A type of story I wouldn’t expect to find in a 1932 film. But based on the 1924 short story from Richard Connell, a tragic shipwreck leaves everyone tragically killed, except for one man, author Bob Rainsford, who swims to what he believes to be a lonely island. But when he inspects the island, he finds a mansion owned by a Russian man named Zaroff, along with two others who he also has sheltered from an unrelated shipwreck. Zaroff is a hunter, and recognizes Rainsford from his novels about hunting, and tells him about “The Most Dangerous Game” he plays on the island. Rainsford finds out that night that Zaroff is hunting humans, and Zaroff offers Rainsford to play in his dangerous game with him as an experienced hunter himself.
It’s fairly entertaining, and pretty intense for a 1932 thriller. Running at only 63 minutes, The Most Dangerous Game is a quick and fun watch. But there’s a few fun facts that make this film rather infamous. The first being the same production that made this film would go on to make the iconic 1933 King Kong, even using the same jungle set from this film. The other being an interesting tie with the Zodiac Killer and the 2007 Fincher film. The Zodiac’s first cypher references the Connell short story; “I like killing people because it is so much fun. It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all.”
And in the 2007 film, this 1932 film is referenced multiple times by Jake Gyllenhaal in his role as Robert Graysmith. I couldn’t find any evidence of the Zodiac Killer watching this film, but I think it’s a cool idea to reference this film, and it made me want to watch it.
A type of story I wouldn’t expect to find in a 1932 film. But based on the 1924 short story from Richard Connell, a tragic shipwreck leaves everyone tragically killed, except for one man, author Bob Rainsford, who swims to what he believes to be a lonely island. But when he inspects the island, he finds a mansion owned by a Russian man named Zaroff, along with two others who he also has sheltered from an unrelated shipwreck. Zaroff is a hunter, and recognizes Rainsford from his novels about hunting, and tells him about “The Most Dangerous Game” he plays on the island. Rainsford finds out that night that Zaroff is hunting humans, and Zaroff offers Rainsford to play in his dangerous game with him as an experienced hunter himself.
It’s fairly entertaining, and pretty intense for a 1932 thriller. Running at only 63 minutes, The Most Dangerous Game is a quick and fun watch. But there’s a few fun facts that make this film rather infamous. The first being the same production that made this film would go on to make the iconic 1933 King Kong, even using the same jungle set from this film. The other being an interesting tie with the Zodiac Killer and the 2007 Fincher film. The Zodiac’s first cypher references the Connell short story; “I like killing people because it is so much fun. It is more fun than killing wild game in the forest because man is the most dangerous animal of all.”
And in the 2007 film, this 1932 film is referenced multiple times by Jake Gyllenhaal in his role as Robert Graysmith. I couldn’t find any evidence of the Zodiac Killer watching this film, but I think it’s a cool idea to reference this film, and it made me want to watch it.
