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Tuesday, December 3, 2013

The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

Starring Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Leslie Banks, Noble Johnson
Directed by Irving Pichel & Ernest B. Schoedsack

A big-game hunter is stranded on a jungle island owned by a mad Russian count, who hunts human beings for sport, and displays their carcasses in his trophy room.

Perhaps my very favorite among the films I've seen, I've always loved this adaptation of Richard Connell's famous short story, although it's lesser known than the film it shares much of the same cast and crew with, the famed King Kong.  According to Wikipedia, this adventure was filmed concurrently with Kong on the same sets, and while it lacks that film's stop-motion special effects, it's a horror classic in its own right.  Featuring a driving musical score by Max Steiner, a memorable sinister portrayal of the villainous Zaroff by British actor Leslie Banks, great direction, and a wonderfully staged culminating chase, together all these elements contribute to making this one of the most exciting films of the early 1930s.

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