Shark Monroe

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Shark Monroe is a 1918 American silent adventure film directed by William S. Hart, with a screenplay by C. Gardner Sullivan. The movie stars William S. Hart, Katherine MacDonald, Joseph Singleton, George A. McDaniel, and Bert Sprotte. It was released by Paramount Pictures on June 30, 1918, and runs about 50 minutes. The film is silent with English intertitles.

Plot
Shark Monroe, owner of a sealing vessel, agrees to take Marjorie Hilton and her brother Webster to Skagway if Webster earns his passage. Marjorie falls for Big Baxter, a notorious figure on the Alaskan coast, and agrees to marry him. Shark arrives, and while his men hold the wedding party at bay, he marries Marjorie himself and takes her away. After two weeks, he promises to return her safely to Baxter’s camp. Webster and Baxter arrive, and to help Webster regain his confidence, Shark let Webster win a fistfight. Later, after overhearing Baxter lie about him, Shark kills Baxter with one blow, and Marjorie sees the true strength of the man.

Censorship and preservation
Like many films of its time, Shark Monroe faced censorship; for example, the Chicago Board of Censors cut some intertitles. A copy of the film is preserved at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.