The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

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An eccentric recluse hunts shipwrecked humans on a remote jungle island in The Most Dangerous Game, one of the earliest successful ‘talkies’. The film’s creative team (including producer Willis O’Brien and director Ernest B. Schoedsack) would next bring us King Kong, and the two films have a lot in common — large jungle sets, a screaming Fay Wray, brisk action, pioneering visual effects, and wall-to-wall music by Max Steiner.  The cast leave memorable impressions with their stock hero/villain/damsel roles.  The final twenty minutes are a long masterfully orchestrated chase sequence involving such progressive cinematic techniques as point-of-view shots, moving camera, and process photography — a thrilling sequence as good or better than anything you’d find in today’s action spectacles. Starring Joel McCrea, with Robert Armstrong and Leslie Banks.

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