The Most Dangerous Game in Color: A Bizarre Trip

Is it worth your time?

If you have a thing for old-school melodrama and want to see how color restoration can make a movie look like a weird painting, sure. If you’re looking for a grounded, gritty survival flick, you’ll probably be bored to tears within twenty minutes.

I sat down with The Most Dangerous Game in Color expecting just another version of a story I’ve seen a dozen times. Instead, I got this strange, neon-soaked version of an island that doesn't look like any jungle I've ever seen on a map. The colors feel like they’re bleeding off the screen. 🎨

Robert Armstrong is doing that thing where he acts with his whole face, eyebrows and all. It’s a lot. Every time he enters a room, he brings this weird, frantic energy that makes me wonder if he’s hunting people or just really needs a vacation. The pacing is a bit of a disaster—it jumps from a shipwreck to the hunt before you even care about who’s living or dying.

There’s this one scene in the trophy room that lasts forever. I swear I spent three minutes just staring at the wall behind the main characters because the lighting was so flat it made the heads look like cardboard cutouts. Why are they just standing there talking for so long? It’s like the movie forgot it was supposed to be a thriller.

Fay Wray is in this, obviously. She’s mostly just screaming and looking terrified, which, I mean, fair enough. If someone was hunting me on a private island, I’d be screaming too. But there’s zero chemistry between her and Joel McCrea. It’s like they’re acting in two different movies at the same time.

It’s funny to compare this to stuff like The Fighting American where things feel a bit more balanced. This one just leans so hard into the 'creepy hunter' trope that it becomes almost campy by accident.

Some random notes:

• The jungle plants look like they’re made of construction paper.
• I counted three separate times someone runs through the same bush.
• The sound design is mostly just loud footsteps and heavy breathing.
• Whoever did the color grading definitely had the dial turned up to eleven.

Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it weirdly hypnotic because of the color job? Absolutely. It’s the kind of thing you watch late at night when you don’t want to think too hard. Just don't expect the suspense to actually, you know, suspend anything.

Also, the ending is a bit abrupt. It feels like the editor just gave up and decided to cut to the credits before the actual climax could breathe. 🤷‍♂️