Auteur Scorecard: John Ford

Less of a Western and more of a greek tragedy. Reading over the reviews it's interesting that even people who found the film dated took notice of the cinematography and rightfully so, it amazing that there is more done here with just black and white, more then modern directors can can do all the colors of the rainbow.

Ford said something along the lines of this being the purest simplest western he ever made. That just about covers while not his best western 'purest' is a nice way of putting because it's certainly cinema at it's almost purest, since it has no conventional plot line and no specific main character it's the essence of cinema in that it's many characters interacting with each other and their environment in the same frame and no parlor tricks.

Ford' Judge Priest covers what the opening lines written by Irvin Cobb(author of the books) calls "tragedies and comedies" that are still very much alive in "grown men's minds" several years after the civil war has ended, the approach is simple Will Rogers is Judge Priest the film covers him and his community.

Ford versatility as a storyteller is in full swing, some have even pointed out that the first and second half feel like two different films. The first being a laid back examination of Priests relevance to his community including his nephew and a vagrant he saved from the chain gang and even dialogue with his deceased wife (Ford's sense of spirituality would re-surface in his later films) this half is almost devoid of traditional structure.The second half is far more dramatic, centering around a case of assault and battery and questioning Priest's legitimacy. It's also more presentational as seen in a war flashback at the end that looks like a segment form Birth of a Nation told in an almost expressionist fashion.

This dynamic of film is a nice example of Ford's tendency to combine comedy and drama the key example being that the film begins and ends with courtroom sequence the first one concerning the vagrant stealing a chicken and the second being a charge of battery of a civil war vet. What this does is show how Ford's insights were so inept that he could showcases the smaller nuances in life ("there ain't nothing prettier than two young folks in love in the summer") but at the same time foreshadow a kind of darker skepticism that would be more dominant in his later films, hinting that perhaps Priest's take on community may still give way to decay and even corruption or at least are never far from home.

Ford was too proud to ever actually call himself an artist but perhaps he didn't need to, his work spoke for him. Ford had a fundamental understanding of cinema and it's ability to capture humanity while seemingly doing nothing and this why so many of his films require repeated viewings to help comprehend Ford's ability, when it comes to placing a camera few artist come close to him, whether it be a shot of two young lovers conversing or a civil war sequence(here we see both). I think its far from his best film but it incorporates elements Ford loved and ones he was skeptical about but didn't keep him from filming. Then of course some will complain about African American stereotypes however while their parts don't offer much variety Ford(and Priest as if they were one in the same) treats them with a great deal of integrety.

The prisoner of Shark island is the story of Dr.Mudd; he was arrested of unknowingly assisting John Wilkes Booth after Lincoln's death, by bandaging his leg. After his arrest he is sentence to the Infamous Shark Island, which as you may have guessed is an island surrounded by Shark infested waters.

The story is probably not completely historically accurate. It's still not clear if Mudd was part of the assassination conspiracy and it has been confirmed he did probably met Booth on a previous occasion. But to an extent this doesn't matter Ford frequently pointed out that he does not make documentaries and in fact thought they were boring. Ford having surveyed almost all of American history up until the time of his death approached it not unlike G.B. Shaw while not striving for prefect accuracy but giving us an understanding of people of that time and the context they existed in.

Prisoner of Shark Island is perhaps one of Ford's best pictures although it's relatively unknown to a modern audience, this is odd because the film feels more relevant now than ever.The film deals with demonization of alleged criminals based entirely of circumstantial evidence and calling it patriotism and pointing out how legal courts should be 'The voice of the people'. The mentality Ford depicts in the early court scenes(where the defendants are brought in with sacks on their heads) show how political uncertainty can give rise to paranoia and persecution. The scenes on the island are among some of the best in Ford's career and being Catholic may be his best mediation on the nature of suffering , the paraphrased quote from 'Inferno' (abandon hope those who enter here) above the prison cells is a stroke of brilliance.

Ford's films are hard for young people to appreciate as many of them contain folksy elements(which you'll see in some of the earlier scenes) but with repeated viewings it's easy to see how his insight transcends things like that. As Francois Tiffuat(who originally wasn't a fan of Ford's material) said "He Achieved absolute uniformity on technical expertise'. Before wrapping this up the issue of race should still be discussed. Again many of the African Americans in the film have roles that are somewhat stereotyped as a product of the time. Ford however still treats them with a great deal of respect and Dr.Mudd's only real companion in the film is his black friend Buck(who is essentially his counterpart). The most interesting aspect is once on island all the guards are black and essentially in control of their white in a brilliant reversal of fortune, it was an aspect Daryl Zannuck loved about the film.