Spencer Tracy won his first of two back-to-back Oscars for playing a Portugese fisherman in this tear jerker from 1937.
Tracy becomes a father figure to a spoiled brat rich kid (Freddie Bartholomew) when the kid falls overboard off an ocean liner and is picked up by the fishing trawler. Familiar actors like Lionel Barrymore, Mickey Rooney, and Charlie Grapewin play the other fishermen, and Bartholomew predictably learns the value of hard work and ethics from this merry band.
While overall I thought "Captains Courageous" was a solid if unspectacular film, I was surprised by its treatment of the central theme (fatherhood) and its ending. Bartholomew is reunited with his absentee father (Melvyn Douglas), who learns the error of his ways and is determined to be more there for his kid. That I expected. But what I didn't expect was the unspoken but very obvious fact that the relationship between father and son was permanently stunted by the fact that the son found a father figure he liked better, that his true father understood that, and resigned himself to having the best relationship he could under those limitations. That's a pretty mature conclusion for a film from this time period, and one that certainly remains relevant today.
Victor Fleming provides the direction, which was not among the four categories for which this film was Oscar-nominated. In addition to Tracy, the film won nominations for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.
Grade: B+
Tracy becomes a father figure to a spoiled brat rich kid (Freddie Bartholomew) when the kid falls overboard off an ocean liner and is picked up by the fishing trawler. Familiar actors like Lionel Barrymore, Mickey Rooney, and Charlie Grapewin play the other fishermen, and Bartholomew predictably learns the value of hard work and ethics from this merry band.
While overall I thought "Captains Courageous" was a solid if unspectacular film, I was surprised by its treatment of the central theme (fatherhood) and its ending. Bartholomew is reunited with his absentee father (Melvyn Douglas), who learns the error of his ways and is determined to be more there for his kid. That I expected. But what I didn't expect was the unspoken but very obvious fact that the relationship between father and son was permanently stunted by the fact that the son found a father figure he liked better, that his true father understood that, and resigned himself to having the best relationship he could under those limitations. That's a pretty mature conclusion for a film from this time period, and one that certainly remains relevant today.
Victor Fleming provides the direction, which was not among the four categories for which this film was Oscar-nominated. In addition to Tracy, the film won nominations for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Film Editing.
Grade: B+