#Schoedsack

[weirdlookindog]

Fay Wray in publicity photos for King Kong (1933)

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Son of Kong (1933)

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[heateron]

king kong (1933) dir. merian c. cooper and ernest b. schoedsack

[thewarmestplacetohide]

Dread by the Decade: The Most Dangerous Game

👻 You can support me on Ko-fi ❤️

★★

Plot: A count hunts wealthy people for sport on his private island.

Review: A disturbing concept is undone by a slashed budget, shallow characters, offensive stereotypes, and pacing so rushed it veers into comical.

Source Material: "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell Year: 1932 Genre: Psychological Horror Country: United States Language: English Runtime: 1 hour 3 minutes

Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack Writer: James Ashmore Creelman Cinematographer: Henry W. Gerrard Editor: Archie Marshek Composer: Max Steiner Cast: Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Leslie Banks

------

Story: 1.5/5 - No time is allotted for tension to build or characters to develop. What should have been an epic game of cat-and-mouse is just two characters briefly running from dogs.

Performances: 2/5 - McCrea and Wray are dull, and Armstrong gives one of the worst performances of a drunk person I've ever seen. Banks' efforts are overshadowed by an atrocious "Russian" accent.

Cinematography: 3.5/5 - Some beautiful wide shots.

Editing: 3.5/5

Music: 2/5 - Overbearing.

Effects: 4/5 - The shipwreck effects are delightful.

Sets: 4/5 - Beyond the shipwreck, the sets are the best part of this film.

Costumes, Hair, & Make-Up: 2/5 - Fine until you get into the ethnic caricatures.

Trigger Warnings:

Mild violence

Offensive caricatures of Eastern Europeans

Alcoholism

[bulkbinbox]

lah dah, nah e um búfalo-d'água, sião [atualmente tailândia], 1927. foto de ernest b. schoedsack.

[machetelanding]

Fay Wray in King Kong (1933)

[gatutor]

John Barrymore-Helen Chandler "El padre perdido" (Long lost father) 1934, de Ernest B. Schoedsack.

[illustraction]

KING KONG (R1966-1933) - The BEAUTY OF SWEDISH MOVIE POSTERS (Part 4/10)

There are so many great posters for the original 1933 King Kong movie but the sheer red and orange colors used for the 1966 Swedish rerelease of the horror classic make this poster a must have.

Director: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack Actors: Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Fay Wray

ALL OUR SWEDISH MOVIE POSTERS ARE HERE

If you like this entry, check the other 9 parts of this week’s Blog as well as our Blog Archives

All our NEW POSTERS are here All our ON SALE posters are here

The poster above courtesy of ILLUSTRACTION GALLERY

[randomrichards]

MIGHTY JOE YOUNG:

Girl raises an ape

Who repeats King Kong problems

Thanks to stupid drunks

[weirdlookindog]

Joel McCrea and Fay Wray in The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

[fourorfivemovements]

Happy 90th Anniversary, King Kong!

[omercifulheaves]

King Kong (1933)

[anhed-nia]

BLOGTOBER 10/17/2023: THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (1932)

I'm probably not supposed to say this, but I find this movie pretty silly. I'd never seen it before, even though it's one of the most referred-to titles alive. And I mean it's from Ernest Schoedsack who co-directed KING KONG, so what could go wrong? But I have to be honest, I'm not attracted to its boys' adventure vibrations; Joel McCrea is strutting around being the World's Most Awesomest Dude, with everybody including the villain slavering for his approval, and I'm just sitting there thinking, Can't some weasels come and rip this guys' flesh already?

I don't think my problem is just that, like everyone else, I know the twist and the ending already. I've seen lots of very old, very famous movies pretty late in life, and I treasure the discovery of how great and powerful they are despite being so familiar. THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME does face one specific contextual challenge, which is that this Blogtober season I also watched SVENGALI and DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1931), and to be blunt about it, Leslie Banks is nowhere near the class of Fredric March and John Barrymore in terms of crafting a charismatic, sexy, scary, physically impressive screen villain. Joel McCrea is perfectly bland as the movie's flawless hero, who doesn't so much learn an ironic lesson about his hunter's hubris as he proves that he can do anything he wants in any situation, especially when he's up against a bunch of swarthy foreigners who wish they could be him, so who really cares. Fay Wray flops around being completely helpless and witless, with this look on her face all the time

while the music goes, "Duh nuh nuh nuh nuh NUH. Duh nuh nuh NUH NUH NUH! DUH NUH NUH NUH NUH NUH!!!" The jungle sets are admittedly beautiful and fun, but I have to deal with all these boring jerks if I want to enjoy them, so that's too bad.

What would have brightened this movie up for me is if it fulfilled on its consistent teasing that the evil Count Zaroff has a super fucked up trophy room with all the most dangerous games that he's murdered stuffed and mounted in it...but apparently whatever version of this once existed was so upsetting to test audiences that it basically survived only in the viewer's imagination. Here are some pretty concise notes on that, if you're interested. But obviously I don't have much of interest to say about this movie. I know it's a classic and all, but let's just say that if you've ever suspected that I'm here to toe the party line on all the great classics to try to sound smart and sophisticated, well, you'd be wrong!

[thebarroomortheboy]

TRIVIA ➛ The gong in the title sequence (GUNGA DIN) is the same one used to summon King Kong six years earlier.

Gunga Din (1939) | dir. George Stevens, King Kong (1933) | dir. Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack