Captains Courageous (1937)

 Victor Fleming's "Captains Courageous"

When people think of Victor Fleming, they think of two very distinct films, both revolutions in filmmaking and both coming out in 1939: "The Wizard of Oz" and "Gone with the Wind." In looking at his full filmography, there aren't many other films that really stand out, however. That is certainly not to say he doesn't have a fine track record in the Hollywood studio director system. Regardless, those two 1939 films have made his director career something of note and one other film that gained him recognition was his 1937 adventure film "Captains Courageous."

"Captains Courageous" centers on a young, spoiled rich kid who happens to fall off of a boat while sailing to Europe. He is picked up by Manuel, a deep sea fisherman. The boy is taken back to a fishing schooner where he must wait several weeks before the schooner heads back to port. In those two weeks, he grows closer to Manuel and is trained not only to be a fisherman, but trained how to remove those spoiled attitudes about life and put in hard work.

The narrative of the film is rather simple. Spoiled rich kid gets into the nitty gritty of manual labor and learns how to be tougher and more adaptable at life in a healthier way. Beyond this, the film makes for an entertaining affair of adventure and drama centering on the absurdly great performance by child actor Freddie Bartholmew. Spencer Tracy's performance as Portuguese fisherman Manuel was a standout as well, even earning him a Best Actor award by the Academy of Motion Picture. Overall, the film is a great Hollywood coming-of-age flick.