luxury yacht, suddenly wrecked, and that a man and woman were washed up on an island, and after having been given hospitality by a recluse in a large house, were set loose to be hunted. The young man was a famous big game hunter, and he had only a knife with which he devised traps to catch their pursuer who hunted them with a bow and arrows. One trap, I remember was an old log which was triggered somhow to fall and kill whoever who set it off. This film always stayed in the forefront of my mind, and, when, at age about 70, I met a compatriot, a little older, I began to tell him about this film, asking him if he'd ever seen it or knew anything about it. He interrupted me to tell me that it was a story, and gave me the name of the writer, Richard Connell. How did he know this immediately, having barely heard the beginning of my story?? He was a retired English teacher who admired this story so much that,year after year, he always set it for his classes. So then I was able to look it up on the internet and not at all to my surprise found the close connection of the cast and scenery to KING KONG. You see, KING KONG has been my all-time favourite film. I think I've seen it at least 25-30 times and have several video copies of it.