''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-g ...

loosely based on the life of Maryland physician

Samuel Mudd Samuel Alexander Mudd Sr. (December 20, 1833 – January 10, 1883) was an American physician who was imprisoned for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth concerning the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Mudd worked as a doctor and tobacco fa ...

, 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 th ...

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, to ...

'' 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 ful ...

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 Greater A ...

and referred to in the film as "America's own

Devil's Island The penal colony of Cayenne ( French: ''Bagne de Cayenne''), commonly known as Devil's Island (''Île du Diable''), was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953 in the Salvation Islands ...

". 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. In ...

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 Claude Benton Gillingwater (August 2, 1870 – November 1, 1939) was an American stage and screen actor. He first appeared on the stage then in more than 90 films between 1918 and 1939, including the Academy Award-nominated ''A Tale of Two ...

as Col. Jeremiah Milford Dyer *

Arthur Byron Arthur William Byron (April 3, 1872 – July 16, 1943) was an American actor. who played a mixture of British and American roles in films. Early years Byron was the son of actors Kate Crehan and Oliver Doud Byron. He was a nephew of the stage ...

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 Harry Carey may refer to: *Harry Carey (actor) (1878–1947), American actor * Harry Carey Jr. (1921–2012), American actor * Harry Carey (footballer) (1916–1991), Australian rules footballer See also * Henry Carey (disambiguation) * Harry Car ...

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 Jo ...

as Sgt. Rankin * Joyce Kay as Martha Mudd *

Fred Kohler Jr. Fred Kohler Jr. (July 8, 1911 – January 7, 1993) was an American actor who performed in a number of Westerns such as '' The Pecos Kid'' and ''Toll of the Desert''. He played nearly 130 film and television roles between 1929 and 1978. Kohler' ...

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 Peter Paul Fix (March 13, 1901 – October 14, 1983) was an American film and television character actor who was best known for his work in Westerns. Fix appeared in more than 100 movies and dozens of television shows over a 56-year career be ...

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 Francis Connolly Shannon (27 July 1874 – 1 February 1959) was an Irish people, Irish actor and writer. Career A Stage (theatre), stage actor and silent film pioneer, Shannon made his screen debut in 1913's ''The Artist's Joke''. He la ...

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 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 throu ...

Leila McIntyre Leila McIntyre (December 20, 1882 – January 9, 1953) was an American actress and vaudeville performer. Early life Leila McIntyre was from Vermont, She was on stage from childhood. Career Leila McIntyre was a vaudeville performer, first 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 Joseph Michael Kerrigan (16 December 1884 – 29 April 1964) was an Irish actor. Early life Joseph Michael Kerrigan was born on 16 December 1884 in Dublin, which was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland at that time. H ...

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 Ronald Jack Pennick (December 7, 1895 – August 16, 1964) was an American film actor. After working as a gold miner as a young man, serving as a US Marine, he would go on to appear in more than 140 films between 1926 and 1962. Pennick was a ...

as Corporal (uncredited) *

Robert Homans Robert Edward Homans (November 8, 1877 – July 28, 1947) was an American actor who entered films in 1923 after a lengthy stage career. Life and career Robert Homans was born November 8, 1877, in Malden, Massachusetts. Although he studied ...

as Sergeant (uncredited) *

Murdock MacQuarrie Murdock MacQuarrie (August 25, 1878 – August 20, 1942) was an American silent film actor and director. His name was also seen as Murdock McQuarrie. MacQuarrie was born in San Francisco, California, and attended school there. He was the ...

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 Michael O'Laughlen, Jr. (pronounced ''Oh-Lock-Lun''; June 3, 1840 – September 23, 1867) was an American Confederate soldier and conspirator in John Wilkes Booth's plot to kidnap U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, and later in the latter's assassi ...

(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 assassi ...

(uncredited) *

Lloyd Whitlock Lloyd Whitlock (January 2, 1891 – January 8, 1966) was a prolific American actor who began working during Hollywood's silent era. Born in 1891, he appeared in nearly 200 films between 1916 and 1949. Distinguished by his height and stature, he ...

Henry Rathbone Henry Reed Rathbone (July 1, 1837 – August 14, 1911) was a United States military officer and diplomat who was present at the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Rathbone was sitting with his fiancée, Clara Harris, next to the pre ...

(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