The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)

Please don't spend money on this.

Best movie ever!

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Released Feb 12 1936, it was "The Prisoner of Shark Island" where audiences became aware of the screen presence of 30 year old John Carradine, here making his debut for director John Ford, who cast him in ten more features over the next 28 years, most memorably in "The Grapes of Wrath," like this film scripted by Nunnally Johnson. Starring as Dr. Samuel A. Mudd is Warner Baxter, a huge star in early talkies sadly forgotten today, but here perfectly cast in the role for which he may be best remembered, wearing his own beard and enduring many hardships that help endear him to the audience. Yes, it plays loose with the actual facts, but most biopics of that era did the same, particularly 1939's "Jesse James," again scripted by Johnson and featuring Carradine (as Bob Ford). In the kind of 'weeping heroine' role she'd hoped to abandon by leaving Universal (where she missed out on "The Invisible Ray," replaced by Frances Drake), the lovely Gloria Stuart winds up being cast in the same type of part, required only to 'cry harder' at the director's request (at least in her opening scenes, the sexy actress gets to let her hair down, quite fetching). With a fine cast including Francis McDonald (as John Wilkes Booth), Paul Fix, Ernest Whitman, Arthur Byron ("The Mummy"), O. P. Heggie ("Bride of Frankenstein"), Harry Carey, and the ubiquitous Francis Ford, it's still the newcomer John Carradine effortlessly stealing the show. At first Sergeant Rankin seems calm and rational, then meets Mudd for the first time, transforming into a snarling wolf, never letting up on the new prisoner, repeatedly taunting him by calling him 'Judas.' John Ford captures the Satanic glint in Carradine's eye, the leering sneer on his face, yet doesn't allow the character to descend into clichéd madness, a constant threat to Mudd's attempts at liberty. And in the final scene, Rankin is once more calm and rational, a real human being again, quite an achievement for any actor. More than anything, it's the relish with which Carradine performs that made him stand out, carving a lengthy and distinguished career out of playing mostly villains, despite the fact that in the final analysis Sergeant Rankin was no evil bad guy, only fanatical.

Prisoner of Shark Island, The (1936) **** (out of 4) After the assassination of President Lincoln, Dr. Samuel Mudd (Warner Baxter) unknowingly mends the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth and get sentenced to life in prison. This here is another John Ford classic that really packs a punch even though I'm not sure how historically correct it is. The performance of Baxter is certainly the best I've seen from him and John Carradine is very memorable as the sadistic Sergeant at the prison. The escape scene is full of wonderful suspense and the ending packs a nice punch as well. Gloria Stuart and O.P. Heggie co-star. It's rather shocking that this has never had an official release but the print shown on FMC looked terrific so hopefully a DVD release is coming soon.

Mmm… just saw this and noticed that there's an eerie correspondence between John Ford's slightly dated, but still superior, The Prisoner of Shark Island and some events today. Those unfortunates accused of Lincoln's murder are given a show trial (in which the judges are briefed to avoid such annoying legal niceties as considerations of guilt being 'beyond reasonable doubt'), as they shuffle, chained, hooded, and without rights, from hearing to internment and back again. Railroaded on the back of belligerent public opinion after an outrage that shocked a nation, guilty by association in the hasty eyes of the establishment, Dr Mudd is denied true process of law in the special military court hearings and ends banged up on the far edge of the States, just outside of the place where the presentation of a Habaeus Corpus would, we are told, ensure a fair reassessment of his case.. Ford couldn't have known of course, but as a study of a controversial case from the past his film is somewhat prescient of the Guantanomo Bay shame, a current and larger stain over the face of American justice

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.