Spikeopath The Prisoner of Shark Island is directed by John Ford and written by Nunnally Johnson. It stars Warner Baxter, Gloria Stuart, Harry Carey, John Carradine, Ernest Whitman, Francis McDonald, Joyce Kay, Claude Gillingwater and Frank McGlynn. Music is by R.H. Bassett and Hugo Friedhofer and cinematography by Bert Glennon. After setting the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth (McDonald), Dr. Samuel A. Mudd (Baxter) is tried as a co-conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (McGlynn). Sentenced to life imprisonment at the military prison of Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, Mudd desperately tries to stay sane and fight a vicious regime in the hope of one day proving the unjust nature of his sentence. A personal favourite of Ford's, it's not hard to see why given that The Prisoner of Shark Island is supreme film making. Based on the true story of Samuel Mudd, there is perhaps unsurprisingly some little fudging of the facts, but this in no way detracts from the truthful basis of this incredible human interest story. Time is afforded to the joy at the end of the Civil War, Lincoln's weariness (McGlynn classy as usual), the assassination on that desperate day April 14th 1865, Mudd's family life and moral fibre and then the night he abided by his Hippocratic Oath and administered medical aid to the man who had just murdered the president. These are all delicately handled scenes by Ford, who aided by Johnson's screenplay manages to hit home to us the fragile nature of the Mudd incident that is harnessed by a country grieving with anger. Once the trial arrives, the film shifts to another level, the delicacy of Ford's framing of characters and Johnson's rich dialogue passages are replaced by striking imagery and an impassioned performance by the wonderful Baxter. The hooded prisoners on trial for their lives and the wooden gallows outside the court chill the blood, then Baxter delivers his heart tugging three pronged defence monologue that is as good a piece of acting as was given in the 30s. Sentenced passed, execution off camera strikes a chord and then Mudd sits alone and forlorn in a darkened cell, filtered light shards imprison Mudd and let us know that Glennon has arrived to takes us up yet another notch. What then unfolds is a superb depiction of the horrors of prison life, Fort Jefferson is a dank and desperate place, a place of misery for the prisoners, especially for Mudd, who has the patriotic but sadistic Sergeant Rankin (Carradine brilliant) after his blood. Ford is alive to the benefits of Carradine's nasty performance, so has him lighted as malevolent and angled like a horror movie protagonist. Some of the shots during the prison sequences are clinical on impact value, such as Mudd on his cell window sill or one capture as he stares down through a floor grate, shadows and light showing Glennon at his best and giving us a shot fit to grace the best film noirs of the 40s. The rest is history as written, the desperation of an escape attempt, the yellow fever outbreak and his eventual pardon by President Andrew Johnson (this would be 1869 in reality). Nicely packaged by Ford who closes the picture down by having Mudd and Buck (Whitman an impressive presence throughout the picture), his one time black slave and loyal friend, return home to their families, harmony restored after such hardships. There is inevitably some annoyance by critics and film fans alike that the black characters are racial stereotypes, but this is a 1936 film depicting a story unfolding in 1865/67, Ford and Johnson's work here is representative of its times. And in no way, to my film loving mind, hurts this picture in any way. Classic cinema in its purest form from the writing table to finished product, it's highly recommended viewing. 9.5/10

antcol8 One of the most fascinating aspects of John Ford's 1936 film is the Black participationElements of stoicismReal moments of something that looks like intimacy between Buck and Dr. MuddBuck not simply functioning as the classic enablerThe joyful fecundity that looks forward to Donovan's Reef: "Rosabell did it again!"A racial cliché conflated with paganistic humanism. Which looks forward to The Quiet ManMoments where actual Black anger and rage can be felt: "Keep moving, White man" and the sight of all of those armed and rebellious Black soldiers barricadedWhich somehow seems like a moment from the period of Black Power - teleologyAnd somehow "Shoot, nigra!" which is a clear parallel feels like (and is) the same old racism...shocking that this was still acceptable in 1936Mudd is a man of the Confederacy, and the film takes place right after the Civil WarThus the racial tension of this film feels appropriate. Raw, sometimes painful to watch, but appropriateAt no point does Ford show his hand (the way he does in Fort Apache or The Searchers), and so we are left wondering how much is depiction and how much is a statement of Ford's own racial attitudes. This is one of the things that makes the film such a complex textRecent "period" films which show blacks coming and going wherever and whenever they please display the most pernicious Political correctness. They dispense with a whole uncomfortable element of the society of the time which is being represented, an element which a conservative like Ford has no problem looking squarely in the face.Expressionismmuch talk about the influence of Murnau and SunriseBut expressionism is not merely a series of positions and a stylish use of fog and shadow.Expressionism - especially German Expressionism of the period of Caligari and Nosferatu is connected to externalization of psychological states: shock, horror...Murnau found a deep lyricism and romanticism in his development of the expressionist vocabulary. What Ford took from this was ultimately external. The purification of his style leads him to reduce such elements to the point where in The Searchers they are not consistent parts of the mise en scene but rather colors used for underscoring, heightening the deceptively "natural" look of the film.In Prisoner of Shark Island we are still in a Murnau-ish looking world. But Ford's approach to character is radically different from that which is found in Murnau. The discipline found in obeying some idea of a higher authority is always behind the action of Ford heroes. The Hippocratic Oath functions here much as the Navy or Cavalry will function in mature - period Ford. There is ambiguity in Ford characters and their will is tested. But ultimately they always choose the path that has been assigned to them. The expressionistic anti-hero, racked by doubts and pulled ever which way by his appetites and his desires is unknown to Ford. The shadowy, foggy world of German Expressionism is ultimately not appropriate to Ford's stoicism.Part of this look is Ford and part of it is a mid-Thirties style. Even Fritz Lang's films lost a lot of their expressionist look as '30's moved to '40's moved to '50'sAs Eyman says on the commentary track, this is not "A John Ford Film" CarradineThe only performance in this film that could come right out of Nosferatu - but equally right out of a late-19th century potboiler - is that of John Carradine as the sadistic jailer. A deliriously stylized performance, and one which influences our sense of the "tone" of the film. He sides with the artificial element of the mise - en - scene, calling the ultimate agenda of the film into questionVictor Hugo, hélas So said Andre Gide when asked who was the greatest French poet...It's somewhat the same feeling I have when I think of my pantheon of American filmmakers.There's a whole series of filmmakers whose aesthetic and sensibility is so much closer to mine: Fuller, Welles, Ray and such émigrés as Sirk, Ulmer, Lang...But the fascination with Ford has much to do with his stature. His signature is writ so large, and he's able to include so many of our contradictions. Now, well maybe not more than ever, but at least as much as ever, we need Ford. Within the mainstream of American thinking (there is very, very little "counter-cultural" about Ford) he provides a clear-headed critique and a vision full of ambiguity. This becomes obvious only in a few films: They Were Expendable, Fort Apache, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence.But I propose that The Prisoner of Shark Island is a worthy and important addition to this list.And as I said before, this is not an Auteurist MasterpieceAt this point, Auteurism is a fact of life. It shouldn't be necessary (I hope it isn't) to argue that a director has a signature. Of course, what makes this difficult, in terms of the establishment of hierarchy, is the fact that film is such a deeply collaborative art. That the director's vision is the key and ultimate vision of a film seems debatable, on a case-by-case basis.

Scoval71 I chanced upon this movie today on television and could not stop watching it until its end. I am glad I did not miss much. It is a fascinating story of the doctor who treated President Abraham Lincoln's assassinator, John Wilkes Booth's broken leg. I feel that Mudd certainly knew it was Wilkes who came to his house that early morning--how could he not---but he was a doctor and thought that treating his leg was justified. Apparently, the court did not and sentenced him to a life term. In any event, he proved invaluable when a yellow fever/yellow jack epidemic ran rampant in the prison he was confined in on the island called Dry Tortugas in the Gulf Of Mexico, now a national park and monument in Florida, 70 miles west of Key West. For his selflessness and bravery in aiding his fellow man and his doctoring skill, he was pardoned by the President and was able to live the rest of his life as a free man and, of course, rejoin his family. It is debatable whether the real Samuel Mudd knew he was aiding an abetting John Wilkes, I feel, he did, but, as said, was just doing his service as a physician. This is a excellent old fashioned, good movie to watch and you should not miss it.

lugonian THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND (20th Century-Fox, 1936), subtitled "Based on the Life of Samuel A. Mudd," directed by John Ford with screenplay by Nunnally Johnson, brings forth an obscure fact-based story about one country doctor whose name has become unjustly associated with conspiracy and treason. The preface that precedes the story gives the indication as to what the movie represents ... FORWARD: "The years have at last removed the shadow of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd of Maryland, and the nation which once condemned him now acknowledges the injustice it visited upon one of the most unselfish and courageous men in American history," George L. Radcliffe, United States Senator of Maryland. THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND recaptures the tragic event in American history forgotten through the passage of time. Aside from the fact that this could very well be a sequel to D.W. Griffith's biographical depiction of ABRAHAM LINCOLN (United Artists, 1930), with its concluding minutes depicting the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (Walter Huston) seated along side his wife, Mary (Kay Hammond), by John Wilkes Booth (Ian Keith), while watching a play, "Our American Cousin," at Ford's Theater. What happens after-wards is never really disclosed, until the release of THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND six years later. The Civil War has ended. Soldiers are seen parading home, accompanied by a marching band. Abraham Lincoln (Frank McGlynn Sr.) comes out on his upstairs balcony, and not quite up to making a speech, asks the band to simply play "Dixie." The reconstruction of Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theater soon follows, with Lincoln, becoming the fatal victim of a bullet aimed at his head shot from the gun belonging to John Wilkes Booth (Francis J. McDonald). Injuring his leg after jumping onto the stage, Booth, accompanied by David E. Herold (Paul Fix), make their escape from the theater riding on horseback into the rainy night bound for Virginia. Unable to stand the pain of his leg much longer, the two fugitives from justice locate the home of a country doctor named Samuel Alexander Mudd (Warner Baxter), a happily married man with a beautiful wife, Peggy (Gloria Stuart), daughter, Martha (Joyce Kay), and his live-in father-in-law, the outspoken Colonel "Turkey" Dyer (Claude Gillingwater Sr.). Unaware of who this injured man is, true to his profession, Mudd attends to the fracture of this stranger's leg before moving on. The next morning, officers trace Booth's whereabouts towards Mudd's property, and when one of them finds a cut up boot with Booth's name nearly smeared off, Mudd, is taken away from his family, put to trial and charged with being part of the conspiracy to Lincoln's murder along with seven others, including the captured David Herold. (Wilkes fate is described through inter-titles as being killed while resisting arrest in Virginia, leaving eight strangely assorted people, guilty as well as the innocent, to face trial and an angry mob). In spite of his pleas, Mudd, is sentenced serve life of hard labor at Dry Tortugas, a prison located on the Gulf of Mexico along the Florida Keys surrounded by man-eating sharks, better known as "Shark Island." Once there, Mudd finds his name associated with conspiracy and treason, and must cope with Sergeant Rankin (John Carradine), an evil jailer and Lincoln sympathizer, who, once learning of Mudd's identity, pleasures himself in abusing the doctor with punches to his jaw and forceful shoves every chance he gets.Other actors featured in this historical drama include Harry Carey as the Commandant; Francis Ford as Corporal O'Toole; Fred Kohler Jr. as Sergeant Cooper; along with O.P. Heggie (1879-1936) as the prison physician, Doctor McIntire, and Arthur Byron (1872-1943) as Secretary of War Erickson, each making their final screen appearances. Child actress Joyce Kay as Martha Mudd looks somewhat like a pint-size Shirley Temple, with curls and all. Extremely cute, her movie career became relatively short-lived.Whether the story about inhuman injustice to an innocent doctor is historically accurate or not really doesn't matter, for that John Ford's direction recaptures the essence to the post Civil War era, along with brutal hardships of prison life depicted on screen as America's Devil's Island. Warner Baxter, gives one of his best dramatic performances of his career of the doctor condemned for following the ethics of his trade. The yellow fever sequence where Mudd, who has contacted yellow fever himself, shows his true dedication by working continuously in heat and rain, and making all efforts possible to save those hundreds of near death prisoners. Even more dedicated is his wife, Peggy, wonderfully played by Gloria Stuart, who, like her husband, stops at nothing either, in this case, trying to prove her husband's innocence in countless efforts in getting Sam a new trial. Right from the start, viewers are very much aware of Mudd's innocence, and as with many noted historical figures who have faced similar situations, he finds himself punished along with the guilty, with the indication that everything happens for a reason. One man's fate (Lincoln) becomes another man's (Mudd) destiny.As with the biographical sense of Samuel A. Mudd, the film version to THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND is unjustly forgotten. Out of circulation on the commercial television markets since the late 1970s or beyond, THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND frequently aired on the American Movie Classics cable channel until 1993, and brought back one last time in August 1999 as part of AMC's annual film preservation and tribute to director John Ford. In later years THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND has played on the Fox Movie Channel as well as Turner Classic Movies where it premiered December 10, 2007. Of great interest to American history buffs, THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND, is the sort of Hollywood-style history lesson director John Ford does best. (***)