The Oft Told Story by Dave Goode

I was in junior high school when I first read Richard Donnell's short story THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (first published in Colliers- January 19, 1924). Also known as THE HOUNDS OF ZAROFF, the story blew me away. I knew there was a movie adaptation starring Joel McRae, Fay Wray, and Leslie Banks. But I wouldn't see it until a couple of years later.

I knew Spider-Man's foe Kraven the Hunter who first appeared in Spider-Man No.15 (Aug. 1964) was inspired by General Zaroff, the villain of Donnell's tale. So was the "Hunter" who appeared in Adventure Comics No. 358 (July 1967). The story was even parodied in a humorous homage on an episode of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND featuring Rory Calhoun and Harold Sakata.

 

 

 

When I first saw the movie THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (1932) in a high school film class I was just as impressed with it as I was with Donnell's 48 page short story. Of course there were some changes made in the transition from page to screen. There were some characters added. Most notably Eve and Martin Towbridge played by Fay Wray and Robert Armstrong who would later appear in the adventure classic KING KONG (1933).

You're probably already familiar with the plot. After being shipwrecked famous big game hunter Robert Rainsford (Joel McRae) is lodged by Count Zaroff (in Donnell's story he's a retired general) played by an over the top Leslie Banks in his castle on a remote island. It turns out the Count is a hunter himself. The Count had grown bored with the hunt until he discovered what he considered the "most dangerous game "... man himself. He ends up hunting Rainsford and Eve after hunting and killing Martin. But has the Count met his match in Rainsford ?

The story is so strong that it has been adapted to the screen several times. There was A GAME OF DEATH (1945), BLOODLUST (1961) and even a sci-fi sexploitation flick SLAVE GIRLS BEYOND INFINITY (1987) among others.

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