Prisoner Of Shark Island

All the hallmarks of a B Picture except for being directed by John Ford, this film works pretty well. Based closely on the actual events surrounding the events after Lincoln's assassination, it holds the viewers' interest and , although it lacks any form of star cast, it is naturally directed to perfection by Ford. An interesting and rarely seen biopic of an interesting character from history, even though so few folk have ever heard of him. A good second-feature movie which is well worth a watch

When people consider John Ford's mighty body of work, Prisoner Of Shark Island is rarely mentioned alongside masterpieces like The Searchers, Grapes Of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley, The Quiet Man and... well, yes, it is a massive list and I guess the line needs to be drawn somewhere, but what a shame that this is such an overlooked film.

There's enough people out there that will know the basic storyline - southern doctor applies splint to Lincoln's assassin and is subjected to a court martial more interested in appeasing the wrath of the people than seeing justice done so is sentenced to life imprisonment on a remote island very close to Cuba. Of course any similarity to most of the men being held at Guantanamo Bay is purely coincidental, but when watching this film it's hard not to speculate on how little the American legal system has progressed in the last 150 years.

What hasn't changed and shouldn't be up for debate is the sheer bloody genius of John Ford. When we think of great American storytellers we think of Mark Twain, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, Pearl Buck, Upton Sinclair, Carson McCullers, Steven Speilberg, Martin Scorsese and a handful of others, but for my money, the greatest of all American storytellers is without doubt John Ford, the man who fearlessly showed America what it was capable of and was never afraid to stand up for an America that he believed in so passionately - a country free of political corruption and humbuggery.

I don't particularly like the films of John Ford, but, well, you've got to make sure.

This is a punchy little melodrama with some excellent action sequences, beautifully photographed, particularly in the night scenes. Far from being a straight biopic, it is most enjoyable as an energetic adventure fantasy.

But be warned that the film is pretty racist. The film is only tolerable if you can look past some pretty abominable, and dated, black stereotypes. Consequently, it left a sour taste.

This film if anything seemed to have been abridged, it seemed too short somehow in that everything in the second half went too quickly and the outcome was rather hastily resolved. The plot is a good one, based on truth to a certain degree, except that it conveniently forgot to mention that Samuel Mudd was pretty anti-Lincoln. The acting and direction is first rate and the action scenes exciting, if a little unlikely. An interesting version of the film accompanies it with a talked over commentary by a John Ford expert.

I was intrigued to discover, upon looking up The Prisoner Of Shark Island that it deals with Dr. Samuel A. Mudd (the origin of the derisory comment 'your name will be Mudd.'). Mudd was the man who tended the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth just after the latter assassinated President Abraham Lincoln and the film is about what happened to Mudd after that event.

I expected it's 1936 production date to deliver a rather dated, entertaining tale, I must confess, but should have had faith in the talent of director John Ford, who even early in his career, here delivers a corker of a film. It may not be for everybody and it's no groundbreaking masterpiece, but what it is is a cracking good story that's involving from start to finish - that raises questions of justice, the judicial system, prejudice, racism and more...

It's tight as a drum, never dull and well-performed all round, being surprisingly sophisticated for a film of this type.

Thoroughly entertaining, I recommend this highly as a wonderful example of filmmaking of the 30s.