Captains Courageous (1937) Review: Salt Water, Fish Guts, and Spencer Tracy

Should you watch this 1937 movie tonight? Yes, absolutely, especially if you like salty sea air, old wooden boats, and watching a rich kid get taken down a peg. But if you can't stand old-timey child actors who talk like they have a silver spoon glued to their tongue, you might want to skip it. ⚓

The movie starts with Harvey Cheyne, played by Freddie Bartholomew. He is just... the worst.

He wears these ridiculous little suits and tries to bribe his teachers, you literally count the minutes until he falls off that cruise ship. It is very satisfying when he does.

When he finally tumbles into the ocean because he drank too many ice cream sodas (not even kidding, that is the actual reason), it feels like a victory.

Then Spencer Tracy shows up in a tiny rowboat.

Tracy plays Manuel, a Portuguese fisherman. He has curly hair and this accent that is totally bizarre but somehow works anyway.

He sings to a hurdy-gurdy. It’s incredibly charming, even if you can't understand half of what he is saying. 🎶

Manuel basically tells Harvey, "You work or you don't eat." It is a simple setup that we have seen in other coming-of-age films like Youth, but it works so well here.

The Smell of Fish Guts

What I love about this film is the texture of the boat, the We're Here. You can almost smell the fish guts and salt water.

The movie does this great thing where it doesn't rush the kid's change of heart. At first, Harvey is still a little jerk who tries to buy his way out of work.

Lionel Barrymore is the captain, and he has this great, grumpy face. He doesn't care who Harvey's dad is, he just wants his cod.

There is another kid on the boat too, played by Mickey Rooney. He is surprisingly quiet here, not his usual hyperactive self, and he plays a mean fiddle.

I loved the scene where they are cleaning the fish. They are actually tossing slimy fish around, and Freddie Bartholomew's face looks genuinely disgusted.

The middle of the film is just these guys fishing. It doesn't have a giant plot, and that's why it works.

It gets pretty tear-jerky at the end. I won't spoil it, but man, Spencer Tracy really earned his Oscar here, even if his accent is a bit all over the place.

Some of the effects look dated now. The background during the storm scenes is clearly a projection, but the emotion still lands.

If you liked the slower, character-driven pace of older films like The Mind Reader, you'll dig this one. It takes its time to let you care about these guys.

Small things I noticed:

• Freddie Bartholomew's hair stays surprisingly neat even after getting soaked in the Atlantic.
• The sound of the wind during the storm is incredibly loud, almost drowning out the actors.
• Spencer Tracy's character has a very cool knit hat. I want that hat.

It is just a solid, warm movie. Perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon when you want to feel a bit nostalgic.