La prueba del león

Way back in 1932---around the same time that Director Ernest B. Schoedsack was involved in production of the original classic "King Kong"----he also made another classic film entitled "The Most Dangerous Game (MDG)." Based on a famous story by Richard Connell, MDG tells the tale of a megalomaniac hunter who lives on a remote island. Ships would regularly end up wrecked on reefs near the island. Their passengers and crew would be rescued by our hunter----enjoy his sophisticated hospitality for a time---and then end up as prey as our crazy hunter indulges in his very perverse "sport." MDG starred a very young Joel McCrea and two members of the original "King Kong" cast----Fay (I never met a scream that I didn't like!) Wray and Robert Armstrong. At 63 minutes in length, MDG is the model of an exciting and compact thriller film.

Since the basic idea of someone being forced into the totally unexpected role of an innocent victim hunted down with the intention of becoming another's trophy kill is pretty powerful-----it has been remade into numerous films ("Game of Death," "Run for the Sun," etc.).

The plot device is essentially the same one that Cornel Wilde employed in his variation on MDG entitled "The Naked Prey" released some 34 years after the original film. Wilde makes his movie interesting by having a big game hunter becoming the hunted, and changing the megalomaniac hunter into a band of African tribesmen determined to chase down the Wilde character and do him in.

Wilde also indulges his film with numerous symbolic devices and sub-plot lines---but remains true to the basic premise of MDG. Survival is a battle of wits between the hunter(s) and the hunted, and only the most resourceful of preys can make it alive to the end of the tale.

Viewers who like "The Naked Prey" ought to seek out MDG to recognize yet again the practice often used by Warner Brothers in the 1930s: if the original film tells a good story, it is worth remaking----and remaking----and remaking......

Not a lot of dialog in this one but it doesn't need it. Cornel Wilde is the manager of a charter safari to bag Elephants and encounters a group of local semi-friendly tribesmen who want a gift for their chief. Wilde says yes but his employer says no. The tribesmen a short while later cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war on the safari. Wilde is the sole survivor after the rampage and executions and because of his earlier good intentions to give a gift is allowed a head start into the jungle. After he reaches a designated point the chase is on. Superb character study of a man who must use all of his knowledge and resources to not only survive but evade.

The Naked Prey is one of my favorite adventure movies. It is pure visual cinema. By that I mean the film can be shown anywhere in the world to any age audience without translations or sub-titles. Everyone viewing the action will understand everything that is happening on the screen whether they understand the languages or not. Like the movie Zulu, the antagonists are African tribesmen, but in both films, I never had the sense the natives were evil villains. Rather, the story is about the clash between two alien cultures, a life-or-death struggle that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Like Psycho, The Naked Prey should be taught in every film class around the world. It is perfect and pure just the way it is.

Boy, this is about a simple an action story as you're going to find, but it works, and has its interesting moments. Almost the entire film is devoted to a safari guide/hunter being chased (for the kill) by members of a angry tribe. Those tribe members had been insulted by an obnoxious member of the safari group and this good-guy guide (Cornell Wilde) has to run for his life.

Along his escape for survival, we, the viewers, are treated almost to a National Geographic-type tour of the African jungle with many wild animals, crocodiles, poisonous insects, snakes and - the most species of them all: naked women!

The film looks dated here and there but it's now over 40 years old. There is not much English dialog in here, but it's not needed.

What a rare and glorious film. The Africans, the Whites, the Arabs -- all thrashing about a primitive world blindly lurching for profit, vengeance, pride, and redemption. The animal scenes are bit canned, but the hardy authenticity of tribal southern Africa is marvellous. You can tell these are not extras from Culver City. It's a movie not afraid of blood and savagery. You root for the cunning and feel the fear on both sides. And the ending does make sense to those who know that men appreciate even an enemy who has fought bravely.