As part of the BFI’s Art of Action season, film historian Craig Ian Mann presents three “chase” films that illustrate the complex narrative themes of action cinema.
Based upon the influential short story of the same name by Richard Connell, The Most Dangerous Game remains an important milestone in the history of action cinema 90 years after its release in 1932.
Big game hunter Bob Rainsford (Joel McCrea) barely survives a shipwreck in shark-infested waters and washes ashore on the private island of sinister Russian ex-patriot Count Zaroff (played with delightful zeal by Leslie Banks). Zaroff also fancies himself something of an accomplished hunter – and his preferred quarry is the most dangerous game of all: man.
Filled with thrilling stunts, accomplished performances and astounding production design, The Most Dangerous Game is the progenitor of the “human hunting” sub-genre. Its macabre tale of a man ruthlessly hunted for sport established an enduring and thematically rich tradition in the action film that continues to proliferate in the twenty-first century.
This screening will be preceded by a 30-minute talk by film historian and strand curator Craig Ian Mann on the history and significance of human hunting in action cinema.
