The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

The Most Dangerous Game is a very good little film. It's an early sound film made in Hollywood, executive produced by Selznick, and falls under the horror/mystery genre, so it's not going to blow your mind by being revolutionary, but it's a well-polished little slice of early American film.

I really liked the witty dialogue early on, as it helped ease me into the plot a little easier. Of course, knowing the plot of the film, I was able to note the obvious foreshadowing early on, particularly when Rainsford talks about how he'll always be the hunter and won't ever be hunted, as he's quickly cut off by the ship crashing which begins his little adventure. I also liked the lighting, the way that it helped establish character early on. Even though they're not too well-developed or three-dimensional, you do get a good sense of who they are early on.

The movie actually raised a few good points on the nature of hunting and what it is to be civilized. The hunters think themselves highly civilized, especially compared to the island's natives. Yet, they're out there killing for sport, so how civil can they really be, in the end? Bunuel said, in The Exterminating Angel, "Everyone is someone else's barbarian." I think that it relates to this film on some levels, but the film clearly takes an attack on the act of hunting for sport, in general, rather than looking at it from an equal perspective as Bunuel does. I dunno.