When I was in junior high, I had to read a story by Richard Connell entitled The Most Dangerous Game. As I recall, I enjoyed it. I bet that many of you also had to read it.
RKO released a film adaptation in 1932. Since King Kong was being made by the same people at the same time, both films used some of the same sets, and several of the actors are in both movies, most notably Fay Wray. There are no women in Connell's original story, and so when I first saw the movie years ago, I was surprised by the addition of the Wray character. The short story had to be opened up to make a feature film, and adding a woman was one way to do so (and audiences expected a female lead in every picture, I imagine).
The movie is available in the Criterion Collection. The transfer to DVD is very good — a sharp image and a clean soundtrack. The commentary by Bruce Eder — a film historian, I presume — is a bit ripe from time to time, granting the film more merit than it really possesses. But he's also insightful, especially concerning Count Zaroff's disturbed psyche, which requires the presence of a woman to be fully revealed. That's really the main benefit of adding the Wray character to the original plot.
Leslie Banks is over the top as Zaroff, but still creepy. The left side of his face, according to Eder, was damaged during the war. The contrast between the two halves of his face is effectively exploited to convey Zaroff's insanity. Joel McCrea is Rainsdorf, the shipwrecked hunter who unluckily lands on Zaroff's island. McCrea didn't seem much like a seasoned hunter to me, which I consider the film's main flaw. Overall, however, it's entertaining, and not too stiff for a sound film from the early 1930s. It's worth watching.