Shark Monroe

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = Shark Monroe | image = Shark Monroe (1918) - 1.jpg | alt = | caption = Film still | director = William S. Hart | producer = William S. Hart Thomas H. Ince | screenplay = C. Gardner Sullivan | starring = William S. Hart Katherine MacDonald Joseph Singleton George A. McDaniel Bert Sprotte | music = | cinematography = Joseph H. August | editing = | studio = Artcraft Pictures Corporation William S. Hart Productions | distributor = Paramount Pictures | released = {{Film date|1918|6|30}} | runtime = 50 minutes | country = United States | language = Silent (English intertitles) | budget = | gross = }}

'''''Shark Monroe''''' is a 1918 American silent adventure film directed by William S. Hart and written by C. Gardner Sullivan. The film stars William S. Hart, Katherine MacDonald, Joseph Singleton, George A. McDaniel, and Bert Sprotte. The film was released on June 30, 1918, by Paramount Pictures.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/109746/Shark-Monroe/overview|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306151453/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/109746/Shark-Monroe/overview|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 March 2016|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|author=Hal Erickson|title=Shark-Monroe - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - NYTimes.com|author-link=Hal Erickson (author)|date=2016|accessdate=9 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://catalog.afi.com/Film/15166-SHARK-MONROE|title=Shark Monroe|publisher=AFI|accessdate=9 January 2015}}</ref>

==Plot== As described in a film magazine,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Reviews: ''Shark Monroe'' |journal=Exhibitors Herald |volume=7 |issue=5 |page=35 |publisher=Exhibitors Herald Company |location=New York City |date=July 27, 1918 |url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald07exhi}}</ref> Shark Monroe (Hart), owner of a sealing vessel, agrees to take Marjorie Hilton (MacDonald) and her brother Webster (McDaniel) to Skagway, provided Webster works his own passage. Majorie falls into the power of Big Baxter (Singleton), a notorious character of the Alaskan coast, and agrees to marry him. Shark appears and, while his men hold the wedding party at bay, marries and runs off with Marjorie. At the end of two weeks he agrees to safely return her to Baxter's camp. Webster and Baxter arrive, however, and to restore the young man confidence Shark allows Webster to beat him in a fist fight. Later, after overhearing Baxter lie about him, Shark kills Baxter with one blow, and Marjorie has her eyes opened as to the bigness of the man.

==Cast== *William S. Hart as Shark Monroe *Katherine MacDonald as Marjorie Hilton *Joseph Singleton as Big Baxter *George A. McDaniel as Webster Hilton *Bert Sprotte as Onion McNab

==Reception== Like many American films of the time, ''Shark Monroe'' was subject to restrictions and cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For example, the Chicago Board of Censors cut, in Reel 2, the intertitle "Prospering through the degradation of women" and, in Reel 5, the intertitle "He's dead".<ref>{{cite journal |title=Official Cut-Outs by the Chicago Board of Censors |journal=Exhibitors Herald |volume=7 |issue=6 |page=41 |date=August 3, 1918 |url=https://archive.org/stream/exhibitorsherald07exhi#page/n302/mode/1up}}</ref>

==Preservation status== A copy of the film is preserved in the Museum of Modern Art, New York.<ref>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.2892/default.html The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: ''Shark Monroe'']</ref><ref>[http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/S/SharkMonroe1918.html Progressive Silent Film List: ''Shark Monroe''] at silentera.com</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == * {{IMDb title|0009600|Shark Monroe}}

Category:1918 films Category:American silent adventure films Category:1918 adventure films Category:Paramount Pictures films Category:Films directed by William S. Hart Category:American black-and-white films Category:American silent feature films Category:1918 English-language films Category:1918 American films Category:English-language adventure films