THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME

This 1932 film runs for just over one hour but still manages to pack quite a punch.  

There's not a moment wasted.  A short initial scene on a yacht introduces us to Rainsford, a big game hunter, played by Joel McCrea.  He's asked to empathise with the hunted, to which he confidently asserts that he will always be the hunter, so that's the theme of the film introduced in neon lights right there.

Then the yacht is shipwrecked, and only Rainsford survives, washed up on an island in which the only dwelling is a sinister mansion owned by the equally sinister Count Zaroff (memorably played by Leslie Banks).  

At least, I found him sinister but Rainsford is surprisingly chilled out, all things considered.  

There are two other guests, a brother and sister, Martin and Eve, who coincidentally or not have also suffered a shipwreck.  Rainsford isn't bright enough to realise that Zaroff might be moving warning lights so as to deliberately cause shipwrecks.  Nor is Martin suspicious of Zaroff, he's happy enough simply to be plied by booze.  

It's a chilling moment when we realise what Zaroff has in store for poor Martin.

Eve on the other hand is not at all happy, even before Martin disappears, and tries to alert Rainsford.  

But she can’t save them from being sent out into the jungle so that Zaroff can hunt them.  

The cat-and-mouse battle of wits between Zaroff and his human prey is exciting enough, and leads to a satisfying conclusion when Rainsford, after seemingly falling to his death, is able to turn up in the nick of time to stop Zaroff from having his wicked way with Eve.  

Cue a climactic fight, in which Zaroff dies whilst Rainsford and Eve are able to get away in a speedboat.

Eve is played by Fay Wray, and she does enough here (as the damsel in distress) to pop up the following year in a much more famous film, 'King Kong', which reuses many of the same sets.

A fun and breezy watch.

RATING: ✓ Cheers