Captains Courageous | |
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Film poster
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Directed by | Victor Fleming |
Produced by | Louis D. Lighton |
Written by |
John Lee Mahin Marc Connelly Dale Van Every |
Based on |
Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling |
Starring |
Freddie Bartholomew Spencer Tracy Lionel Barrymore Melvyn Douglas Mickey Rooney |
Music by | Franz Waxman |
Cinematography | Harold Rosson |
Edited by | Elmo Veron |
Production
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Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date
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Running time
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115 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,645,000 |
Box office | $3,133,000 |
Captains Courageous is a 1937 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer adventure film. Based on the novel by Rudyard Kipling, it had its world premiere at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles. The movie was produced by Louis D. Lighton and directed by Victor Fleming. Filmed in black-and-white, Captains Courageous was advertised by MGM as a coming-of-age classic with exciting action sequences.
Harvey Cheyne (Freddie Bartholomew) is the spoiled son of business tycoon Frank Burton Cheyne (Melvyn Douglas). He is shunned by his classmates at a private boarding school, and eventually suspended for bad behavior. His father therefore takes his son with him on a business trip to Europe via a trans-Atlantic steamship. En route, Harvey falls overboard in the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. He is rescued by a Portuguese-American fisherman, Manuel Fidello (Spencer Tracy), and taken aboard the fishing schooner We're Here. Harvey fails to persuade captain Disko Troop (Lionel Barrymore) to take him ashore, nor can he convince him of his wealth; but the captain offers him a temporary membership in the crew until they return to port, and Harvey eventually accepts. Befriended by Captain Troop's son, Dan (Mickey Rooney), he becomes acclimated to the fishing lifestyle. In the climactic race back to the Gloucester, Massachusetts port against a rival schooner, the Jennie Cushman, Manuel climbs to the top of the mast to furl the sail, but the mast cracks and he is plunged into the water. He realizes that he is hopelessly injured (part of the mast's rigging became entangled around his legs underwater), and tells the captain to cut him free. As Manuel says goodbye to Harvey, the captain cuts him free, and Manuel sinks below the water. Eventually, the schooner returns to port and Harvey is reunited with his father, whom he surprises by his own greater maturity.