Capitanes Valientes

Captains Courageous (1937)

You might think this movie will come off as old-fashioned and stale, a old Kipling yarn filmed in the 1930s in black and white. Well don't pre-judge this! It's really good. Fast, energetic, touching, and filled with good acting and great filming. It even has a moral tale that doesn't smack you as sentimental, but is a good reminder of what counts in life.

The main character is a rich boy who obviously needs to learn some lessons in humility and honor. And he's played with real perfection by the young English actor Freddie Bartholomew who had a five year heyday of great roles and great performances with classic adventure stories told on film. And there are parallels here of bigger tales like "Kidnapped" (1938) and "David Copperfield" (1935), with a child intersecting the world of adults and its perils.

His adult friend is the bigger star, Spencer Tracy, who does a good job though I've never quite loved his style of acting. Here he plays a Portuguese sailor with a half an accent and it's the one problem in the film. Next to him in a big role is Lionel Barrymore, who recognizably makes for a quirky captain of the fishing boat. He's great. And so are the other side characters, including a whole slew of big names from the time (John Carradine and Mickey Rooney are probably most famous now).

Much of the film is a low key adventure film. It's aimed at kids the way "The Wizard of Oz" is aimed at kids—meaning it's great for adults, too, and there are a few things snuck in to keep older viewers attuned. Director Victor Fleming went on to direct "Oz" and much of "Gone with the Wind" in two years, and you can feel his Hollywood expertise in every scene here. This is not a stiff 1930s movie if your head is in that mode. Fleming (with photographer great Harold Rosson, who shot "Oz" and a hundred others) makes it vivid and wondrous. The mix of studio shots and authentic sea footage (made with a second film crew in the North Atlantic) is brilliantly handled—no back projection goofs here.

I really liked this movie. It's straight up filmic storytelling. No distractions, no bumbling. Give it a go and be surprised.

I dare anyone to sit through this film with dry eyes! Especially people of the male persuasion. There is simply no way it can be done.

Young teen Freddie Bartholomew is a snotty, spoilt brat, and on a cruise with his dad he falls overboard and is rescued by Portuguese fisherman Spencer Tracy who takes him to Captain Lionel Barrymore's commercial fishing ship. They can't afford to go give up their fishing to take the arrogant kid back to land, and so Freddie is forced to spend three months with the crew, gradually mellowing into a nice boy and evolving into a rugged, no-nonsense kid who dotes on Tracy's rough and ready Manuel.

Victor Fleming was never the most subtle of directors, and this adaptation of Kipling's story does not thrive on its wealth of detail or the ambiguity of emotion, but its sweep is epic and its heart so real that you feel you have been on a roller-coaster-ride. I loved the reels of the men fishing and preparing the fish, it had a nice documentary feel to it, akin to the silent 'Down to the Sea in Ships' that 'Captains Courageous' resembles a lot at times. The cinematography is beautiful, the mist and fog captured with finesse.

But this film is all about acting. Spencer Tracy got an Oscar for his acting as Manuel, cast against type. And although his performance verges on the sentimental, it never actually tips over. But the film belongs to Freddie Bartholomew who surely must have been tempted to overboard with emotion, but, miraculously, never does. This boy was an astute and intuitive actor, and he never sets a foot wrong. Mickey Rooney shines in an itsy bitsy part as the captain's son. He never tries to steal any scenes from Bartholomew (as one suspects he might, and could!), but concentrates on a brisk, matter-of-fact performance of this young pro of the sea, every movement he makes seems exactly right, again almost documentary-like.

Watch this film if you get the chance. They don't come much better, and yes, it will make you bawl and sob. Be warned.

A spoiled brat who falls overboard from a steamship gets picked up by a fishing boat, where he's made to earn his keep by joining the crew in their work. Spencer Tracy earned an Academy Award for his performance in Captains Courageous and even sings a bit; (Freddie Bartholomew) Young Harvey Cheyne was fabulous as well .

Well-directed, well-acted coming-of-age tale that may have the most hard-bitten viewer in tears by the end.Captains Courageous still stands up pretty well today.

A movie like this could only have been made in the early days of cinema. Before the days when fancy camera angles, careful editing, and computer-effects combine to make any pretty-boy a big star, movies had to rely on genuine talent on the part of child actors.

Nowhere is this more evident than with Freddie Bartholomew. The character he plays is a spoiled rich-kid, used to getting his own way and obnoxious with everyone he meets. Yet he plays the role in such a way that we can sympathize with him, rather than detest him. We understand the character, but we do not hate him.

Watch any similar movie made today, and the child actors will whine and sneer and have smart-mouthed replies to everything. In this movie, however, the character is not taken to that extreme, and when he makes his transition in the film we are able to love him, and are able to forget how horrid he was before.

The boy can truly act. When he cries for his loved ones, we cry with him. When he is happy, we are able to smile. And when he does something foolish, we do not get the urge to punch him in the face. The character is attractive by the end of the film, and that is a quality which few (if any) child actors possess today.

If you want to see a touching movie with superb acting and genuine emotion, this is the one.

Harvey Cheyne (Freddie Bartholomew) is a spoiled brat used to having his own way. When a prank goes wrong on board an ocean liner Harvey ends up overboard and nearly drowns. Fortunately he's picked up by a fishing boat just heading out for the season. He tries to bribe the crew into returning early to collect a reward but none of them believe him. Stranded on the boat he must adapt to the ways of the fishermen and learn more about the real world.

Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times called the film "another of those grand jobs of movie-making we have come to expect of Hollywood's most prodigal studio. With its rich production, magnificent marine photography, admirable direction and performances, the film brings vividly to life every page of Kipling's novel and even adds an exciting chapter or two of its own." This really is a great film. I went in knowing nothing about it, and came out really impressed. For the first quarter or so of the film, I was increasingly annoyed with the spoiled boy, and did not now where things were going to go. But once it shifted gears, that build-up of annoyance paid off. In fact, it would not have been nearly as effective if they didn't convince me of how awful this boy was. Perfect execution.