The Most Dangerous Game: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
(tropelist) |
No edit summary |
||
| (8 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{work}}
[[File:MostDangerousGamePoster2_8348.jpg|frame|Publicity poster from the 1932 movie version]]
'''The Most Dangerous Game''' (also known as '''The Hounds of Zaroff''') is the 1924 short story by Richard Connell.
Rainsford, a hunter of big game from New York, finds himself shipwrecked on an island. He finds a big mansion with a bored old general there, who describes his one true passion: hunting. The general tells Rainsford that he only hunts [[Title Drop|the most dangerous game of all]]... humans. The full story can be found [http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/danger.html here].
The title has a double meaning, referring both to a "game" or contest between the general and his quarry, as well as "game" in the sense of an animal that is hunted.
The story has been directly adapted for film at least eight times, though only twice under its original title: in 1932, with Joel McCrea as Rainsford and Leslie Banks as Zaroff ([https://archive.org/details/TheMostDangerousGame available at archive.org]), and in 2008, with Brian Spangler-Campbell and Mark Motyl, respectively. However, it has been imitated by a vastly greater number of works, and is the source and [[Trope Namer]] of the [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game]] plot.
{{tropenamer}}
{{tropelist}}
* [[Action Survivor]]: Rainsford.
Line 15 ⟶ 17:
* [[Alcohol Is Poison]]: In the first film (made during Prohibition), the first person we see Zaroff hunt is a drunken boor. This was [[Anvilicious|deliberate]] on the part of the director.
* [[Aristocrats Are Evil]]: Zaroff is changed to a Count, rather than a General in the original film.
* [[Badass]]: The main character. Not only manages to survive three days in the woods, but also kills two of Zaroff's best hounds and his bodyguard, followed by
* [[Blood Knight]]: Zaroff.
* [[Cossacks]]: Ivan and Zaroff, see [[Husky Russkie]] below.
* [[Derelict Graveyard]]: Ship-Trap Island.
* [[Disney Villain Death]]: In the original film, Zaroff succumbs to his wounds by falling out the window, where his hunting dogs are waiting.
* [[Double Entendre]]: The title. See the entry on the [[Double Entendre]] page for an explanation.
* [[Duel to the Death]]: Rainsford and Zaroff square off at the end of the story; the winner gets to sleep in Zaroff's opulent bed, while the loser's body will be fed to the hounds.
{{quote|{{spoiler|He had never slept in a better bed, Rainsford decided.}}}}
* [[Egomaniac Hunter]]: General Zaroff.
* [[For the Evulz]]: Killing people is [[Just for Fun]] with General Zaroff.
* [[A Glass of Chianti]]
* [[Good Scars, Evil Scars]]: In the original film, Zaroff has a large scar on the side of his skull, attributed to an encounter with a Cape buffalo. In [[Real Life]], Leslie Banks was permanently disfigured fighting in [[World War
* [[Great White Hunter]]: Rainsford.
▲* [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game]]: [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Imperial Russia]]: "Ivan once had the honor of serving as official [[wikipedia:Knout|knouter]] to the Great White Czar..."
* [[The Killer Becomes the Killed|The Hunter Becomes The Hunted]]
*
* [[Husky Russkie]]: Ivan; also, Zaroff.
{{quote|"Ivan is an incredibly strong fellow... A simple fellow, but, I'm afraid, like all his race, a bit of a savage."
Line 49 ⟶ 50:
{{quote|"I refuse to believe that so modern and civilized a young man as you seem to be harbors romantic ideas about the value of human life... Life is for the strong, to be lived by the strong, and, if needs be, taken by the strong. The weak of the world were put here to give the strong pleasure. I am strong. Why should I not use my gift? If I wish to hunt, why should I not? I hunt the scum of the earth: sailors from tramp ships--lascars, blacks, Chinese, whites, mongrels--a thoroughbred horse or hound is worth more than a score of them."}}
* [[Tastes Like Friendship]]
* [[Teach Him Anger]]: Rainsford is far from helpless; but when he gets pushed to the limit, he gets ''mad.''
* [[Tempting Fate]]: Rainsford, to his friends ''immediately'' before the ship crashes.
{{quote|"There are two kinds of people in this world: the hunter and the hunted. And I'm not about to become the hunted anytime soon."}}
* [[The Un-Smile]]: in the film, Ivan gives one when Zaroff orders him to greet the new guest.
* [[War Is Glorious]]: According to General Zaroff.
* [[World War
* [[Wicked Cultured]]: General Zaroff. Emphasized in the film.
* [[You're Insane!]]
Line 61 ⟶ 62:
[[Category:Adventure Literature]]
[[Category:School Study Media]]
[[Category:The Most Dangerous Game]]▼
[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category:Films of the 1930s]]
[[Category:The Criterion Collection]]
[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Short Story]]
[[Category:Public Domain Feature Films]]
[[Category:Film]]
[[Category:Cult Classic]]
| |||