The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

John Ford

Writer:

Nunnally Johnson (screenplay)

Release Date:

28 February 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History

Plot:

The story of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who was imprisoned after innocently treating President Lincoln's assassin in 1865.

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | John Wilkes Booth | Grandfather | Military Prison | General

Cast

Warner Baxter	...	Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd
Gloria Stuart	...	Mrs. Peggy Mudd
Claude Gillingwater	...	Col. Jeremiah Milford Dyer
Arthur Byron	...	Mr. Erickson
O.P. Heggie	...	Dr. MacIntyre
Harry Carey	...	Commandant of Fort Jefferson
Francis Ford	...	Cpl. O'Toole
John McGuire	...	Lt. Lovett
Francis McDonald	...	John Wilkes Booth
Douglas Wood	...	Gen. Ewing
John Carradine	...	Sgt. Rankin
Joyce Kay	...	Martha Mudd
Fred Kohler Jr.	...	Sgt. Cooper
Ernest Whitman	...	'Buck' Milford
Paul Fix	...	David Herold

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (re-rating) (2005) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #1907)

Company:

Darryl F. Zanuck Productions

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Omnibus: John Ford: Part One" (1992)

Soundtrack:

Maryland, My Maryland

Great History Lesson That Is Not Boring

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.