Captains Courageous (1937)
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Director: Victor Fleming
Honors:
MGM captures the spirit of Rudyard Kipling’s tale about a privileged
boy learning lessons of the real world in the Victor Fleming directed adaptation
of Captains Courageous. Starring
three generations of Hollywood actors including the well-traveled Lionel
Barrymore, the ever rising star in Spencer Tracy, and one of the business’
larger child stars in Freddie Bartholomew, this picture would be a coming of
age-type film with the touches of boyhood adventures wrapped together in a
charming package.
Captains Courageous is an
adventure picture about a spoiled boy who is rescued by fishermen and learns to
change his perceptions towards life as for the first time he gets a taste of
the real world. Harvey Cheyne (Freddie Bartholomew) is an overly spoiled son of
a rather absent father (Melvyn Douglas). While on a trans-Atlantic voyage with
his father Harvey falls overboard and is rescued by an American/Portuguese
fisherman, Manuel (Spencer Tracy), who takes him under his wing to teach him
the proper way to work and act around his fellow fishermen, much to the chagrin
of Harvey. At first being a bothersome, privileged runt to the captain (Lionel
Barrymore) and his men, Harvey with the guidance of his new father figure in
Manuel matures and comes to love this life and camaraderie of fishermen before
being brought back to the mainland and his father.
Tragically Manuel’s life is taken by the sea in a violent storm while on
the journey to return Harvey home, emotionally disturbing Harvey, losing the
closest thing to a real father he has had. Harvey has trouble communicating
with his real father until finally paying respects to the man that change
Harvey into a boy striving to one day be a mature man.
The picture itself is well shot and directed by the veteran filmmaker
Victor Fleming. With his previous work on the motion picture adaptation of Treasure Island in 1934 Fleming for the
second time had produced a successful film version of boy centered adventures. His
direction helps to draw audiences into the story of how a spoiled boy can be
taken in by meek fisherman teaching him how to be a man is a simple, yet exciting
way. Fleming had been directing major films for years with MGM to this point,
but his greatest contributions were still ahead of him in the coming year of
1939 with two all-time classics The Wizard
of Oz and Gone with the Wind.
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| Bartholomew, Barrymore, and Tracy |
Spencer Tracy, though playing second fiddle to the Freddie Bartholomew
provides the heart and soul to the story. In fact Tracy at first declined the
picture partly because of the fact that the role was not the center of the film
and thought he would be overshadowed by the role of Harvey. He partly also did
not want to play Manuel because he did not know how to produce a Portuguese
accent and did not want to curl his hair for the role. All that aside Tracy
would take on the part of Manuel with a Yiddish accent as it was the best
accent he could produce. Manuel would be the guiding light of the picture and
would win Tracy his first Academy Award for best actor. Amusing enough the
statuette he would receive at the ceremony in fact read “Dick Tracy,” an issue
quickly mended by the Academy.
Child actor Freddie Bartholomew had been on the rise to stardom with
ever since his appearance in the title role of David Copperfield in 1935. The success of Captains Courageous would seem to cement his standing as a bona fide
star in the stable of MGM stars. With this major rise in success Freddie’s aunt,
his guardian at the time, would demand a hefty raise for the child actor, a
dispute that put Bartholomew out of work with the studio for roughly a year,
and when he returned landed him more minor roles with Hollywood’s most powerful
studio, and by 1942 would finish his time at MGM. It goes to show that no star
was bigger than Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the golden age of Hollywood.
Lionel Barrymore at the time was still a major name in the acting
community, but was relegated to supporting roles. Not to say he was a poor
actor by any means. Barrymore was still a wonderful actor, playing rather
memorable parts for years to follow, but not seeming to be given chances to
play major meaty roles as he once had. Here Barrymore would play a hardnosed,
but softhearted captain that eventually takes a liking to the main character of
Harvey. What Captain Courageous marks
for Barrymore is one of the final appearances of Lionel playing a free-standing
role. Degenerative arthritis was taking its toll on the legendary actor
eventually crippling him. In films to come Barrymore would need the aid of
support to stand in pictures, or in some cases, such as It’s a Wonderful Life, play the part entirely sitting down.
MGM proved to have another hit on their hands. Aside for Tracy’s win
for best actor Captains Courageous
would also be nominated for best editing, best writing, and best picture at the
Academy Awards. Critics would praise the picture for adaption the novel, even
with the changes made to the story, mainly including the change of Harvey from being
a 15 year old to that of a 10 year old boy. Tracy proved to be the biggest news
to come out the picture as his star stature was booming at the time of the film
and continued to do so in the coming years.
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