''The Prisoner of Shark Island'' is a 1936 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

loosely based on the life of Maryland physician Samuel Mudd, who treated the injured presidential assassin

John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth ...

and later spent time in prison after his controversial conviction for being one of Booth's accomplices. The film was produced by

Darryl F. Zanuck Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of ...

, was directed by

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...

and starred

Warner Baxter Warner Leroy Baxter (March 29, 1889 – May 7, 1951) was an American film actor from the 1910s to the 1940s. Baxter is known for his role as the Cisco Kid in the 1928 film ''In Old Arizona'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at ...

and

Gloria Stuart Gloria Frances Stuart (born Gloria Stewart; July 4, 1910 September 26, 2010) was an American actress, visual artist, and activist. She was known for her roles in Pre-Code films, and garnered renewed fame late in life for her portrayal of Rose ...

. Twentieth Century Pictures, before it merged with Fox, purchased the rights to the book ''The Life of Dr. Mudd'' by Nettie Mudd Monroe, the doctor's daughter. The film's credits, however, make no reference to Monroe or her book. Modern sources state that

, Twentieth Century's vice-president in charge of production, got the idea to make the film after he read an article in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine about the prison camp for political prisoners on the

Dry Tortugas Dry Tortugas National Park is a national park located about west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico. The park preserves Fort Jefferson and the seven Dry Tortugas islands, the westernmost and most isolated of the Florida Keys. The archipelago's c ...

island.

Plot

A few short hours after the assassination of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

( Frank McGlynn Sr.), Dr. Samuel Mudd (

) gives treatment to a man with a broken leg who shows up at his door. Mudd does not know that the president has been assassinated and the man who he is treating is

. Mudd is there with his young wife and treats the man despite it being 5am. Booth does not give his name and is accompanied by another man. Mudd splints the leg and they press a banknote into his hand. Only when they leave does Mudd realise that it is a $50 bill. Mudd is arrested for being an accessory in the assassination and is sent to Arcadia: a prison on the

, described as in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

and referred to in the film as "America's own Devil's Island". His wife hatches an escape plan using "Buck", the black prison guard who tends to Dr Mudd. Although Mudd gets out of his cell he hears Sgt Rankin's instruction to kill him on sight. Mudd gets to the outer wall above the shark-infested moat before an alarm is sounded. He gets to the outer waters and swims to a waiting boat where his wife and her father (Mr Holt) help him. However Sgt Rankin boards the ship and he is recaptured. He is thrown into a windowless underground cell. The island has been in the grip of a

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

epidemic and the official prison doctor, Dr MacIntyre, has fallen ill with the same fever. The Commandant has few options and places Dr. Mudd in charge of addressing the outbreak. Now with the cooperation of the soldier guards, he introduces ventilation into the hospital ward (mainly by smashing the windows). The yellow fever epidemic subsides, and Mudd ironically saves the life of Sgt rankin, but not before Dr Mudd also catches the fever. The soldiers sign a petition to have Mudd pardoned and he is released. In the end he returns home with Buck and both their wives are waiting.

Cast

as Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd *

as Mrs. Peggy Mudd * Claude Gillingwater as Col. Jeremiah Milford Dyer * Arthur Byron as Mr. Erickson *

O.P. Heggie Oliver Peters Heggie ( Otto Peters Heggie; 17 September 1877 – 7 February 1936), billed as O. P. Heggie, was an Australian film and theatre actor best known for portraying the hermit who befriends the Monster in the film ''Bride of Frankenstei ...

as Dr. MacIntyre * Harry Carey as Commandant of Fort Jefferson * Francis Ford as Cpl. O'Toole * John McGuire as Lt. Lovett *

Francis McDonald Francis McDonald (August 22, 1891 – September 18, 1968) was an American actor whose career spanned 52 years. Early years Born on August 22, 1891, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, McDonald was the son of John Francis McDonald and Catherine Ashlu ...

* Douglas Wood as Gen. Ewing *

John Carradine John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later ...

as Sgt. Rankin * Joyce Kay as Martha Mudd * Fred Kohler Jr. as Sgt. Cooper *

Ernest Whitman Ernest Whitman (February 21, 1893 - August 5, 1954) was an American stage and screen actor. He was also billed in some Broadway plays as Ernest R. Whitman. Early years Whitman was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and was educated at Tuskegee Ins ...

as 'Buck' Milford * Paul Fix as

David Herold David Edgar Herold (June 16, 1842 – July 7, 1865) was an American pharmacist's assistant and accomplice of John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. After the shooting, Herold accompanied Booth to the home of ...

* Frank Shannon as

Joseph Holt Joseph Holt (January 6, 1807 – August 1, 1894) was an American lawyer, soldier, and politician. As a leading member of the Buchanan administration, he succeeded in convincing Buchanan to oppose the secession of the South. He returned to Ke ...

* Frank McGlynn Sr. as President Abraham Lincoln * Leila McIntyre as

Mary Todd Lincoln Mary Ann Todd Lincoln (December 13, 1818July 16, 1882) served as First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Mary Lincoln was a member of a large and wealthy, slave-owning ...

Etta McDaniel Etta McDaniel (December 1, 1890January 13, 1946) was an American actress who appeared in over 60 films between 1933 and 1946. She was the sister of actor Sam McDaniel and actress and Academy Award winner Hattie McDaniel. Early life McDaniel ...

as Aunt Rosabelle Milford * J.M. Kerrigan as Judge Maiben * Arthur Loft as Frank J. Thomas - Carpetbagger * Paul McVey as Gen.

David Hunter David Hunter (July 21, 1802 – February 2, 1886) was an American military officer. He served as a Union general during the American Civil War. He achieved notability for his unauthorized 1862 order (immediately rescinded) emancipating slaves ...

* Maurice Murphy as Prison Hospital Orderly * Jack Pennick as Corporal (uncredited) * Robert Homans as Sergeant (uncredited) * Murdock MacQuarrie as

Edman Spangler Edman "Ned" Spangler (August 10, 1825 – February 7, 1875), baptized Edmund Spangler, was an American carpenter and stagehand who was employed at Ford's Theatre at the time of President Abraham Lincoln's murder on April 14, 1865. He and ...

(uncredited) * Cyril Thorton as Michael O'Laughlen (uncredited) * Cecil Weston as

Mary Surratt Mary Elizabeth Jenkins SurrattCashin, p. 287.Steers, 2010, p. 516. (1820 or May 1823 – July 7, 1865) was an American boarding house owner in Washington, D.C., who was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy which led to the assass ...

(uncredited) * Lloyd Whitlock as Henry Rathbone (uncredited)

References

External links

* * *
Dr. Mudd Research Site

''The Prisoner of Shark Island''
at Virtual History

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prisoner Of Shark Island, The 1936 films 1936 drama films 1930s prison films 20th Century Fox films American black-and-white films American Civil War films American prison drama films Assassination of Abraham Lincoln American docudrama films 1930s English-language films Fictional depictions of Abraham Lincoln in film Films directed by John Ford Films produced by Darryl F. Zanuck Films set in Florida Films set in the 1860s Films set on islands Films with screenplays by Nunnally Johnson Cultural depictions of John Wilkes Booth 1930s historical films American historical films 1930s American films

Plot

Cast

References

Further reading

External links