On the night of President Lincoln's assassination, John Wilkes Booth stops by a doctor's house to tend to his broken leg. The doctor, called Samuel Mudd, lets him in, and tends to his leg, without knowing that he was the one who shot President Lincoln. The following day, the army are trying to find Booth and stop in on Mudd's house. They find a shoe with Booth's name on it, and accuse him of being an accomplice in the assassination. Soon after his trial, he is sent to life imprisonment in a prison in the Dry Tortugas (of the edge of Key West).
This is another rare OOP Masters of Cinema DVD that I bought a few weeks ago. They release the definitive editions of the films (in region 2), and take care over their releases. What attracted me to this film was the awesome title, and that it's a John Ford film (a director I should know more of). 'The Prisoner of Shark Island' is one of his patriotic American films, as oppose to his small Irish films. Not a western, the genre he is most known for, but a mixture of different genres, starting of as a retelling of events, then turning into a court drama, then an prison-escape film, before finishing as a heroic biopic. The film is relatively unpredictable, but it's clear Mudd will eventually find freedom (similar to '12 Years a Slave', 'The Shawshank Redemption' etc).
The story is told in a typical, celebratory way, as seen in 'The Birth of a Nation', that over-emphasizes America and fills the story with considerable patriotism. This is a film taken place after a turbulent period in American history, and allows Ford to show the love for the country (even if he is Irish). Ford makes the audience sympathize with a heroic underdog as he eventually succeeds, a plotline that is similar to some of his other films, but this is the best example. For me, the 1930s is the worst decade in film, partially due to the lack of style and beauty. John Ford does counter this belief (Cahiers du Cinemalove him), making his films unique for the time period.
As the events the film takes gets worse and worse, the courage that Mudd displays is humongous. It's hard to believe this was based on a true story of the real-life Samuel Mudd. Warner Baxter portrays him with real authenticity and is often perceived as his finest performance. It may even be considered his best if the film wasn't forgotten over time.
TO CONCLUDE
It may not be his best film (that would be 'The Grapes of Wrath'), and the film is often cliche and predictable, but it's enjoyable and has a great pay off at the end.
SCORE
77
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