Most Dangerous Game / Gow the Headhunter [Blu-ray] [Import]

This isn't a sales pitch even though I will benefit if you buy it. It's just that the information from amazon.com is so sparse that I think anyone potentially interested should know more before deciding whether or not to part with their hard-earned.

"The Most Dangerous Game" is obviously the engine pulling this train, and in my opinion, it's one of the outstanding action-adventure films from the early 1930s. Although it is often thought of as a place-holder for "King Kong," having been made on many of the same sets with many of the same cast and crew, it's a very notable achievement on its own. It has been available on a nice DVD from Criterion, as well as on public domain editions usually bootlegged from Criterion's copy; but the beautiful quality of Flicker Alley's Blu-Ray is likely to amaze you. We started with the original 35mm studio fine grain master, and the HD transfer was then restored from the original Radio Pictures tower to the end; not to the point where it no longer looks like it originated on nitrate film, but to the standard of a new 35mm print of the period. The sound was restored at Diapason sound services in Paris, and it came out so beautifully that they now use it as a before-and-after demonstration of what they are able to do. There is a new audio essay by Rick Jewell, author of "RKO Radio Pictures: A Titan Is Born" (University of California Press, 2012) which is packed with interesting information delivered in a comfortable, conversational style.

"Gow" is more an oddity than it is a polished film. It's the 1931 synthesis of four silent films based upon footage photographed between 1920 and 1922 in Samoa, Fiji, the Andaman Islands, the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides; it was later retitled "Cannibal Island" and distributed as an exploitation film into the 1950s. Although the film was produced by a wealthy adventurer, Captain Salisbury, much of it was photographed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, who were responsible for "The Most Dangerous Game" and "King Kong," and before that, for the silent documentary "Grass" and the story/documentary film "Chang." "Gow" is the seed of their filmmaking ethic: distant, difficult, and dangerous. The island people of "King Kong" owe quite a lot to the Melanesians that Cooper and Schoedsack observed with Salisbury. The 1931 version has a cringe-inducing commentary by another member of the Salisbury expedition, that we have offset by a really wonderful audio essay by Matthew Spriggs, Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology at the National University of Australia and author of "The Island Melanesians." Spriggs regards "Gow" as a treasure chest of long-gone peoples and practices and in contrast to the patronizing narration of 80+ years ago, he explains what it is we're really seeing. Salisbury's footage was processed in a small laboratory on board his yacht and although our HD transfer is from the original 35mm fine grain master, for the most part the image quality falls short of the best standards even of 1920; so "Gow" hardly benefits from the superior definition of Blu-Ray. Despite its technical deficiencies, it is fascinating; and yes, you really do see cannibals although they are not eating missionaries in these pictures.

David Shepard told you this looks good. Ah, what a load of crap. IT LOOKS FABULOUS! Buy it now! Because you don't need me to tell you what this is about; end of review.

First of all,in my review of the Flicker Alley Blu-ray,I will skip commenting on the second feature on this disc:"Gow the Headhunter(Cannibal Island)--I'm more interested in the primary feature:"The Most Dangerous Game".This pre-Code version of Richard Connell's often filmed and ripped-off story is the best here.But before you check out the homages and imitators like "Surviving the Game" or "Game of Death",be sure you check this one out first.I'll skip the synopsis for the sake of all who are already familiar with the storyline of the megalomaniacal Count Zaroff(wildly played by Leslie Banks with deranged flair)hunting Human quarry played by Joel McCrae and Fay Wray.The restoration of this film by Lobster Films is superb.The large absence of flecks and artifacts make the legacy of this film after more than 80 years,that much more great.Comparing this to the Criterion Collection DVD previously available,I would give a slight edge to this version.Go watch this movie and prepare to be wowed.Finally,for an even more fun-filled evening of classic movie viewing,may I also suggest watching the remake,"Run For the Sun" with Richard Widmark,Jane Greer and Trevor Howard and the Get Smart episode spoof,"The Island of the Darned" with Harold Gould as Hans Hunter.