The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd

[Rhatkinson]

I was reading the greatest obituary EVER (seriously, take 30 seconds and read Freddie's obit from the Savannah, GA paper):
McCullough Obit

and it mentioned that "Freddie" was in several movies, notably "The Conspirator" and "The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd". I had never heard of the latter (and don't know if Freddie was actually in it or not), but I looked it up on imdb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081281/) and it was a real made for t.v. movie. It looks like it was about as "accurate" as "The Prisoner of Shark Island" but I wonder if anyone has ever seen this? I won't bother to ask if it was good as I assume not.

Heath

[L Verge]

You are correct in your assumption, Heath. The standard joke around Surratt House for weeks was that the movie itself was the ordeal!

[J. Beckert]

I agree, Heath. That is the greatest obituary EVER!

"Freddie adored the ladies. And they adored him. There isn't enough space here to list all of the women from Freddie's past. There isn't enough space in the Bloomingdale phone book." "He attracted more women than a shoe sale at Macy's."

Sounds like Freddy raised the bar pretty high for the rest of us. Godspeed, Fred.

[LincolnMan]

That is the most colorful obit I have ever read- hands down.

[jonathan]

I have both of those movies in my iTunes library listed in the "comedy" genre. Good for a few laughs, but I'd hate for an assassination newby to watch them until s/he knew better than to believe all that Hollywood nonsense.

[Jatkins252]

I have both of those movies in my iTunes library listed in the "comedy" genre. Good for a few laughs, but I'd hate for an assassination newby to watch them until s/he knew better than to believe all that Hollywood nonsense.

Did you get them from the iTunes Store?

[jonathan]

No, I got the DVDs from Netflix and just ripped my own copies. A legal grey area I know, but it's done lol.

[wsanto]

I can see how is classic mustache could get him cast as an extra in a lot of these period movies. Best obit I ever read as well.

[L Verge]

Jonathan,

Do you really feel that The Conspirator movie belongs in a comedy category? While it takes liberty with historical facts, a lot of that is due to Aiken being the central figure. He is a man that very little was known about until a member of this forum, Christine, did extensive research on him (while the movie was being produced). He apparently never wrote about his feelings, experiences, etc. as Mrs. Surratt's lawyer, so the playwright and the film's producers had to speculate on much of the dialogue. I thought they did quite well.

As for the actors, I knew absolutely nothing about McAvoy and very little about Robin Wright. Their performances were great, I thought. I know I'm biased because the movie certainly helped spur visitation at Surratt House; but all things considered, I thought it was well done.

[jonathan]

Oooooooooh no, I completely spaced out! No, I like The Conspirator a lot. When The Ordeal of Dr. Mudd was mentioned, I immediately started thinking about The Prisoner of Shark Island. Those are the two I have listed under comedies, not The Conspirator. I actually went to see The Conspirator as soon as it hit my locals theaters and bought the deluxe edition of the DVD (including free 100 % legal digital download) the day it was released.

[L Verge]

Whew - that's a relief! And I totally agree about The Prisoner of Shark Island. I may have mentioned this before, but my mother was sitting behind Nettie Mudd Monroe (who was an adviser to the movie) when it premiered in D.C. Mom said that Nettie was constantly shaking her head in disagreement with what she was seeing on the screen.

[LincolnMan]

Although i had problems with The Conspirator, i welcomed that the movie inspired others to look into the history- and perhaps they would not have otherwise.

[Hess1865]

The Mudd House gift shop sells the DVD of 'The Ordeal Of Dr. Mudd'
Big surprise, right?

[wsanto]

Unfortunately I'll have to disagree with Laurie. I thought the movie "The Conspirator" was awful. On second viewing, it was even worse. It would be too painful for me to watch it a third time. I can not think of one redeeming element in that production.

The presentation of Lloyd's and Weichman's testimony was a travesty to history.

---

Why would we criticize the historical novel 'Killing Lincoln" for a few factual errors but laud a historical movie that has no basis in fact?

[Gene C]

I can't comment on it one way or the other. When I borrowed it from the library and started to watch it, I kept falling asleep.