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A Game of Death
1945 |
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A GAME OF DEATH was a remake of an earlier RKO release, THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME (1932). Although Wise wasn't too fond of doing remakes,
"You don't learn when you're sitting at home. Everything you do should add to your repertoire, your knowledge of how to do things."* Nevertheless, Wise became frustrated when he had to use shots of Great Danes in the swamps and jungles from the original. He described it as "somebody looking over my shoulders."* As a result, he would go on to make only one more remake: SO BIG, starring Jane Wyman and Sterling Hayden, in 1953. |
Lured too close to shore by misplaced
channel lights, the
yacht carrying noted big game hunter and author Don Rainsford
hits a corral
reef and sinks, throwing its passengers and crew into shark-infested
waters.
Rainsford, the sole survivor, swims ashore and makes his way
to a
mysterious-looking fortress. Inside, he is greeted by
Eric Kreiger, the
master of the house, and his servant Pleshke. Kreiger, a fervent
 hunter,
recognizes Rainsford's name and insists that he join him and
his guests for
dinner. Escorted by Pleshke as he goes to change his wet clothes,
Rainsford
is puzzled by the bars on the windows. At dinner, after
introducing
Rainsford to his guests, Ellen Trowbridge and her brother Robert,
Kreiger
boasts that he bought the island as a hunting preserve and has
stocked it
with the most dangerous game in the world. After dinner,
Ellen tells
Rainsford of the disappearance of two other guests and warns
him to be wary
of Kreiger. As the clock strikes eleven, Kreiger sends
his guests to bed,
and later that night, Rainsford hears the sounds of dogs baying
and a man
screaming in the distance. Soon after, Ellen comes to
Rainsford's room to
ask for help in locating the missing Bob. Finding the
door to Kreiger's
trophy room unlocked, the two enter and discover the walls are
lined with
human skulls. Bob, who has unlocked the door, then joins
them, and they
descend a flight of stairs to a boathouse, arriving just in
time to see
Kreiger and his servants dock their boat and unload a dead body.
The three
retreat upstairs in horror, and Rainsford declares that Kreiger
is homicidal,
having been driven insane by being gored in the head during
a hunting
accident. Discovering that the windows in Ellen's room
have no bars,
Rainsford instructs Bob and Ellen to keep Kreiger and his men
occupied while
he sneaks into the jungle to lay some traps. The next
morning, Pleshke
becomes suspicious when Ellen delays him at breakfast, but by
the time
Kreiger goes to search Rainsford's room, Rainsford has slipped
into bed and
pretends to be asleep. Later, when Kreiger's scar begins to
throb, he speaks
of a hunt that night. Planning to lure Kreiger into the
traps he planted,
Rainsford pretends to condone his unique prey and asks to join
the hunt.
Encouraged by Rainsford's praise, Kreiger admits to moving the
lights in the
channel to lure ships onto the coral reefs and thus replenish
the prey on the
island. He then invites Rainsford to join the hunt for
Bob. Soon after,
Pleshke discovers Rainsford's dirty bedsheets and tells Kreiger
that he has
been deceived. As the clock strikes eleven that night,
Kreiger posts his
man-killing dog at the door to Rainsford's room, thus trapping
him and
thwarting his plan to protect Bob and capture Kreiger.
With Rainsford
imprisoned in the house, Kreiger begins to stalk Bob, slaying
his prey with a
well-aimed arrow. Meanwhile, at the house, Rainsford restrains
the dog with
a harness that he has improvised and runs to the boat house
with Ellen,
arriving just as Kreiger returns with Bob's body as his prize.
Hoping to
lure Kreiger into his trap, Rainsford challenges him to a hunt,
and Kreiger
accepts, agreeing to free Rainsford if he is still alive at
5:10 a.m., the
moment of sunrise. Ellen insists on accompanying Rainsford,
and the two
disappear into the jungle. After shrewdly avoiding Rainsford's
trap, Kreiger
trades in his bow and arrow for a high-powered rifle.
When Ellen and
Rainsford plunge into the mists of Fog Hollow to avoid the range
of the
rifle, Kreiger sends his dogs after them. The beasts pursue
them through the
swamps and to a cliff above the ocean. At 5:08, a dog
lunges for Rainsford's
throat and Kreiger shoots, sending man and beast over the cliff.
After
recapturing Ellen, Kreiger returns to the house and is playing
the piano when
the door opens and Rainsford enters. When Rainsford explains
that the bullet
hit the dog, Kreiger grants him his freedom. Rainsford
refuses to leave,
however, and announces that Kreiger is now his prey. Kreiger
grabs a gun,
and as the two struggle, Pleshke joins the fray. As Rainsford
and Kreiger
tumble behind a couch, the gun fires, wounding Kreiger.
After Rainsford
shoots Pleshke, he and Ellen run to the launch. Meanwhile, Kreiger
struggles
to his feet, shoulders his rifle and climbs to a window.
While taking aim at
the speeding boat, he collapses and falls to his death.
From the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
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 72 min. RKO Radio Pictures;
Distributed by: RKO Radio Pictures;
Directed by: Robert Wise;
Produced by: Herman Schlom;
Screenplay by: Norman Houston;
Edited by: J. R. Whittredge;
Director of Photography: J. Roy Hunt;
Music by: Paul Sawtell;
Production Design by: Albert S.
D'Agostino & Lucius Croxton;
Sound by: Phillip Mitchell;
Gowns by: Renie.
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John Loder (Don Rainsford), Audrey Long
(Ellen Trowbridge), Edgar Barrier (Eric Kreiger),
Russell Wade (Robert Trowbridge), Russell Hicks (Whitney), Jason
Robards (Captain),
Gene Stutenroth (Pleshke), Noble Johnson (Carib),
Robert Clarke
(Helmsman), Edmund Glover (Quartermaster),
Bruce Edwards
(Collins), Jimmy Jordan (Steward), Vic Romito
(Mongol), and
Jimmy Dime (Bulgar)
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