The Prisoner of Shark Island

The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936) is one of John Ford's more obscure films. Undeservedly so, as despite some overanguished pleading, it's a compelling, artfully made film.

Samuel Mudd (Warner Baxter) is a Maryland doctor with Southern sympathy who, one night in April 1865, mends the broken leg of a mysterious stranger. Turns out it's John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln's assassin, and Mudd is soon arrested and convicted of treason, railroaded by a government out for vengeance and not concerned with Mudd's innocence or guilt. Mudd is sent to the Dry Tortugas, a forboding island in the Gulf of Mexico swarming with sharks and mosquitos. He tries to break out of jail with the help of wife (Gloria Stuart), irascible father-in-law (Claude Gillingwater) and an ex-slave (Ernest Whitman) who just happens to be stationed there as a soldier, but it's foiled by the sadistic Sergeant Rawlins (John Carradine). Finally, when the prison is laid low by yellow fever, Mudd must choose between his desire for justice and his code as a doctor to help any patient.

A lot less nuanced than the recent, similarly-themed The Conspirator, Shark Island takes a feverishly indignant stand against injustice. The bloody-minded prosecutors are determined to sacrifice Mudd to appease the nation's conscience, with a War Dept. official lecturing the prosecutors not to let justice get in the way of a guilty verdict. There's not much historical veracity to claiming Mudd's innocence, and some questionable racial politics (Mudd is the only one who can "handle" the prison's black garrison when they mutiny) don't help either. But it makes for compelling drama all the same, and the movie spends as much time on Mudd's survival as the injustice of his convinction.

The movie is a treat to watch, thanks to a rip-roaring pace and some forbidding photography and art direction. Bert Glennon's moody, expressive photography catches the right note of doom, and Ford stages some impressive set-pieces: Mudd's escape attempt is a long, thrilling and extremely suspenseful scene with an unexpected ending. Ford plays up his favorite North-South reconciliation themes, including a nice scene where Lincoln requests a band play Dixie ("I've always liked that song"), and uses period music like Maryland, My Maryland to good effect.

Warner Baxter makes an appealing protagonist, convincing as the family man, the forthright doctor, and the indignant victim of injustice. You'll definitely be cheering for Mudd to break out of jail, and as he treats yellow fever patients single-handed during a hurricane. Gloria Stuart (My Favorite Year) is radiant as Mudd's wife, and Claude Gillingwater provides jots of comic relief. John Carradine gets top acting honors, devouring scenery with relish ("Hiya Judas!"). Harry Carey Sr. (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) gets a nice role as the firm-but-fair warden. Ernest Whiting's Buck is definitely an Uncle Tom stereotype, but he does get a few nice moments - the movie ends with him.

Despite some dubious passages, The Prisoner of Shark Island is an intense, affecting look at injustice and human survival.