The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

On September 16, 1932, RKO Pictures released The Most Dangerous Game (1932), a film about a big game hunter becoming the hunted. Joel McCrea plays big game hunter Bob Rainsford. Rainsford is on a yacht off the South American coast discussing his latest hunt, when another guest asks him, “Do you ever think how the tiger felt?”

Rainsford laughs at the suggestion. Prophetically, he states, “There is the hunter and the hunted. One doesn’t become the other.” A few minutes later, the ship wrecks on a reef.

Rainsford survives and makes it to the estate of Count Zaroff, whose home is a refuge to another group of shipwrecked passengers including Eve, played by Fay Wray.

Count Zaroff displays great interest in Rainsford’s books about his hunting trips. Zaroff is an avid hunter and knows all of Rainsford’s exploits. However, Zaroff claims to only want to hunt “the most dangerous game”. Rainsford will indeed discover what it is like to be the hunted.

Rainsford must use his skills in the wild to save both himself and Eve. Despite how early it was filmed during the sound era, Directors Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Shoedshack produced a well acted suspense and adventure film.

Even though it would have been a feature film, The Most Dangerous Game (affiliate link) runs only about 62 minutes.

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