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One of my all time favorites.

Memorable, crazy movie

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Of course, this is based on the Richard Connell story that just about every high school student has read at some time. It has all the trappings. It has a somber atmosphere, a set of interesting characters who are at odds, it has madness and mayhem. Rainsford is the smug hunter who tells his cohorts that when it comes to hunting, the hunted have no sense of danger. We recognize the foreshadowing immediately. When his boat runs aground and several of the passengers die, Rainsford finds himself on an island, heading toward a palatial structure. Here he meets General Zaroff, a Russian recluse who is himself a hunter, and who seems to have lapsed into ennui because animals no longer interest him as game. His companion is the mute, Ivan, who served him in warfare and is devoted to his master. Well, we know where this is going. Unlike Connell, the scriptwriters decide there needs to be a romantic angle, so he puts Fay Wray (King Kong's girlfriend) on the island with some of her friends. Zaroff talks in double entendres and Rainsford is just a bit dense until he realizes that the good General isn't so good. it plays out very well. While purists would say it doesn't really follow the precise plot of the book, in this case, it really doesn't matter.

The Most Dangerous GameIn the 1980s, the most dangerous game you could play was called: Lawn Darts.Thankfully, the only metal-tipped projectiles flying in this action-thriller are bullets.When his ship runs aground, big game hunter Rainsford (Joel McCrea) is marooned on an island where the sole inhabitant is a Russian aristocrat, Count Zaroff (Leslie Banks), who welcomes and introduces Rainsford to other survivors (Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong).Count Zaroff is also a huntsman and invites Rainsford to participant in his favourite sport: hunting humans. When Rainsford refuses, he first ends up prey to Zaroff's pack of wild dogs, and later to the Count himself.Shot on the same jungle sets as King Kong and featuring most of its cast and crew, this zippy black-and-white adaption of Richard Connell's seminal short story of survival is engrossing, engaging and highly entertaining.The worst part of hunting humans, however, has to be wearing their urine.Green Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

I don't know if this was the first movie adaptation of the 1924 short story by Richard Connell, (also called "The Hounds of Zaroff"), but it certainly was an effective one. I recall reading once that the sets used for the picture were also used simultaneously for filming the following year's "King Kong", so all the while as Rainsford (Joel McCrae) is being pursued through the jungle I'm expecting some sort of errant dinosaur to pop up. There was that one scene with the crocodile but Rainsford must have known it wouldn't bother him, he and Eve Trowbridge (Fay Wray) just walked right by it.I thought the picture could have done a better job of establishing Count Zaroff's (Leslie Banks) trophy room. It's too bad the longer preview version isn't available, the trivia notes for this movie indicate that scenes were removed for giving movie audiences the creeps back in the day. Of course anything goes today, so it would be neat if the discarded sequences managed to show up again.Early on, the Count establishes that the world is divided between two factions - the hunter and the hunted. It's an interesting concept to dwell on, as today it manifests among nations through the aggressive use of force. Not to get sidetracked, Zaroff pursues his quarry with deadly efficiency, but Rainsford is not one to give up easily. I thought the little traps he set for the Count were fairly clever, proving that the prey was every bit as cunning as the hunter.I had to chuckle a bit though near the end of the story as I thought about an earlier mention that the island was 'no bigger than a deer park'. As Rainsford and Eve made their way out of Fog Hollow and approached the giant rapids, I thought to myself that this was a pretty large deer park.There's somewhat of a 1961 remake of this story with a movie titled "Bloodlust" which has an unintended comic element that fortunately didn't manifest in this story. In "Bloodlust" there are four potential victims for the mad hunter and a much more detailed trophy cave for his victims. But the thing is, in any scene where the hunter is in conversation with his intended prey, they could have easily jumped him to end the story right then and there. In this version there's a lot more suspense and intrigue before Count Zaroff meets his defeat and quite literally goes to the dogs.

Modern Audiences surely must recognize the Story. The Richard Connell Novel has been the Inspiration of many a Movie and TV Productions. This one was the First and is a Grand Guignol Treat. The Movie is Atmospheric and Creepy, Frightening and Action Packed. It is Compact in its barely One Hour Running Time and things don't let up for a Minute. It is a Legendary Film, because of its King Kong (1933) Auteurs. In Addition there is the Incredible, Maniacal Performance from the less well known Leslie Banks as Count Zaroff playing alongside Joel McCrea and Faye Wray. For a Finishing Touch of Grandeur there is the Max Steiner Score. In 1932 it was Virtually Unheard of to Write a Complete Movie Score and it adds another Welcome Dimension to this already Rich and Rewarding Film.There are a Number of Quotable Lines. When McCrea Returns to the Castle and Surprises Zaroff the Count says..."Well Mr. Rainsford you have beaten Me." He answers..."Not yet." It is also a Sexually Charged Script with much Pre-Code Emphasis that also included some Horrific Visuals and Violence.