A Most Dangerous Game Replayed
Widmark and Jane Greer in Run For The Sun (1956)
Persuasive remake of The Most Dangerous Game
that delays jungle chasing till a final third, after a wade through
back stories of Richard Widmark, Jane Greer, and baddie team Trevor Howard and
Peter Van Eyck, the latter late of treason/war crimes to update 1932 adapt of
the yarn. Color brightens foliage, with unintended result a '56 jungle less
threatening than one that enveloped Joel McCrea and Fay Wray before. The set-up
eats time we spend in eager wait for the human hunt, knowing that's the thrust
of Richard Connell's story after all, romance not needed but there in
accord with 50's "A" pic pattern. Run's Widmark is a writer, softened by
alcohol overuse, as opposed to big-game hunter and ripped all-round Joel McCrea
in the original, but still we're asked to believe Dick can rig a sophisticated
trap for bush pursuers. Here's where you need a player of RW's ability to
overcome scripting incredulity, which he more or less does. Eddie Muller gave
harrowing account of the price Jane Greer paid for doing Run For The Sun in his
fine collection of actress profiles, Dark City Dames. Done in SuperScope, Run For The Sun is
rendered nicely on MGM Demand disc.
And the funny thing is how little this credited remake has to do with the short story or the '32 film while the celluloid jungle is overstocked with unauthorized rip-offs (B features and TV episodes) that follow the original quite closely.
ReplyDeleteSaw it as a kid, didn't catch up with it until last year on Netflix streaming. Had forgotten EVERYTHING about it until the great bullet gag at the very end. Now THAT was something a 12 year old wold remember!
Strictly chronologically speaking, isn't Run for the Sun a remake of 1945's A Game of Death, directed by Robert Wise? Best wishes, Mark
ReplyDeleteI guess we could sure enough say that it was a remake of a remake!
ReplyDelete