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DVD Description
Based on the true-life case of the incarceration of Dr. Samuel Mudd (Oscar-winning Warner Baxter), The Prisoner of Shark Island is a fast-moving and gripping drama — rarely seen and remarkably timeless — following Mudd through a calamitous series of brutal encounters. Regarded as a personal favourite by the director, it was also the film he was said to be most happy with. Written by Nunnally Johnson (The Grapes of Wrath, Tobacco Road), The Prisoner of Shark Island dramatizes the fatal shooting of Abraham Lincoln (Frank McGlynn, Sr.) and the subsequent visit by the assassin John Wilkes Booth (Francis McDonald) to Dr. Samuel Mudd's house to fix his broken leg. Unaware of Booth's treason, Mudd is later arrested — narrowly escaping execution after a one-sided military trial — and sentenced to a life of hard labour at Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortugas (an infamous prison in the Gulf of Mexico surrounded by shark-infested waters). Featuring a blistering, muscular performance by John Carradine as a sadistic prison guard, The Prisoner of Shark Island is a tautly scripted, vividly directed examination of Dr. Mudd's struggle to overcome inhuman justice. Nominated for Best Picture by the American National Board of Review, the film has been rarely screened over recent decades. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present The Prisoner of Shark Island for the first time on UK home video in the 70th-anniversary year of its original release.
Special Features
• Newly restored high definition transfer • Full-length audio commentary • New video interview with film critic David Ehrenstein • Promotional material gallery • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing • 24-page booklet — with writings by Lindsay Anderson, and others
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Emotive Mid 30's Docu Drama Style Film,
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This review is from: The Prisoner of Shark Island - Masters of Cinema series [DVD] [1936] (DVD)
Shot by John Ford in an almost docudrama style, this film portrays the goings on when Abraham Lincoln was shot. Panic amongst the American people, folks locked up for no good reason at all, scapegoats found and executed, it all seems far too real for comfort in the current era. Warner Baxter plays the eponymous prisoner, Dr. Samuel Mudd, a man who inadvertently aids assassin John Wilkes Booth after Lincoln's shooting. The fact that he is a Southerner leads to an instant assumption of guilt, and here the story does go into predictable territory.
A prison island with a sadistic guard, outbreaks of illness with the only doctor locked up and reviled, stormy weather, the whole works are thrown on by Ford, no doubt stretching the truth where he can to make a good story. And why not..... The cinematography is superb, captured by a superlative transfer, the acting (mostly) understated enough, and the film makes a terrific addition to Eureka's Masters Of Cinema series. The DVD adds an incisive commentary, a rather stilted interview and a collection of promotional martial from the films original release. A 28 page book makes excellent reading, with essays and interviews and more stills of promotional posters and the like.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another title worthy of the Masters of Cinema range,
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This review is from: The Prisoner of Shark Island - Masters of Cinema series [DVD] [1936] (DVD)
John Ford directed 146 films in his long and illustrious career and at this point, I have unfortunately seen very few of them. Prisoner of Shark Island is loosely based on the life of Samuel Mudd, a doctor who unwittingly helped Abraham Lincoln's killer (John Wilkes Booth) by fixing his broken leg. He was sent to prison for aiding Booth where he helped battle an outbreak of yellow fever. Warner Baxter is excellent in the lead role, and the story is well written and presented. The characters are well developed, albeit in a short space of time but for me, the real star of the film was John Carradine as Sgt Rankin, a character who changes a lot throughout. Although Ford has been very creative with regards to the historical accuracies, this is still a well made biopic worthy of a purchase, mainly due to the strength of the cast and the direction. 4/5
4.0 out of 5 stars
"The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936) ... Warner Baxter ... John Ford (Director) (2007)",
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This review is from: Prisoner of Shark Island [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
20th Century Fox presents "THE PRISONER OF SHARK ISLAND" (1936) - (96 min/B&W) -- Starring: Warner Baxter, Gloria Stuart, Claude Gillingwater, Arthur Byron, John Carradine & Harry Carey Directed by John Ford In 1865 Dr. Samuel Mudd (Warner Baxter), a known Confederate sympathizer, sets the broken leg of a mud-caked stranger who stumbles into his home. The injured man turns out to be John Wilkes Booth (Francis McDonald), and Mudd is accused of conspiring to murder President Lincoln. Sentenced to hang with the genuine conspirators, Mudd finds his sentence commuted to life imprisonment at the very last moment. He is shipped to Shark Island, a brutal penal colony. Subject to the cruelties of a guard Sgt. Rankin (John Carradine) who hates Mudd because of his "complicity" in Lincoln's death, the doctor suffers the torments of the damned, while back home his wife, Peggy (Gloria Stuart) campaigns desperately to get her husband pardoned. During a Yellow Fever breakout on Shark Island, Dr. Mudd performs heroically to save the survivors. For his humanitarian efforts, Mudd is finally released and reunited with his wife. An almost unbelievable but true story ... well told by the maestro John Ford Dr. Samuel Mudd's story was retold in the Hellgate (1952), with Sterling Hayden as the (fictional) doctor. Also worth a view. BIOS: 1. John Ford [aka: John Martin Feeney] Director) Date of Birth: 1 February 1894, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, USA Date of Death: 31 August 1973, Palm Desert, California, USA (stomach cancer) 2. Warner Baxter Date of Birth: 29 March 1889 - Columbus, Ohio Date of Death: 7 May 1951 - Beverly Hills, California 3. Gloria Stuart Date of Birth: 4 July 1910, Santa Monica, California Date of Death: 26 September 2010, Los Angeles, California 4. Claude Gillingwater Date of Birth: 2 August 1870 - Louisiana, Missouri Date of Death: 2 November 1939 - Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California 5. Harry Carey Date of Birth: 16 January 1878 - The Bronx, New York Date of Death: 21 September 1947 - Brentwood, California 6. John Carradine Date of Birth: 5 February 1906 - New York City, New York, USA Date of Death: 27 November 1988 - Milan, Italy Mr. Jim's Ratings: Quality of Picture & Sound: 4 Stars Performance: 4 Stars Story & Screenplay: 4 Stars Overall: 4 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing] Total Time: 96 min on DVD ~ 20th Century Fox ~ (December 4, 2007)
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