Everything about The Most Dangerous Game Film totally explained
The Most Dangerous Game is a
1932 film adaptation of the 1924
short story of the same name by
Richard Connell, the first film version of that story. The plot concerns a big game hunter on an island who chooses to hunt humans for sport. The film stars
Joel McCrea,
Leslie Banks, and
King Kong leads
Fay Wray and
Robert Armstrong, and was made by a team including
Ernest B. Schoedsack and
Merian C. Cooper, the co-directors of
King Kong (
1933).
Because it was so inexpensive to make, costing only $200,000,
The Most Dangerous Game made more profit for RKO than the very expensive
King Kong did.
Plot
Famous big game hunter and author Bob Rainsford (
Joel McCrea) swims to a small, lush island, the sole survivor of a shipwreck. There, he becomes the guest of Russian Count Zaroff (
Leslie Banks), a fellow hunting enthusiast. Zaroff remarks that Bob's misfortune isn't uncommon; in fact, four people from the previous sinking are still staying with him: Eve Trowbridge (
Fay Wray), her brother Martin (
Robert Armstrong), and two sailors.
That night, Zaroff introduces Bob to the Trowbridges and reveals his obsession with hunting. During one of his hunts, a
Cape buffalo inflicted a head wound on him. He eventually became bored of the sport, to his great consternation, until he discovered "the most dangerous game" on his island. Bob asks if he means tigers, but Zaroff denies it. Later, Eve shares her suspicions of Zaroff's intentions with the newcomer. The count took each sailor to see his trophy room, on different days, and both have mysteriously disappeared. She believes their host is responsible, but Bob is unconvinced.
Then Martin vanishes as well. In their search for him, Bob and Eve end up in Zaroff's trophy room, where they find a man's head mounted on the wall. Then, Zaroff and his men appear, carrying Martin's body. Zaroff expects Bob to view the matter like him and is gravely disappointed when Bob calls him a madman.
He decides that, as Bob refuses to be a fellow hunter, he must be the next prey. If Bob can stay alive until sunrise, Zaroff promises him and Eve their freedom. However, he's never lost the game of what he calls "outdoor chess". Eve decides to go with Bob.
Eventually, they're trapped by a waterfall. While Bob is being attacked by a hunting dog, Zaroff shoots, and the young man falls into the water. Zaroff takes Eve back to his fortress, to enjoy his prize. However, the dog was shot, not Bob. Bob fights first Zaroff, then his henchmen, killing them. As Bob and Eve sail away, a not-quite-dead Zaroff tries to shoot them, but succumbs to his wounds.
Production
The Most Dangerous Game was in production from May 16 to June 17 on Stage 12 the RKO-Pathe studios in Culver City. Location shooting took place at many spots around the Palos Verdes peninsula, including on the cliffs at "Marineland of the Pacific", at San Pedro, in Long Beach and in Redondo Beach. Studo records indicate that the film cost $218,869 to make., and its shipwreck sequence was lifted from the test footage shot for the scrapped Creation, whose creator, Willis H. O'Brien, was then hired for King Kong. Because of King Kong's laborious special effects, Cooper and Schoedsack had time on their hands, so they decided to make this film at the same time. Wray and her fellow
Kong actors worked on one during the day and the other at night.
Cast
Cast notes
Buster Crabbe, who later played both Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, has a small stunt part as a sailor who falls off the boat when it's sinking.
Lon Chaney Jr. reportedly has a part in the film, although this is unconfirmed.
Adaptations and influence
The Richard Connell short story has been adapted for film a number of times, and its basic concept has been borrowed for numerous films and episodes of television series.
The 1932 film was referenced in the plot of the 2007 David Fincher movie Zodiac. Jake Gyllenhaal's character recognizes quotes from the film in letters from the Zodiac Killer sent to the newspaper office where he works.
Quotations
"He talks of wine and women as a prelude to the hunt. We barbarians know that it's after the chase, and then only, that man reveals. You know the saying of the Ogandi chieftains: "Hunt first the enemy, then the woman." It is the natural instinct. The blood is quickened by the kill. One passion builds upon another. Kill, then love! When you've known that, you've known ecstasy."
— Count Zaroff
"This world's divided into two kinds of people: the hunter and the hunted. Luckily I'm the hunter. Nothing can change that."
— Bob Rainsford
Further Information
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