Antonius Block What a deliciously creepy and suspenseful film this is. We know what's coming, but that doesn't stop us from feeling real tension that builds into a crescendo with an extended hunt sequence in the second half of the film. Leslie Banks is fantastic as the intellectual and cruel Count Zaroff, and Joel McCrea and Fay Wray play their parts well. The film is hokey in places (such as a rather comical fighting/wrestling scene), but that adds to its camp value, as did recognizing some set elements from 'King Kong'. I found it easy to overlook the sillier things because the story itself is so strong – well ahead of its time, and re-used in countless movies and TV shows over the decades. A small example of that is the ending, which may remind modern viewers of 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'.Early on we're given some food for thought with this line: "I was thinking of the inconsistency of civilization. The beast of the jungle, killing just for his existence, is called savage. The man, killing just for sport, is called civilized. It's a bit inconsistent, isn't it?" We get action in the form of a shipwreck and shark attack. We get eeriness and sadism in the Count, as well as a pre-Code ominous hint of intended rape ("Kill! Then love."), and that's all before an exciting game of "outdoor chess". There's a lot to like in this action-packed and fun film.

jacobs-greenwood The first, the original, an essential! This adventure drama horror thriller features a big game hunter who's grown bored with hunting animals, so now he desires to hunt the most cunning and adaptable prey on earth ... man!This Richard Connell story, first adapted by James Ashmore Creelman, has been remade so many times into movies, radio and television programs that it's a classic. Surprisingly, it has yet to be added to the National Film Registry even though the other well known and oft-remade classic from Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, King Kong (1933), which used many of the same sets, two of its cast members - Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong - and a music score written by the same composer (Max Steiner), was so recognized in 1991.Cooper was associate producer for executive producer David O. Selznick; Schoedsack shared directing duties with heretofore actor Irving Pichel (his directorial debut). This original runs barely an hour, which made it perfect for the other mediums mentioned above.Joel McCrea stars as the hunter's most capable challenger, Bob Rainsford, an adventurer author who's also a hunter himself. After a shipwreck and shark attacks which kill everyone else that was aboard, Bob swims to a remote uncharted island which is owned by a mad Russian Count named Zaroff (Leslie Banks). Eve Trowbridge (Wray) and brother Martin (Armstrong) had already been stranded on the island earlier and, as Bob comes to learn, are effectively Zaroff's prisoners.When Bob learns the Russian's game, he understands why Martin drinks excessively, especially after he sees the macabre trophy room. Of course, much like Lon Chaney's character in The Phantom of the Opera (1925), Zaroff loves classical music and plays the piano (Banks overplays it a bit as he mugs for the camera, a sinister expression on his evil character's face).The most suspenseful part of the film is the hunt and chase through the island's thick (and what should be familiar) foliage. Zaroff gives Bob a knife and a head start, but also saddles him with Eve and uses dogs to pursue them. The outcome is pure Hollywood.

classicsoncall I don't know if this was the first movie adaptation of the 1924 short story by Richard Connell, (also called "The Hounds of Zaroff"), but it certainly was an effective one. I recall reading once that the sets used for the picture were also used simultaneously for filming the following year's "King Kong", so all the while as Rainsford (Joel McCrae) is being pursued through the jungle I'm expecting some sort of errant dinosaur to pop up. There was that one scene with the crocodile but Rainsford must have known it wouldn't bother him, he and Eve Trowbridge (Fay Wray) just walked right by it.I thought the picture could have done a better job of establishing Count Zaroff's (Leslie Banks) trophy room. It's too bad the longer preview version isn't available, the trivia notes for this movie indicate that scenes were removed for giving movie audiences the creeps back in the day. Of course anything goes today, so it would be neat if the discarded sequences managed to show up again.Early on, the Count establishes that the world is divided between two factions - the hunter and the hunted. It's an interesting concept to dwell on, as today it manifests among nations through the aggressive use of force. Not to get sidetracked, Zaroff pursues his quarry with deadly efficiency, but Rainsford is not one to give up easily. I thought the little traps he set for the Count were fairly clever, proving that the prey was every bit as cunning as the hunter.I had to chuckle a bit though near the end of the story as I thought about an earlier mention that the island was 'no bigger than a deer park'. As Rainsford and Eve made their way out of Fog Hollow and approached the giant rapids, I thought to myself that this was a pretty large deer park.There's somewhat of a 1961 remake of this story with a movie titled "Bloodlust" which has an unintended comic element that fortunately didn't manifest in this story. In "Bloodlust" there are four potential victims for the mad hunter and a much more detailed trophy cave for his victims. But the thing is, in any scene where the hunter is in conversation with his intended prey, they could have easily jumped him to end the story right then and there. In this version there's a lot more suspense and intrigue before Count Zaroff meets his defeat and quite literally goes to the dogs.

AaronCapenBanner Leslie Banks stars as Count Zaroff, who is a mad hunter living on an isolated island. He likes to hunt any human being unfortunate enough to come ashore, and even has a trophy room where he displays his gruesome kills. A new quarry comes ashore when luxury cruise ship survivor Bob Rainesford(played by Joel McCrea) is at first welcomed, where he meets fellow castaways Eve(played by Fay Wray) and her brother Martin(played by Robert Armstrong), but will soon be shocked to find themselves in a life and death struggle with Zaroff in his jungle lair. Surprisingly potent film holds up well today. Plot may be obvious but acting and direction is solid, making this an effective, thought-provoking adventure.