American Cinematographer - September 1987 - 48

Cossack - return bearing the body of Martin. Eve
lashes out at Zaroff, who orders her carried to her
room. The servants overcome Rainsford and chain
him to a wall.

"Come, come, my dear Rain¬
sford, I don't want to treat you like my other

guests," Zaroff

says. "... I know what you think,
but you are wrong. He was sober enough and fit
for sport when I sent him out. .. You see, when I
first began stocking my island, many of my guests

thought I was joking, so I established this place. I
always bring them here before the hunt. An hour
with my trophies and they usually do their best to
keep away from me."
He explains that he is able to get
a
supply of game because "providence provided
this island with dangerous reefs" and he moves the
buoys that mark a safe channel. He gives his guests
"every consideration: good food, exer¬
cise
everything possible to get them in splendid
shape
I give them hunting clothes, a woods¬
man's knife and a full day's start. Why, I even wait
until midnight, to give them the full advantage of
the dark. And when one eludes me, only till sun¬
rise
he wins the game." He indicates some me¬
-

...

Wray and McCrea
avoid

a

crocodile in

fog hollow.

suggestion of tigers. "The tiger has nothing but his
c}aws ancj his fangs." Zaroff calls the trophy room
"My one secret i keep it as a surprise for my guests
against the rainy day of boredom."
Martin suggest a hunt. "We're
pals. We'll have a big party, get cockeyed, and go
hunting..."
"A charming simplicity," Zaroff
says aside to Rainsford. "He talks of wine and
women as a prelude to the hunt. We barbarians
know that it is after the chase, and then only, that
man revels. You know the saying of the
Ogandi
chieftains: 'Hunt first the enemy, then the
woman/

...

It is the natural instinct. What is

woman, even

such

a woman as

this, until the blood

is

quickened by the kill? One passion builds upon
another. Kill, then love! When you have known
that, you have known ecstasy!"
While Zaroff plays the piano, Eve
guardedly tells Rainsford that Zaroff has kept her
and Martin on the island by pretending his motor
launch is out of repair. All windows are barred and
huge hunting dogs guard the chateau. Further,
"One night after dinner, the Count took one of our
sailors down to see the trophy room
Two nights
.

.

.

later he took the other there. Neither has been
since. He says they've gone hunting."

seen

Later, Zaroff sends Eve and
Rainsford to their rooms, but delays Martin with
conversation. "Don't worry, Sis, the Count will

take

care

comes

46

to

of me," Martin calls.
"Indeed I shall," Zaroff adds.
Sometimes before dawn, Eve
Rainsford's room to say Martin has disap¬

...

dieval torture devices. "If a chosen one refuses to
be hunted, Ivan is such an artist with those that

invariably they choose to hunt... To date I have
not lost. Oh, Rainsford, you'll find this game worth
playing! When the next ship arrives we'll have
gorgeous sport together!"
Rainsford refuses angrily: "You
murdering rat, I'm a hunter, not an assassin! What
do you think I am?"
"One, I fear, who dares not fol¬
low his own convictions to their logical conclusion.
I'm afraid, in this instance, you may have to follow
them. I shall not wait for the next ship. Four
o'clock

.

.

.

the

sun

is

just rising. Come, Mr. Rain¬

sford, let's not waste time!" He frees Rainsford and
a knife. "Your fangs and claws." Eve
elects to accompany Rainsford. Zaroff consents be¬
cause, "One does not kill the female animal."
Rainsford is surprised to find the
island is "no larger than a deer park." It is com¬

gives him

posed of dense jungle, a swamp, and rocky high
ground. He sets about building a Malay deadfall, a
heavy tree prepared so it will fall on anyone who
touches a vine hidden in the path. The couple has
only time to hide in a shallow cave before Zaroff
approaches.
Zaroff's foot almost touches the

trigger, but he halts, sizes up the situation, and
sends an arrow through the vine. After the tree
falls, he shoots

an arrow

into the

cave.

He tries to

taunt Rainsford into

don't think that

coming out. "But surely you
anyone who has hunted leopards

peared. Rainsford goes with her to the trophy
room, they find mummified heads of men
mounted as trophies. Another head floats in a jar

would follow you into that ambush? Very well, if
you choose to play the leopard, I shall hunt you
like a leopard." He returns to his fortress.

of embalming fluid. Eve
Zaroff and his men - Ivan,

us as

American

Cinematographer

and Rainsford hide
a

Tartar and

a

as

scar-faced

you'd hunt

September 1987

"You've heard him say he'd hunt
leopard," Bob says. "That means

a
American Cinematographer - September 1987

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - September 1987
