Fight the Beast!

It has always been a thrilling show — two men fighting one another. More or less, their chances are equal. No weapons, no outside assistance. However, the confrontation of a barely armed man versus a lethal beast makes the difference, indeed! It requires a brave heart to take on the predator. Only larger-than-life figures are capable to carry out such heroic action. Filmmakers have been eager to shoot spectacularly intense moments of the fight between a human being and an animal. Let us review several examples of this kind.  

An intrepid protagonist from adventure classics, Tarzan the Ape Man (directed by W.S. Van Dyke, produced by MGM, 1932), has bravely taken on a terrible lioness and, eventually, prevails over the beast. A mythical hero from a fantasy masterpiece Ruslan and Lyudmila («Руслан и Людмила», directed by Alexander Ptushko, produced by Mosfilm Studios, 1972) has won a formidable tiger, sent by a wicked sorceress. A human mutant from a sci-fi horror movie The Island of Dr. Moreau (directed by Don Taylor, produced by MGM, 1977) has valiantly defeated another tiger.