This is the true story, with some embellishments and liberties, of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who treated John Wilkes Booth's injury as he escaped after assassinating Abraham Lincoln. Ford's direction is visual poetry, as he uses fog and shadows to create a chilling atmosphere on Shark Island. The only problem is that, after an interesting start, the story kind of runs out of gas, getting bogged down in the scenes dealing with yellow fever outbreak. The cast is good, although the acting by the supporting players could have been more subtle. Baxter capably plays Mudd while Stuart is fine as his devoted wife. Carradine, in one of 14 films he made in 1936, plays a sadistic prison official.
Review of The Prisoner of Shark Island
