Some things I liked some I did not.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

This is a must see classic for all who love classic films. In a time when big game sport was the top most sport for the elite this movie was ahead of its time by giving audiences the view of the hunted. The question on the boat asking how you would feel if you were the animal being hunted says it all. If you don't know what the movie is about you would venture at this point to guess that it is about a crazed man who has lost the thrill of hunting animals so he takes it to another level by hunting people. He sets up traps in the sea to catch his prey, like a true hunter. Then game on! I would love to see this gem remade... I'm curious how different the public would react since big game hunting is now so controversial.

Of course, this is based on the Richard Connell story that just about every high school student has read at some time. It has all the trappings. It has a somber atmosphere, a set of interesting characters who are at odds, it has madness and mayhem. Rainsford is the smug hunter who tells his cohorts that when it comes to hunting, the hunted have no sense of danger. We recognize the foreshadowing immediately. When his boat runs aground and several of the passengers die, Rainsford finds himself on an island, heading toward a palatial structure. Here he meets General Zaroff, a Russian recluse who is himself a hunter, and who seems to have lapsed into ennui because animals no longer interest him as game. His companion is the mute, Ivan, who served him in warfare and is devoted to his master. Well, we know where this is going. Unlike Connell, the scriptwriters decide there needs to be a romantic angle, so he puts Fay Wray (King Kong's girlfriend) on the island with some of her friends. Zaroff talks in double entendres and Rainsford is just a bit dense until he realizes that the good General isn't so good. it plays out very well. While purists would say it doesn't really follow the precise plot of the book, in this case, it really doesn't matter.

A sort of prelude to King Kong (1933), The Most Dangerous Game (1932) is one of the most exciting and memorable adventures of 1930s cinema. It contains everything people love about pre-code Hollywood with its no holds barred action and sexually charged atmosphere, and it looks forward to Kong with its exotic adventure.Joel McCrea and Fay Wray are absolutely gorgeous and admirable as the leads and Noble Johnson also does good with the small role of Ivan, Zaroff's mute henchman, but it is Leslie Banks as the disturbed Count Zaroff who remains with you after the credits roll. He excellently portrays the character's insanity and psychological/sexual obsessions. He's one of my favorite movie villains ever.Modern audiences will likely mock the jungle sets, but honestly that adds to the demented nightmarish feel of the movie. The whole thing is drenched with dread and violence, giving the film the feel of a horror movie. The chase scenes in the jungle are like something out of a bad dream; the frantic Max Steiner score and cinematography really amp up the tension.All in all, an excellent underrated film. A must see for lovers of 1930s Hollywood.

Evil and depraved big game hunter Zaroff (deliciously played with lip-smacking wicked relish by Leslie Banks) hunts humans for sport on his remote island. Zaroff chooses fellow well known big game hunter Robert Rainsford (a solid and likable performance by Joel McCrea) to be his latest quarry. Directors Irving Pickel and Ernest B. Schoedsack, working from a compact script by James Ashmore, relate the absorbing story at a quick pace, milk the dark premise for all its worth (Zaroff's trophy room with the bodies of his previous victims is truly grotesque and startling), and deftly stage the major hunting set piece in which Zaroff and Rainsford match wits. It's the second half of this movie that really makes it hum: It's remarkably tense, gripping, and exciting as all hell, with loads of suspense, jolting moments of sudden ferocious violence, and a dandy conclusion. Moreover, Banks' sublimely slimy portrayal of Zaroff delivers a pleasing mix of suavely decadent menace and alarmingly twisted perversity. Fay Wray makes for a suitably fetching and appealing damsel in distress. Henry W. Gerrard's crisp black and white cinematography provides a fine moody look. Max Steiner's dynamic full-bore score hits the stirring spot. Only Robert Armstrong's irritating turn as annoying comic relief drunk Martin detracts a bit from the substance of this otherwise sterling movie. Worthy of its classic status.