MovieChat Forums > The Most Dangerous Game (1932) Discussion > Fay Wray's body language in this movie

Fay Wray's body language in this movie

posted 15 years ago by perfectpawn
8 replies | jump to latest

Just watched this again and couldn't help but notice that Fay Wray's body language is all out of whack with the narrative in her scenes with Joel McCrea. Watch the movie again and pay attention to this: you'll notice that in scenes in which she should be portraying terror she's instead basically undressing McCrea with her eyes and undulating before him.

Some examples:

The infamous "I didn't realize the DANGER" sequence where she spills the drink to get McCrea's attention. Watch how she langorously rolls herself toward him before spilling the drink, and how she keeps inching closer to him. Her body movements are much more "I want you" than "beware of the danger here."

When the hunt begins and McCrea's tied up in that girdle thing, watch Fay Wray as he's being unhitched from it. She's getting close to him and ruffling her hair and her entire body's bouncing with a sort of eagerness to get closer to him. Again, there's no hint of a "we need to RUN" sort of a feeling...it's more like "let's go behind those bushes!"

There are many more examples, these are just two of them. I know Wray was married at the time but if you watch this film again with this in mind, you'll notice it yourself. I'm NOT crazy!

[–] Gator_MacReady 14 years ago

I noticed that too. Maybe Eve is just really, really horny.

Meh!

[–] Squonkamatic 14 years ago

Eve was definitely on the prowl for a man. Zarkov was too creepy with that dead half a face of his, the servants were all mutes, and her brother was her brother. Along comes Joel McBeefcake and yeah, she was ready to go savage all right. She's actually pretty hot in this movie too, where I've sat through King Kong dozens of times and have never though about her in those terms before.

[–] hbenthow 14 years ago

You all have dirty minds. The only one who had sex on his mind was Zaroff.

[–] ElizabethJoestar (929) 3 years ago

I'm on board with you here. A lot of these scenes I did not read as lust at all. In fact, I find the romance between Wray and Mccrea pretty downplayed... makes sense, considering they've got a maniac coming after them.

[–] jellyree 14 years ago

You've not mentioned the most overt body language. At the beginning of the hunt McCrea is holding the knife, um, erect, and Miss Fay is stroking the blade with her fingertips.

[–] FlyingApe 14 years ago

She's not stroking the blade lol.
Look closer you'll see that she's busy wringing her hands in front of her stomach While he caresses the blade...

[–] russkem 14 years ago

One need only watch the "barking up the wrong tree" scene (starting at 52:55) to be convinced of this. Especially when he "pulls out" at 53:09.

[–] richard-III 11 years ago

Ooh, maybe that's why I love her so much! She's wonderful in every film of that time: King Kong, Doctor X, Most Dangerous Game, The Clairvoyant... One hot lady. Erich von Stroheim knew what he wanted when he did cast her as his 'Mitzi'.

"I don't discriminate between entertainment
and arthouse. A film is a goddam film."