|
|
Post by Fading Fast on Jun 25, 2023 20:55:59 GMT
Andrea, you gave us a great month of movies and you went out on a high. Thank you.
|
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Jun 25, 2023 20:57:08 GMT
Beautiful film.
Thanks Andrea for selecting this one.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andrea Doria on Jun 25, 2023 20:59:19 GMT
I loved it and my eyes are stinging, too. Must be the saltwater.
|
|
|
|
Post by Fading Fast on Jun 26, 2023 6:13:56 GMT
Captains Courageous from 1937 with Freddie Bartholomew, Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore, Melvyn Douglas and John Carradine
Most children "come of age" over several years, but in Captains Courageous, a spoiled, bratty fifteen-year-old is forced to come of age in only a few months when, after falling off of a cruise ship, he is rescued by a fisherman in a dory from a nearby trawler.
Freddie Bartholomew plays the spoiled son of a kind, wealthy widower, played by Melvin Douglas, who gives his boy everything he wants, but not the daily love and discipline he needs.
After getting expelled from boarding school, dad takes his son on the cruise ship that, after Bartholomew tumbles overboard, leads the boy to the trawler and a life altering experience.
Spencer Tracy, in an Oscar-winning performance, plays the Portuguese fisherman who pulls Bartholomew out of the drink, while Lionel Barrymore plays the kind, wise, but no-nonsense captain of the commercial trawler that takes Bartholomew in.
Once on board and once he realizes his father's money doesn't impress the men (most don't believe him anyway) and that he'll be stuck on the boat for several months, Bartholomew does what any spoiled brant would do, he kicks, screams and sulks.
Now the movie kicks into gear. After being a spoiled brat doesn't work, Bartholomew slowly comes around to wanting to be part of the trawler's community, which is a mix of high-spirited camaraderie and hard work.
Bartholomew attaches himself to Tracy, who fathers the boy with the necessary balance of kindness and discipline, of understanding and measured-but-never-abusive punishment that had been missing in the boy's upbringing.
The movie's magic is seeing Bartholomew learn through both trial and error and by watching the adults behave properly and, sometimes, improperly. He slowly comes to understand the value of self respect earned through hard work, integrity and kindness.
Using Rudyard Kipling source material, not-subtle director Victor Fleming has the boy learn those lessons from Tracy, with big assists from wise-beyond-reality Barrymore and several of the other men, even the gruff one played by John Carradine.
Mickey Rooney, on the brink of childhood mega stardom, is impressive in a minor role as Barrymore's son who simply takes Bartholomew as he is, which is a lesson in itself to Bartholomew. Rooney already has a veteran actor's understanding of nuance and subtlety.
Douglas, the boy's rich dad, avoids being a cliche as he eventually realizes that his kid is a spoiled brat, but he also owns up to his failure as a dad being responsible for that outcome. It's an awareness that was often lacking in that less-introspective era of "stoic" men.
Even with Tracy's Oscar-winning performance, this is Bartholomew's movie from beginning to end as, for the movie to work, the thirteen-year-old actor has to sell you on his incredible transformation and he does. It's one of the great child-acting performances of all time.
The main story - the boy becoming a respectful, honest and sympathetic person through hard work and exposure to the traditional values of this tight community - drives the movie, but the incredible stock footage of real fishing boats in action is worthy of a documentary.
Unfortunately though, nobody is going to be fooled by the, mainly, studio shots set against an ocean projected on a background screen that are used for most of the movie. The story, dialogue and acting are good enough, however, to overcome that hokeyness.
Nineteen-thirties Hollywood also gets a chance to show, again, how Christianity can be a believable and uplifting theme in a movie. At the story's core, it is the Christian values of the fishermen that turn the boy around, all without being too preachy or dogmatic.
In Captains Courageous, Kipling, Fleming and MGM's talent pool take you on an inspiring journey where a spoiled brat becomes a thoughtful and honest young man because of his interaction with "simple" fishermen.
It is this moving portrayal of a young boy, a boy who had everything and nothing, a boy who learns what true character is only after he is stripped of his identity and tossed into an alien environment, that has made Captains Courageous a classic.
|
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Jun 26, 2023 12:43:55 GMT
Nice review. And I agree about Mickey Rooney's skill as a performer.
A year earlier MGM had cast Rooney, Bartholomew and fellow child star Jackie Cooper in THE DEVIL IS A SISSY...which in some ways seems like a warm-up for CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS. In that film the upperclass father is played by fellow Brit Ian Hunter.
As I said yesterday in this thread, Lionel Barrymore made a film at 20th Century Fox in 1949 called DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS, which was probably inspired by CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS. It featured Dean Stockwell. Stockwell would also appear in KIM (1950), another Kipling classic from MGM that had Errol Flynn as the 'mentor' figure.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andrea Doria on Jun 26, 2023 13:20:21 GMT
(I'm planning to watch "Kim," soon Topbilled.)
Thank you Fading Fast for a great review of a film worthy of your talent. It's now in my top ten list.
|
|
