The Most Dangerous Game

A luxury yacht is on a questionable course. The captain advises caution but the rich privileged passengers dismiss the warning. They crash into unseen rocks. Safari hunter and author Bob Rainsford (Joel McCrea) is the sole survivor. He swims to shore and finds a mansion owned by Russian Count Zaroff (Leslie Banks) with his mute manservant Ivan. Zaroff is hosting survivors from an earlier wreck; Eve Trowbridge (Fay Wray), her brother Martin (Robert Armstrong), and two other sailors. The scarred Zaroff claims to have created The Most Dangerous Game after getting bored with hunting animals. Martin is a clueless drunk but Eve is leery of the count.

This is really simple and really effective B-movie material. The most important Hollywood connection is its ties to King Kong. It has Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong with many of the same jungle sets which are reused for King Kong. The movie itself treats the material seriously and keeps the hunt to its second half. It is fascinating that the hunt never gets boring despite not having much dialogue. The locations keep moving and the excitement never dies. The characters are simple from the boy scout hero to the silent era damsel to the drunk and finally to the villain. It's really good and like the B-side to the legendary King Kong.