
Captains Courageous
Captains Courageous was, by anyone’s definition, a big hit. Released in 1937, the film earned almost $1.7 in the U.S. and Canada and $1.4 million overseas. Critically, it is now considered one of MGM’s finest movies of the 1930’s. The star, Spencer Tracy, won the 1938 Oscar for Best Actor at the 10th annual Academy Awards. The film was nominated for two other honors, Best Writing (Screenplay) and Best Production.
The Film Director was Victor Fleming, who would later win an Oscar for directing Gone With the Wind (1939). Fleming directed a second popular film that year, The Wizard of Oz.
Based on the novel by Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous is a coming-of-age adventure that touches on the noble poor theme. Tracy plays Portuguese sailor Manuel, who rescues a spoiled rich kid (Freddie Bartholomew) who has fallen overboard during a transatlantic voyage with his rich dad (Melvyn Douglas).
Tracy fetches the boy to the schooner he crews on, but the ship’s captain, Lionel Barrymore, refuses to return to the mainland until the three-month commercial fishing expedition is completed.

The rich kid literally tries to buy his way home, but he soon settles in as a crew member, aided by Manuel and the captain’s son, portrayed by a young Mickey Rooney. The voyage proves to be time enough for the spoiled rich kid to learn the value of hard work and the ‘honor’ of being a poor, New England fisherman.
Tracy’s character is killed (nobly drowned after climbing aloft to furl the mainsail in a blow) during the trip back home, and the young boy is returned to his dad. A happy ending is cobbled together as both father and son adjust to what the youth has learned


