A psychotic big game hunter deliberately strands a luxury yacht on a remote island, where he begins to hunt its passengers for sport.A psychotic big game hunter deliberately strands a luxury yacht on a remote island, where he begins to hunt its passengers for sport.A psychotic big game hunter deliberately strands a luxury yacht on a remote island, where he begins to hunt its passengers for sport.
- Tartar
- (as Steve Clemento)
- Captain
- (as William Davidson)
- Tartar Servant
- (as Dutch Hendrian)
- First Mate on Yacht
- (uncredited)
- Passenger on Yacht
- (uncredited)
- Bill - Owner of Yacht
- (uncredited)
- 'Doc' - Passenger on Yacht
- (uncredited)
- Passenger on Yacht
- (uncredited)
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe trophy room scenes were much longer in the preview version of 78 minutes; there were more heads in jars. There was also an emaciated sailor, stuffed and mounted next to a tree where he was impaled by Zaroff's arrow, and another full-body figure stuffed, with the bodies of two of the hunting dogs mounted in a death grip. Preview audiences cringed and shuddered at the head in the bottle and the mounted heads, but when they saw the mounted figures and heard Zaroff's dialog describing in detail how each man had died, they began heading for the exit - so these shots disappeared.
- GoofsThe island is described by Rainsford as "small as a deer park," but it contains a dramatic waterfall. Such a fall would have to have been fed by a large lake on a much larger island to flow at such a high volume.
- Quotes
'Doc' - Passenger on Yacht: 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 contradictory, isn't it?
Bob: Now just a minute... What makes you think it isn't just as much sport for the animal, as it is for the man? Now take that fellow right there, for instance. There never was a time when he couldn't have gotten away, but he didn't want to. He got interested in hunting me. He didn't hate me for stalking him, anymore than I hated him for trying to charge me. As a matter of fact, we admired each other.
'Doc' - Passenger on Yacht: Perhaps, but would you change places with the tiger?
Bob: Well... not now.
- Alternate versionsThe film was colorized in 2007 in honor of its 75th anniversary. Ray Harryhausen worked on the color design of the film.
- ConnectionsEdited from Bird of Paradise (1932)
The story begins with an explosion and the sinking of a yacht with Robert Rainsford (Joel McCrea) becoming the sole survivor of the perished crew. He swims to safety on a remote island and soon encounters an ancient mansion where lives the Russian Count Zoroff (Leslie Banks), and his muted servant, Ivan (Noble Johnson) and Tatur (Steve Clemento). After getting into some dry clothes, Rainsford is introduced to Zoroff's other guests, Eve (Fay Wray) and her brother, Martin Trowbridge (Robert Armstrong), also shipwreck survivors. Gathering in the living room, Zoroff discusses his interest in game hunting, but instead of hunting animals, which now bores him, he hunts his new interest - a most dangerous game. Later that night, Zoroff has made the drunken Martin his latest prey, and after returning from his all night hunt, Zoroff shows Eve and Rainsford his trophy room, consisting of human heads and corpses, with Martin's body being among them. Because Rainsford is a noted author and hunter, Zoroff wants him to go game hunting with him, the hunting of man. Refusing to take part in his mad scheme, Rainsford, in turn, becomes Zoroff's next prey. Zoroff promises that if Rainsford eludes him until sunrise, he and Eve are set free, and if he doesn't, gets to recapture Eve alive, since he doesn't hunt the "female animal." Being given a 12 hour head start for preparation, Rainsford, with Eve's help, works against time using his brains instead of his feet to try and outsmart the hunter, but after midnight, the hunt begins, with Zoroff's tracking them down with weapons ranging from bow and arrow, rifle, and, as the last resort, the release of his vicious dogs, climaxed by surprises for both hunter and the hunted.
THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME ranks one of the very best stories ever transferred on screen. In spite of alterations to Connell's original story, such as adding a female to accompany Rainsford, this adaptation is a fast-pace 65 minutes that never lets up for a minute. The first half hour devotes itself to character study, with Robert Armstrong's drunken performance somewhat slowing down the pace instead of providing humor. However, second half of the movie is tight on suspense, with the camera capturing every move and reaction from the three central characters, with Max Steiner's underscoring setting the mood and pace. Of course there's plenty of close calls and near misses to add to the excitement, making this a well staged and truly memorable experience after it is all over. What makes THE MOST DANGEROUSGAME worthy is the uncanny performance of British actor Leslie Banks, in his Hollywood debut, hamming it up to perfection, making his insane hunter come to life as intended by the author. Closeups of his eyes during the hunt is truly effective. If the jungle settings look familiar, it's the same set used for the much more famous adventure, KING KONG (RKO, 1933), that also features Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong.
While Joel McCrea has been on screen since the silent era, starting from small roles to the elevation of leads, THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME showcases him to best advantage, but cannot take away from the performance of Leslie Banks. While never a high rank leading man, McCrea did become a Hollywood survivor, better known for westerns, retiring from his successful career by 1962.
THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME was remade as A GAME OF DEATH (RKO, 1945) with John Loder and Edgar Barrier; RUN FOR THE SUN (United Artists, 1956) with Richard Widmark, and recycled numerous times, but none have captured the greatness to the 1932 original. It's also interesting to note that the theme was used as the basis in one of the better episodes to the comedy series, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, titled "The Hunter" with Rory Calhoun guest starring as the title character who hunts people, namely Gilligan (Bob Denver).
Once regarded a "lost" movie, a print of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME was discovered in the 1970s, and introduced to the small screen for the first time on public television in 1976. Prints shown in its initial premiere were crystal clear, but sadly, by the early 1980s, in the wake of home video, transfers circulated by distributors had that third to fourth generation look. A public domain title, it's unfortunate that a movie as good as this couldn't be available with better better picture quality. Aside from TV showings on various cable channels such as Nostalgia Television, and currently on some public TV stations after the midnight hours, THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME had yet to be shown on any commercial free classic movie channels until Turner Classic Movies aired it on June 28, 2007, but because of its reputation, continues to circulate in the VHS and DVD markets to a very favorable audience. An instant classic not to be missed. (***)
- lugonian
- Feb 21, 2005
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Hounds of Zaroff
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $218,869 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 3 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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