The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

Directors:

Irving Pichel
Ernest B. Schoedsack

Writers:

James Ashmore Creelman (screenplay)
Richard Connell (story)

Release Date:

16 September 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Thriller | Horror | Mystery

Plot:

An insane hunter arranges for a ship to be wrecked on an island where he can indulge in some sort of hunting and killing of the passengers.

Plot Keywords:

Island | Hunter | Hunting | Reef | Most Dangerous Game

Cast

Joel McCrea	...	Bob Rainsford
Fay Wray	...	Eve Trowbridge
Leslie Banks	...	Count Zaroff
Robert Armstrong	...	Martin Trowbridge
Noble Johnson	...	Ivan
Steve Clemente	...	Tartar Servant (as Steve Clemento)
Oscar 'Dutch' Hendrian	...	Tarter Servant (as Dutch Hendrian)
William B. Davidson	...	Captain (as William Davidson)

Also Known As:

Hounds of Zaroff (UK)

Runtime:

63 min | USA:78 min (preview version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 (1987) | South Korea:12 | USA:Approved (PCA #1348-R: 29 August 1935 for re-release) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Finland:(Banned) (1934) | UK:12 (re-rating) | UK:A (cut) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG | USA:PG (re-rating)

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

During WWI, Leslie Banks suffered a disfiguring injury that paralyzed the left side of his face. Never once letting this injury interrupt his career, he went back to the stage after his release from service in 1918, and within six years was an international stage star. He was one of the most popular British actors on Broadway throughout most of the 1920s since his appearance in the 1924 production of "Peter Pan" as Captain Hook.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When a gunshot causes a flock of birds to flutter out of a tree, strings are visible suspending the birds.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Captain: The channel's here on the chart, all right, and so are the marking lights.
First mate: Then what's wrong with them?
Captain: Those lights don't seem to be in just the right place. They're both a bit out of position according to this.
First mate: Two light buoys means a safe channel between the world over!
Captain: "Safe between the world over" doesn't go in these waters.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Lassie: Most Dangerous Game (#13.25)" (1967)

Soundtrack:

A Moment in the Dark

The Hounds of Zaroff

I must have been about 5 years old when I saw this film just before the WAR, in a flea-ridden "picture-house" in Dublin, Ireland, where I was born and brought up. It made such an impression on me that I remembered it all my life, but never remembered the name or any of the cast. I tried without success, and as time passed I began to believe that the Island owner was, perhaps, Conrad Veidt, this was the sort of persona he portrayed to me. I remembered that there were people on a luxury yacht, suddenly wrecked, and that a man and woman were washed up on an island, and after having been given hospitality by a recluse in a large house, were set loose to be hunted. The young man was a famous big game hunter, and he had only a knife with which he devised traps to catch their pursuer who hunted them with a bow and arrows. One trap, I remember was an old log which was triggered somhow to fall and kill whoever who set it off. This film always stayed in the forefront of my mind, and, when, at age about 70, I met a compatriot, a little older, I began to tell him about this film, asking him if he'd ever seen it or knew anything about it. He interrupted me to tell me that it was a story, and gave me the name of the writer, Richard Connell. How did he know this immediately, having barely heard the beginning of my story?? He was a retired English teacher who admired this story so much that,year after year, he always set it for his classes. So then I was able to look it up on the internet and not at all to my surprise found the close connection of the cast and scenery to KING KONG. You see, KING KONG has been my all-time favourite film. I think I've seen it at least 25-30 times and have several video copies of it.