A GAME OF DEATH (1945)

Don Rainsford (John Loder, at left), a famous hunter and author, is on a small ship that is nearing Vancarra Island, also known as Man Trap Island. At one time used as a pirate hideaway, and famous for its dangerous coral reefs, it would seem to be deserted now. The island's reputation has the crew a little jumpy, and when a misplaced line of buoys leads the pilot astray, the ship founders and sharks kill off everyone except Rainsford. He gets to the island and soon makes his way to the large pirate fortress, now occupied by the mysterious but quite civilized Erich Kreiger (Edgar Barrier), a big game hunter who is familiar with Rainsford's books and is excited to have him as a guest, joining two other people, Ellen (Audrey Long) and her brother Bob, also recent shipwreck survivors. After having become bored with hunting, Kreiger turned the island into a hunting reserve stocked with what he calls "the most dangerous game in the world." He doesn't say that that might be, and he keeps his trophy room locked up, but he and Rainsford share philosophical ideas about hunting and a pleasant time is had by all. That night, Ellen warns Rainsford that Kreiger seems a bit unbalanced—a scar on his forehead from a hunting accident frequently throbs and causes Krieger visible discomfort—and also tells him that other shipwrecked "guests" have since vanished. Bob breaks into the trophy and discovers that it's lined with human heads. Yes, the dangerous game that Kreiger is hunting is humans, and the three "guests" realize that the misplacement of the channel lights is deliberate: the shipwreck survivors are being released and hunted down by Kreiger, and certainly, these three are next.

This is based on the famous short story "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell, and it's also a very faithful remake of the 1932 film of that title. The title change gives a different meaning to "game"; originally it referred to humans as game to be hunted, but here it becomes a game being played by Kreiger. Both meanings work, I suppose, though GAME OF DEATH would seem more appropriate for an Agatha Christie-type mystery. The two films are so similar, it's difficult not to compare them, and as is usual, the remake suffers, though this version is certainly watchable. This is distinctly a B-movie with a B-level cast, whereas the 1932 version had the up-and-coming stars Joel McCrea and Fay Wray as the leads. John Loder is a reliable supporting actor, and he's fine here, but he doesn't have the energy and charm of McCrea. The same can be said of Audrey Long versus Fay Wray. Leslie Banks, in the original, can't be beat for simmering sinister madness, and Edgar Barrier doesn't try, which was probably wise but still diminishes the character's impact. The one actor who bests the original is Russell Wade as Bob. In the 1932 film, the brother is an alcoholic mess, overplayed a bit by Robert Armstrong; here, Bob just pretends to be drunk to put Kreiger off his guard, and Wade does a nice job. Some footage from the older movie is used in the later scenes where Krieger hunts Rainsford and Ellen but it's blended in fairly well. The sets might even be the same; certainly, this film uses the same grotesque bestial wall hanging on the staircase that was used in 1932. There is a nicely full-blooded fisticuffs scene at the end. If you only watch one version of the story, the Joel McCrea film is the one to see; this one, directed by Robert Wise, sustains tension well but, aside from changing the villain from Russian to German, seems unnecessary. [YouTube]