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The Prisoner of Shark Island [DVD] [1936]

Warner Baxter , Gloria Stuart , John Ford    Universal, suitable for all   DVD
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
Price: £12.50 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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The Prisoner of Shark Island [DVD] [1936] + Diplomatic Courier [DVD] [1952]
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Product details

  • Actors: Warner Baxter, Gloria Stuart, Claude Gillingwater
  • Directors: John Ford
  • Format: Dolby, PAL
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: U
  • Studio: Odeon Entertainment
  • DVD Release Date: 28 May 2012
  • Run Time: 93 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B007REUKR0
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 106,765 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

Reviews

Product Description

Based on the true-life case of the incarceration of Dr. Samuel Mudd, The Prisoner of Shark Island is a fast paced and stirring account of the victimisation of a simple man. Written by Nunnally Johnson (The Grapes of Wrath, Tobacco Road), The Prisoner of Shark Island dramatises the fatal shooting of Abraham Lincon and the subsequent visit by the assasin John Wilkes Booth to Dr. Samuel Mudd's house to fix his broken leg. Unaware of Booth's treason, Mudd is later arrested... Featuring a blistering performance by John Carradine as a sadistic prison guard The Prisoner of Shark Island was nominated for Best Picture by the American National Board of Review, and has rarely been screened over recent decades.


Customer Reviews

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Emotive Mid 30's Docu Drama Style Film 5 May 2006
Format: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.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By BPR
Format: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
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Tortured by a Nation for his Act of Mercy! 26 Jan 2013
By Spike Owen TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Prisoner of Shark Island is directed by John Ford and written by Nunnally Johnson. It stars Warner Baxter, Gloria Stuart, Harry Carey, John Carradine, Ernest Whitman, Francis McDonald, Joyce Kay, Claude Gillingwater and Frank McGlynn. Music is by R.H. Bassett and Hugo Friedhofer and cinematography by Bert Glennon.

After setting the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth (McDonald), Dr. Samuel A. Mudd (Baxter) is tried as a co-conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (McGlynn). Sentenced to life imprisonment at the military prison of Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, Mudd desperately tries to stay sane and fight a vicious regime in the hope of one day proving the unjust nature of his sentence.

A personal favourite of Ford's, it's not hard to see why given that The Prisoner of Shark Island is supreme film making. Based on the true story of Samuel Mudd, there is perhaps unsurprisingly some little fudging of the facts, but this in no way detracts from the truthful basis of this incredible human interest story. Time is afforded to the joy at the end of the Civil War, Lincoln's weariness (McGlynn classy as usual) , the assassination on that desperate day April 14th 1865, Mudd's family life and moral fibre and then the night he abided by his Hippocratic Oath and administered medical aid to the man who had just murdered the president. These are all delicately handled scenes by Ford, who aided by Johnson's screenplay manages to hit home to us the fragile nature of the Mudd incident that is harnessed by a country grieving with anger.

Once the trial arrives, the film shifts to another level, the delicacy of Ford's framing of characters and Johnson's rich dialogue passages are replaced by striking imagery and an impassioned performance by the wonderful Baxter. The hooded prisoners on trial for their lives and the wooden gallows outside the court chill the blood, then Baxter delivers his heart tugging three pronged defence monologue that is as good a piece of acting as was given in the 30s. Sentenced passed, execution off camera strikes a chord and then Mudd sits alone in a darkened cell, filtered light shards imprison Mudd and let us know that Glennon has arrived to takes us up yet another notch.

What then unfolds is a superb depiction of the horrors of prison life, Fort Jefferson is a dank and desperate place, a place of misery for the prisoners, especially for Mudd, who has the patriotic but sadistic Sergeant Rankin (Carradine brilliant) after his blood. Ford is alive to the benefits of Carradine's nasty performance, so has him lighted as malevolent and angled like a horror movie protagonist. Some of the shots during the prison sequences are clinical on impact value, such as Mudd on his cell window cill or one capture as he stares down through a floor grate, shadows and light showing Glennon at his best and giving us a shot fit to grace the best film noirs of the 40s.

The rest is history as written, the desperation of an escape attempt, the yellow fever outbreak and his eventual pardon by President Andrew Johnson (this would be 1869 in reality). Nicely packaged by Ford who closes the picture down by having Mudd and Buck (Whitman an impressive presence throughout the picture), his one time black slave and loyal friend, return home to their families, harmony restored after such hardships. There is inevitably some annoyance by critics and film fans alike that the black characters are racial stereotypes, but this is a 1936 film depicting a story unfolding in 1865/67, Ford and Johnson's work here is representative of its times. And in no way, to my film loving mind, hurts this picture in any way.

Classic cinema in its purest form from the writing table to finished product, it's highly recommended viewing. 9.5/10
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