Some people don't know selflessness until they experience something extreme, like what happens in "Captains Courageous". Harvey Cheyne (Freddie Bartholomew) is the most spoiled kid whom anyone could ever imagine. After falling off of a ship, he gets picked up by Portuguese fisherman Manuel Fidello (Spencer Tracy),who teaches him selflessness and various other life lessons.

Spencer Tracy won a well deserved Oscar for his performance. Manuel is a person who, while not having much materially, has a lot to teach. He humbly improvises songs and just loves to go fishing, a stark contrast to Harvey's life of luxury. It doesn't suffice to call "Captains Courageous" a morality lesson; it's about life in general. 10/10.

Freddie Bartholomew plays a socially inept and spoiled little rich kid who is eventually thrown out of his boarding school. On the way to Europe with his father on an ocean liner, he falls overboard and is rescued by a fishing boat. Unable to return to land until the fishing season is completed, the brat is forced to get along with others and accept that money is not the solution to all his problems. At first, the going is tough, but through the common-sense tutoring of Spencer Tracy (playing a Portuguese man),the boy grows and matures. I will admit that the film is a little schmaltzy at times and Spencer Tracy's performance a little over-the-top (though that WAS the style back then as evidenced by his receiving an Oscar for this performance). But, excellent writing and acting as well as production created a family classic. A little predictable but wonderful.

By the way, if you are interested, this film was remade 1951 as "Cattle Drive" with Dean Stockwell and Joel McCrea. Instead of the sea, this film puts the bratty boy on the prairie as he's lost and subsequently picked up by cowboys on a trail drive. It's nearly as good as "Captain's Courageous"--well worth seeing.

Harvey Cheyne (Freddie Bartholomew) is the spoiled son of tycoon Frank Burton Cheyne (Melvyn Douglas). He uses his wealth to bully his way onto the school paper and tries to bribe a teacher. The other kids don't like him and one even punches him. He lies to his father exaggerating the fight and about his teacher. His father decides to get closer to the boy and takes him on a trip to Europe. Harvey falls overboard from the ship and is rescued by fisherman Manuel Fidello (Spencer Tracy). Captain Disko Troop (Lionel Barrymore) insists on continuing his fishing until his hull is full after about three months. Dan (Mickey Rooney) is a young worker on the ship.

It's a great story based on a Rudyard Kipling novel. The production is terrific. The actors are top-notch. The kid is very good although if Mickey Rooney was a few years younger, he could be a better Harvey. It's also very modern in its feel. That has a lot to do with the acting. I do wonder about the nonchalant treatment of the death outside of Harvey. It seems to be a deliberate effort to heighten Havey's emotions by contrast and accentuate the large number of victims every year. That memorial seems to be too much. All in all, this is a terrific modern movie.