I decided to go decidedly old school with this next review, it's the influential 1932 classic, THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, a film that has influenced everything from Hard Target and Battle Royale to John Leguizamo's gross out comedy, The Pest. Check out my review after the jump...
If
you don't know The Most Dangerous Game, then shame on you as it's one
of the most influential films ever made. Why is it so influential?,
it's premise about a hunter who hunts humans has been replicated
countless times. Take for instance the film HARD TARGET (1993), John
Woo's Hollywood debut about a man who is hunted for sport by some
nefarious individuals. The plot of Hard Target takes the premise set
out by The Most Dangerous Game and ups the ante and the setting, but
at it's heart is still an adaptation of Richard Connell's 1924 short
story that was also published as The Hounds Of Zaroff. But it's not
just Hard Target that uses the same premise, many films that feature
an innocent man being hunted owe a debt to MDG. Surviving The Game
(1994) is another film that uses the same premise, Run (1990)
starring Patrick Dempsey is another film in which some one is hunted,
in fact most action films owe this film a lot. It's been parodied in
shows such as The Simpsons and South Park, but while most of those
films are good fun, none of them come close to surpassing the
original 1932 version. Even Battle Royale uses elements from the
short story.
Sanger
Rainsford is a hunter on a hunting trip with a few friends, when they
take a wrong route, their boat hits a coral reef and the men are
thrown into the shark infested sea. Rainsford is the only survivor
and makes his way to a mysterious island. He discovers a large fort
on top of a cliff owned by Count Zaroff (you can tell he's evil as
his first name is 'count'), Rainsford is welcomed and given a room
and some clean clothes. He is then introduced to Eve and her brother
Martin. Both too are survivors of a shipwreck. Eve tries to
cryptically warn Rainsford that this place is dangerous. After Martin
is killed, Zaroff explains his joy in hunting humans and that if
Rainsford can survive until dawn then he and Eve can leave the
island, if not, Eve becomes Zaroff's bride. The chase is on as
Zaroff, his hench men and a pack of dogs hunt through the jungles to
kill Rainsford.
Clocking
in at 63minutes, it's not the longest film ever made, but although it
has a limited run time, there is never a dull moment and everything
is wrapped up in the final minutes, which is a testament to
screenwriter James Ashmore Creelman who also wrote the screenplay for
the following year's now classic King Kong, in fact, Both King Kong
and MDG were filmed simultaneous with sets from both being used in
each movie, you can see the log bridge that Kong fights the T-Rex on
as Rainsford and Eve try to escape Zaroff. But Creelman manages to
make everything work and come together in the 63 minutes, there is
also some great direction from Irvin Pichel and Ernest B.Schoedsack
who manage to make the island look exotic but also very dangerous at
the same time.
I
think the thing that stands out the most and makes the film such a
great watch is Max Steiner's score, which assaults the emotions of
the audience with haunting piano's and bombastic drums. It's as
though every scene has it's own piece of music.
The
Most Dangerous Game is an outstanding film, it's an action film, a
fantasy film, a romantic film and horror film all rolled into one and
fans of cinema history should check this out and fans of film in
general should watch it to. There is a fantastic Criterion release on
DVD but if like me the Criterion discs are a little out of your price
range, there's a great remastered edition available on R1 DVD from
Legend Films that you can get for under £2.00 brand new on Amazon,
it contains a few interesting extra's including an interview with Ray
Harryhausen and, it contains a remastered black and white version
along with a remastered colourised version. A great little package
for next to nothing.
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