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American author and big game hunter Robert Rainsford is aboard the pleasure yacht of a friend en route to South America to hunt jaguars, having just returned from hunting tigers in India. One of the other passengers, a doctor, points out that animals who kill to survive are considered savage, whereas humans, who kill purely for sport, are considered civilized. To emphasize his point, he asks Rainsford whether he would trade places with the tiger he killed. A bemused Rainsford merely says, "There's two kinds of people in this world; the hunters and the hunted, and I'm a hunter." Suddenly the yacht hits some submerged rocks and sinks. Only Rainsford and the ship's captain survive, but soon a shark eats the captain. Rainsford swims desperately to a nearby island and heads inland, where he discovers a large mansion. The house turns out to belong to the mysterious Count Zaroff, who, having read Rainsford's books, eagerly welcomes his unexpected guest. He introduces Rainsford to the other people staying with him, Eve Trowbridge and her alcoholic brother Martin. Hunting is Count Zaroff's one and only passion in life. But hunting animals has come to bore him, and he has found a new prey. Rainsford and Eve discover just what that prey is when Martin disappears and, searching for him, the two discover Zaroff's "trophy room" filled with human heads mounted on the wall or in jars! Zaroff, catching them, confirms he does indeed hunt humans, and when Rainsford refuses to see eye to eye with the Count, Zaroff vows that the American will be his next quarry. Now Rainsford will finally know what it is like to be the tiger! Based on Richard Connell's fantastic short story of the same name, 'The Most Dangerous Game' is a wonderful adventure movie that more than holds up today thanks to wonderful acting, a great villain, and most importantly, the action sequences! There's a really great, lengthy foot chase through the jungles of the island towards the end, with Rainsford and Eve pursued by Zaroff's bloodthirsty hunting dogs, and, at the climax, Rainsford has a really good fistfight with some of Zaroff's henchmen (watch for the part where he breaks a guy's back!). The Eve Trowbridge character wasn't in Connell's short story, but her inclusion here isn't at all distracting, as Fay Wray makes her more than a shoehorned-in love interest. Other changes, including Rainsford's first name (it's "Sanger" in the story) and Zaroff's title (he's a general in the story) are minor and easily overlooked. The movie is faithful to, and expands on, Connell's story. Criterion's DVD of the film is stellar. This is the best 'The Most Dangerous Game' has looked in years! Sadly, the only noteworthy extra is an audio commentary. Fortunately, this commentary is very informative and goes into great detail about the making of the film and its shared production history with the following year's 'King Kong.' So if you like classic B&W movies, and adventure, then definitely get this DVD! Or any copy will do!Read full review
Good buy, great old time movie to show to my students at the freshman level. Good visual to go along with the short story.
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