"
The Most Dangerous Game", also published as "
The Hounds of Zaroff", is a
short storyA short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by
Richard ConnellRichard Edward Connell Jr. was an American author and journalist, probably best remembered for his short story "The Most Dangerous Game". Connell was one of the most popular American short story writers of his time and his stories appeared in the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's Weekly...
. It was published in
Collier's Weekly on January 19, 1924.
Widely anthologized, and the author's best-known work, "The Most Dangerous Game" features as its main character a big-game hunter from
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, who falls off a yacht and swims to an isolated
islandAn island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
in the
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, where he is hunted by a Cossack aristocrat. The story is an inversion of the big-game hunting
safariA safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...
s in
AfricaAfrica is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and
South AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
that were fashionable among wealthy Americans in the 1920s.
Synopsis
Sanger Rainsford and his hunting whales for austria companion Whitney are traveling to the
RioRio is the Portuguese word for river and is a common nickname for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Rio or Río may also refer to:-Other locations:* Río Bec, Mayan archaeological site* Río Bravo, Suchitepéquez, a town in Guatemala...
to hunt the fabled big cat of that region, the
jaguarThe jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
. After a discussion about how they are the hunters instead of the hunted, Rainsford hears gun shots, drops his pipe, and falls off of their boat and into the Caribbean Sea while trying to retrieve it. After he realizes he cannot swim back to the boat, he swims to the nearby Ship-Trap Island, which was notorious for shipwrecks. He finds a palatial chateau inhabited by two
CossackCossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
s: the owner, General Zaroff, and his
giganticGigantism, also known as giantism , is a condition characterized by excessive growth and height significantly above average...
deaf-muteFor "deafness", see hearing impairment. For "Deaf" as a cultural term, see Deaf culture. For "inability to speak", see muteness.Deaf-mute is a term which was used historically to identify a person who was both deaf and could not speak...
servant Ivan. The General, another big-game hunter, has heard of Rainsford from the book Rainsford wrote about hunting
snow leopardsThe snow leopard is a moderately large cat native to the mountain ranges of South Asia and Central Asia...
in
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
. After inviting him to dinner, General Zaroff tells Rainsford of how he became bored with hunting because it no longer challenged him. Thus, Zaroff says, he decided to live on an island where he could capture shipwrecked sailors to send them into the jungle supplied with food, a knife, and hunting clothes to be his quarry. After a three-hour head start, he would follow them to
hunt and kill themHuman hunting is a quasi-urban legend, where certain people hunt and kill humans for the purpose of pleasure, entertainment, or sustenance. Serial killer Robert Hansen would abduct and hunt his victims before killing them. The Beltway sniper attacks hunted their victims at gas stations and stores...
. If the captives eluded him, Ivan, and a pack of hunting dogs for three days, General Zaroff would let the man go, but no one had eluded him that long thus far. Zaroff invites Rainsford to join him in his hunt but Rainsford, appalled, refuses. Zaroff then tells Rainsford that he can choose whether he will be the next person to be hunted, or be whipped to death by Ivan. Rainsford chooses the former.
Rainsford lays an intricate trail in the forest and climbs a tree. Zaroff finds him easily, but decides to play with him like a cat would a mouse. After the failed attempt at eluding the General, Rainsford builds a "Malay man catcher", a weighted log attached to a trip wire, which injures Zaroff's shoulder, causing him to return home for the night. Next he sets a
Burmese tiger pitTrapping pits are deep pits dug into the ground, or built from stone, in order to trap animals.European rock drawings and cave paintings reveal that the elk and moose have been hunted since the stone age using trapping pits. In Northern Scandinavia one can still find remains of trapping pits used...
, which kills one of Zaroff's hounds. Finally, he sets a native
UgandaUganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
n knife trap, which impales and kills Ivan. To escape the General and his approaching hounds, Rainsford dives off a cliff. Zaroff assumes Rainsford has died in the fall and returns home. Zaroff locks himself in his bedroom and turns on the lights, revealing Rainsford, who had hidden by the bed curtains after having swum around the island. Zaroff congratulates him on winning the "game" but Rainsford decides to fight him, calling himself "a beast at bay." The General accepts the challenge, saying that the loser will be fed to the dogs and the winner will sleep in his bed. Though the ensuing fight is not described, the story ends with Rainsford observing that "he had never slept in a better bed," implying that he defeated Zaroff.
Film
The story has been adapted for
filmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
numerous times. The most significant of these adaptations (and the only one to use the original characters) was RKO's
The Most Dangerous GameThe Most Dangerous Game is a 1932 Pre-Code adaptation of the 1924 short story of the same name by Richard Connell, the first film version of that story. The plot concerns a big game hunter on an island who chooses to hunt humans for sport. The film stars Joel McCrea, Leslie Banks, and King Kong...
, released in
1932-Events:*Cary Grant's film career begins*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released....
, having been shot (mostly at night) on sets used during the day for the "Skull Island" sequences of
King KongKing Kong is a fictional character, a giant movie monster resembling a gorilla, that has appeared in several movies since 1933. These include the groundbreaking 1933 movie, the film remakes of 1976 and 2005, as well as various sequels of the first two films...
. The movie starred
Joel McCreaJoel Albert McCrea was an American actor whose career spanned 50 years and appearances in over 90 films.-Early life:...
as Rainsford (renamed "Robert" instead of "Sanger") and
Leslie BanksLeslie Banks, CBE was an English theatre and cinema actor, director and producer, now best remembered playing gruff, menacing characters in black and white movies of the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life:...
as Zaroff, and added two other principal characters: brother and sister pair Eve Trowbridge (
Fay WrayFay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong...
) and Martin Trowbridge (
Robert ArmstrongRobert Armstrong was an American film actor best remembered for his role as Carl Denham in the 1933 version of King Kong by RKO Pictures. He uttered the famous exit quote, "'Twas beauty killed the beast," at the film's end...
). (Wray and Armstrong were also filming
King Kong on the same sets during the day.)
Zaroff, the owner of the island, shares with Rainsford that he got bored of hunting and discovered the "most dangerous game," which Rainsford assumes is hunting tigers. Eve is suspicious of Zaroff and tells the doubtful Rainsford. A short time after Martin goes missing with Zaroff and his henchmen and during this time Eve and Rainsford go into Zaroff's trophy room to discover a human head. Then Zaroff comes back with the dead Martin and challenges Rainsford and Eve to the game in order to keep their lives. After a series of events including eluding Zaroff and faking Rainsford's own death, Eve and Rainsford escape as Zaroff falls to his death.
The story was adapted three times as a radio play for the series
Suspense-Production background:One of the premier drama programs of the Golden Age of Radio, was subtitled "radio's outstanding theater of thrills" and focused on suspense thriller-type scripts, usually featuring leading Hollywood actors of the era...
, on 23 September 1943 with
Orson WellesGeorge Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
as Zaroff and
Keenan WynnKeenan Wynn was an American character actor. His bristling mustache and expressive face were his stock in trade, and though he rarely had a lead role, he got prominent billing in most of his film and TV parts....
as Rainsford, on 1 February 1945 with frequent Welles collaborator
Joseph CottenJoseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair...
portraying Rainsford, and on 1 October 1947 for the
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
radio program
EscapeEscape was radio's leading anthology series of high-adventure radio dramas, airing on CBS from July 7, 1947 to September 25, 1954. Since the program did not have a regular sponsor like Suspense, it was subjected to frequent schedule shifts and lower production budgets, although Richfield Oil signed...
. In the first two of these productions, Rainsford narrates the story in retrospect as he waits in Zaroff's bedroom for the final confrontation.
A second movie adaptation, a remake of the 1932 movie and also produced by RKO, was
A Game of DeathA Game of Death is a 1945 film directed by Robert Wise. It is a remake of Richard Connell's short story, The Most Dangerous Game, about a madman who hunts human prey on his personal island habitat...
, released in 1945. Directed by
Robert WiseRobert Earl Wise was an American sound effects editor, film editor, film producer and director...
at the very beginning of his long and distinguished directing career, the movie was regarded poorly. Footage from the original was recycled, and one actor from the original,
Noble JohnsonNoble Johnson was an African American actor and film producer.-Biography:Standing 6'2" at 215 pounds, his impressive physique and handsome features made him in demand as a character actor and bit player...
, was cast in the remake. In keeping with events of the time,
A Game of Death changed Zaroff into "Erich Kreiger", a Nazi, and was set in the aftermath of the Second World War. In 1956 a second official remake was made,
Run for the SunRun for the Sun is a 1956 film released by United Artists, the third film to officially be based on Richard Connell's classic suspense story, "The Most Dangerous Game", after RKO's The Most Dangerous Game , which starred Joel McCrea and Fay Wray, and their remake, A Game of Death, which was...
, starring
Richard WidmarkRichard Weedt Widmark was an American film, stage and television actor.He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, Kiss of Death...
and
Jane GreerJane Greer was a film and television actress who was perhaps best known for her role as femme fatale Kathie Moffat in the 1947 film noir Out of the Past.-Career:...
.
List of film adaptations
- The Most Dangerous Game
The Most Dangerous Game is a 1932 Pre-Code adaptation of the 1924 short story of the same name by Richard Connell, the first film version of that story. The plot concerns a big game hunter on an island who chooses to hunt humans for sport. The film stars Joel McCrea, Leslie Banks, and King Kong...
(1932)
- A Game of Death
A Game of Death is a 1945 film directed by Robert Wise. It is a remake of Richard Connell's short story, The Most Dangerous Game, about a madman who hunts human prey on his personal island habitat...
(1945)
- The Dangerous Game (1953)
- Run for the Sun
Run for the Sun is a 1956 film released by United Artists, the third film to officially be based on Richard Connell's classic suspense story, "The Most Dangerous Game", after RKO's The Most Dangerous Game , which starred Joel McCrea and Fay Wray, and their remake, A Game of Death, which was...
(1956)
- Bloodlust!
Bloodlust! is a horror/thriller film about a group of young adults who visit a tropical island only to become prey for a sadistic hunter. Filmed in 1959 and released in 1961, the feature was picked up for cinema release by Crown International Pictures...
(1961)
- The Naked Prey
The Naked Prey is a 1966 adventure film starring Cornel Wilde, who also directed and produced. It was released by Paramount Pictures. Set in the South African veld, the film is a wilderness survival story loosely based on the experiences of explorer John Colter, who was pursued by Blackfoot...
(1966)
- The Woman Hunt (1973)
- Mottomo kiken na yuugi (1978)
- Turkey Shoot
Turkey Shoot is a 1982 Australian dystopian futurist exploitation film directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith notable for its extreme violence and sadistic prison sequences...
(1982)
- Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity
Slave Girls from Beyond Infinity is a 1987 film that transports “The Most Dangerous Game” to an alien world and populates it with bikini-clad space prison escapees and weird space monsters.-Plot:...
(1987)
- Deadly Prey
Deadly Prey is a 1986 film that was first screened in the United States in March 1987 at that year's American Film Market. After The Winters Group helped finance David A...
(1988)
- Lethal Woman (1988)
- Death Ring (1992)
- Hard Target
Hard Target is a 1993 American action film directed by Chinese director John Woo. The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux, an out-of-work Cajun merchant seaman who saves a young woman, Natasha Binder , from a gang of thugs in New Orleans...
(1993)
- Surviving the Game
Surviving the Game is a 1994 action film directed by Ernest R. Dickerson, starring Ice-T, Rutger Hauer, and Gary Busey. It is loosely based on the short story "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell.-Plot:...
(1994)
- The Pest (1997)
- The Tournament
The Tournament is a 2009 British independent action film, marking the directorial debut of local filmmaker Scott Mann. The film was conceived by Jonathan Frank and Nick Rowntree while at the University of Teesside with Mann...
(2009)
- Naked Fear
Naked Fear is a 2007 thriller film film directed by Thom Eberhardt. The plot revolves around a dancer who is lured to a strange town and thrown into a deadly game after being kidnapped by a serial killer...
(2007)
- Taxidermy (2011)
Television
The story has also been the basis for plots for several television series.
- Gilligan's Island
Gilligan's Island is an American television series created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver; Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus; Natalie Schafer; Tina Louise; Russell Johnson; and Dawn Wells. It aired for...
- "The Hunter"
- Lost in Space
Lost in Space is a science fiction TV series created and produced by Irwin Allen, filmed by 20th Century Fox Television, and broadcast on CBS. The show ran for three seasons, with 83 episodes airing between September 15, 1965, and March 6, 1968...
- "Hunter's Moon"
- Get Smart
Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...
- "Island of the Darned" featuring 99 and Maxwell Smart being hunted in an island by a KAOS hunting enthusiast.
- The Incredible Hulk - "The Snare"
- Logan's Run
Logan's Run is a 1977–1978 American CBS-TV series and a spin-off from the 1976 film of the same name.- Cast :*Gregory Harrison as Logan 5*Heather Menzies as Jessica 6*Donald Moffat as Rem*Randy Powell as Francis- Episode list :...
- "Capture"
- The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
- "Monkees Marooned"
- The Critic
The Critic is an American prime time animated series revolving around the life of film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by actor Jon Lovitz. It was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, both of whom had worked as writers on The Simpsons. The Critic had 23 episodes produced, first broadcast on ABC in 1994,...
- one cold opening had Jay's boss, Duke Phillips, calling to tell him that he finally got his license to hunt man, and advises Jay to buy some running shoes.
- Dexter's Laboratory
Dexter's Laboratory is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky and produced by Cartoon Network Studios . The show is about a boy named Dexter who has an enormous secret laboratory filled with an endless collection of his inventions...
- one "Dial M for Monkey" segment had Monkey being abducted by an intergalactic game hunter; the same hunter later had a cameo in an episode of Samurai JackSamurai Jack is an American animated television series created by animator Genndy Tartakovsky that aired on both Cartoon Network and Toonami from 2001 to 2004. It is noted for its highly detailed, outline-free, masking-based animation, as well as for its cinematic style and pacing...
.
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...
- "Captive Pursuit"
- Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
- "Open Season" where victims are found in Idaho wilderness after being pursued and killed by two avid hunters.
- Codename: Kids Next Door
Codename: Kids Next Door, also known as Kids Next Door or by its acronym KND, is an American animated television series created by Tom Warburton and produced by Curious Pictures in Santa Monica, California.. The series debuted on Cartoon Network on December 6, 2002 and aired its final episode on...
- "Operation: SAFARI"
- Supernatural
Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...
- "The Benders"
- The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
- In the "Survival of the Fattest" episode in "Treehouse of Horrors XVI," Mr. Burns invites a bunch of Simpsons characters to a hunting party, but it turns into a Most Dangerous Game hunt when he starts killing everyone in a hunting fashion.
- CSI: Miami
CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
- "Hunting Ground"
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars
-Production:At April 2005's Star Wars Celebration III, Lucas stated that "we are working on a 3-D continuation of the pilot series that was on the Cartoon Network; we probably won't start that project for another year." In July 2005, pre-production had begun on the series, according to Steve...
- finale episodes "Padawan Lost" and "Wookiee Hunt." Anakin Skywalker's apprentice Ahsoka is captured by Trandoshan hunters who hunt Jedi younglings for sport.
- Dollhouse
Dollhouse is an American science fiction television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon under Mutant Enemy Productions. It premiered on February 13, 2009, on the Fox network and was officially cancelled on November 11, 2009. The final episode aired on January 29, 2010...
- "The Target"
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer - "Homecoming"
- Dark Angel
Dark Angel is an American biopunk/cyberpunk science fiction television series created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee. The show premiered in the United States on the Fox network on October 3, 2000, and was canceled after two seasons...
- "Pollo Loco"
- American Dad- "The Vacation Goo
"The Vacation Goo" is the eleventh episode of the third season of the animated series American Dad!. It originally aired on September 30, 2007. This episode centers around the Smiths, whom start to develop communication issues with each other. Francine becomes aggravated that the family cannot...
"- the Smith Family washes up on an island and are then hunted by a group of men, but it turns out the hunters were merely paintball players.
- Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
- "Arena"
- Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess is an American–New Zealand supernatural fantasy adventure series that aired in syndication from September 4, 1995 until June 18, 2001....
- "Dangerous Prey"
Real-life parallels
Robert HansenRobert Christian Hansen is an American serial killer. Between 1980 and 1983, Hansen murdered between 17 and 21 women near Anchorage, Alaska.- Early life :Hansen was born in Estherville, Iowa to Christian and Edna Hansen...
, a serial killer who was active in the early 1980s, would kidnap women and then release them in the
Knik RiverThe Knik River is a 25-mile-long river in the U.S. state of Alaska. Its source is at Knik Glacier, from which it flows northwest and west and empties into the head of Cook Inlet's Knik Arm, near the mouth of the Matanuska River....
Valley in Alaska. He would then hunt them, armed with a knife and a Ruger Mini-14 rifle.
In 1976, Hayes Noel, a stock trader, Bob Gurnsey, and author
Charles GainesCharles L. Gaines is an American writer and outdoorsman, notable for his works on fly fishing, his role in the development of paintball, and his photo-essay Pumping Iron, about the bodybuilding culture of the 1970s, which was later adapted into a documentary film of the same name.-Early...
were discussing Gaines' recent trip to Africa and his experiences hunting
buffaloThe African buffalo, affalo, nyati, Mbogo or Cape buffalo is a large African bovine. It is not closely related to the slightly larger wild Asian water buffalo, but its ancestry remains unclear...
. Inspired in part by
The Most Dangerous Game, they created
paintballPaintball is a sport in which players compete, in teams or individually, to eliminate opponents by tagging them with capsules containing water soluble dye and gelatin shell outside propelled from a device called a paintball marker . Paintballs have a non-toxic, biodegradable, water soluble...
, a game where they would stalk and hunt each other; recreating the same adrenaline rush that came with animal hunting.
External links