I was mistaken in an earlier review of Richard Connell’s Most Dangerous Game. While the author did receive a screenplay Oscar for the great Capra film, Meet John Doe, he had actually written the short story on which his own earlier screen treatment was based, but Robert Riskin wrote the script that became the finished film.

It’s interesting then to revisit Connell’s initial story, A Reputation, wherein a largely ignored young man determines to be noticed for once:

The truth was that Saunders Rook was afflicted with “cab-wit,” that he was one of those unfortunates who think of the bright things they might have said only while on their way home in a taxicab. He was oppressed by the knowledge that if he did say anything, it would probably be as colorless and unoriginal as he suspected himself to be. He was oppressed mildly, for he was mild in all things, by the certainty that he could not compete with the witty Max Skye or the sparkling Lucile Davega, who could always quote something arresting from Krafft-Ebing. He did not enjoy being ignored any more than any other man does, and he had his full share of man’s natural desire for a beam of the limelight. A craving for attention had of late been growing more insistent within him. His mind began to play with ideas, which, he reasoned, if uttered in a loud enough voice, might bring his hearers to their, and his, feet. He wanted just for once to cause a stir. Just once, he told himself, would appease him.

Then came the lull that always comes from time to time when groups are talking, and Saunders Rook found himself saying distinctly:

“On the Fourth of July I shall commit suicide.”

When this exclamation gets the desired attention he is forced to come up with a reason for his action and settles on, “As a protest against the state of civilization in America.” That state, he declaims, is “rotten.” As in the film, his imminent suicide is quickly exploited by media and politicians, but there is one big difference as the story builds to its conclusion–[SPOILER ALERT]--Connell makes the denouement much darker. And while it is darkly comic, one can readily see why Hollywood would change it.

The film was one of those, like A Wonderful Life that went out of copyright and so was freely available for showing on syndicated tv, so we got to see it a lot when we were kids. If you weren't so lucky, you should really give it a go. It is vintage Americana.

(Reviewed:05-Aug-24)

Grade: (B) Orrin C. Judd

Tweet

Richard Connell Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: Richard Connell
    -FILMOGRAPHY: Richard Connell (IMDB)
    -PAPERS: “Richard E. Connell Harvard University, 1915” , December 1971 (Harvard University Archives)
    -WIKIPEDIA: The Most Dangerous Game
    -ENTRY: “The Most Dangerous Game” (Encyclopedia.com)
    -WIKIPEDIA: The Most Dangerous Game (1932 film)
    -INDEX: Richard E. Connell (Internet Archives)
    -INDEX: Richard Connell (LibriVox)
    -INDEX: Richard Connell (Project Gutenberg)
    -ETEXT: The Most Dangerous Game (Library of Short Stories)
    -RADIO PLAY: The most Dangerous Game (Radio Play Revival)
    -AUDIO: The Most Dangerous Game (Orson Welles on Suspense, CBS Radio)
    -PODCAST: The Most Dangerous Game, by Richard Connell (The Classic Tales Podcast with BJ Harrison, Ep. 892 Of The Classic Tales Podcast Vintage)
    -VIDEO: The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell | Short Story (The Essential Reads)
    -VIDEO: The Most Dangerous Game (1932) film
    -PODCAST: The Most Dangerous Game (Just Listen, Nashville Public Library)
    -STUDY GUIDE: The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell (SparkNotes)
    -STUDY GUIDE: The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell (Lesson Plans by Rebecca Ray, Storyboard That)
    -STUDY GUIDE: The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Edward Connell (eNotes)
    -STUDY GUIDE: The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell (Study.com)
    -STUDY GUIDE: The Most Dangerous Game (OwlEyes)
    -STUDY GUIDE: The Most Dangerous Game (SuperSummary)
    -STUDY GUIDE: A Summary and Analysis of Richard Connell’s ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ (Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University), Interesting Literature)
    -STUDY GUIDE: The Most Dangerous Game (LitCharts)
    -ESSAY: The Continuing Appeal of Richard Connell’s ‘The Most Dangerous Game’ (Ole?ka Wellisz, May 17, 2022, Collider)
    -ESSAY: THE HUNTER, THE HUNTED, AND “THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME": A political thriller author and former SEAL Team member reflects on the warrior's life and a classic short story. (JACK CARR, 4/23/20, CrimeReads)
    -ESSAY: The most dangerous of short stories: As it turns 100, the influence of Richard Connell’s tale of man hunting man remains undimmed. (THOMAS W. HODGKINSON, 2/21/24, Englesberg Ideas)
    -ESSAY: A Tale of Two Centuries: Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" (Terry W. Thompson, Spring 2018, The Midwest Quarterly)
    -ESSAY: Natural Selection in Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" (Terry W. Thompson, Fall 2011, Interdisciplinary Literary Studies)
    -ESSAY: Analysis of Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game (NASRULLAH MAMBROL, MAY 30, 2021, Literary Theory and Criticism)
    -ESSAY: Being Sisyphus: The Mythological Basis for Connell's 'The Most Dangerous Game (Daniel E. Lees, University of Rhode Island, 2013)
    -ARCHIVES: The Most Dangerous Game (YouTube)

Book-related and General Links:

    -PODCAST: "A Reputation" vs. Meet John Doe, by Richard Connell, Robert Presnell, Sr. and Robert Riskin (Classic Tales, 2 August 2024)
    -STORY: A Reputation (Richard Connell, 1922, Century Magazine)
    -WIKIPEDIA: Meet John Doe
    -FILMOGRAPHY: Meet John Doe (1941) (IMDB)
    -FILMOGRAPHY: Frank Capra (IMDB)
    -FILMOGRAPHY: Meet John Doe (Rotten Tomatoes)
    -FILMOGRAPHY: Meet John Doe (TCM)
    -WIKI: Meet John Doe (Fandom)
    -FILMOGRAPHY: Meet John Doe (AFI)
    -FILM: Meet John Doe
    -FILM REVIEW: Meet John Doe (Leonard Quart, Cineaste)
    -FILM REVIEW: Meet John Doe (Bosley Crowther, March 13, 1941, NY Times)