A spoiled brat who falls overboard from a steamship in the 1920s gets picked up by a New England fishing boat, where he's made to earn his keep by joining the crew in their work.A spoiled brat who falls overboard from a steamship in the 1920s gets picked up by a New England fishing boat, where he's made to earn his keep by joining the crew in their work.A spoiled brat who falls overboard from a steamship in the 1920s gets picked up by a New England fishing boat, where he's made to earn his keep by joining the crew in their work.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 4 wins & 6 nominations total
- Priest
- (as Jack LaRue)
- 'Doc'
- (as Sam McDaniels)
- Charles
- (as Billy Burrud)
- Robbins
- (uncredited)
- Boy
- (uncredited)
- Bit Role
- (uncredited)
- Fisherman
- (uncredited)
- Reporter
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhen production finally wrapped in late February 1937, Spencer Tracy was relieved. "Well, I got away with it," he said later. "Want to know why? Because of Freddie, because of that kid's performance, because he sold it 98 per cent. The kid had to believe in Manuel, or Manuel wasn't worth a quarter. The way he would look at me, believe every word I said, made me believe in it myself. I've never said this before, and I'll never say it again. Freddie Bartholomew's acting is so fine and so simple and so true that it's way over people's heads. It'll only be by thinking back two or three years from now that they'll realize how great it was."
- GoofsManuel has many siblings, yet Daniel says Manuel did not have any relatives.
- Quotes
Harvey: I bet I know a lot of things you don't know. I know that's not French you're singing.
Manuel Fidello: That's right. About ten million people know it Portuguese.
Harvey: I bet you can't speak French.
Manuel Fidello: Right now, I sorry I speak *English*.
- Crazy creditsThe opening credits are letters on planks, like the lettering on the side of ships, and between screen-fulls, a foaming wave of water splashes over it and then runs off. In the initial sets of credits, these appear to be actually letter-forms attached to the wood, as the water gets deflected by some of the letters; in later sets of credits, this effect is harder to see and the sets may be credits superimposed upon wood.
- ConnectionsEdited into Catalogue of Ships (2008)
- SoundtracksOoh What a Terrible Man
(1937) (uncredited)
Lyrics by Gus Kahn
Music by Franz Waxman
Sung by John C arradine, Spencer Tracy, Freddie Bartholomew, and other seaman
Spencer Tracy as Manuel the Portugese fisherman was absolutely fantastic. Just looking at the sparkle in his eyes when mentoring Harvey (Freddie Bartholomew) was beautiful. I have shown this film to my senior class in Strategic Management and they all loved it. And what a supporting cast, Lionel Barrymore, Melvin Douglas, Mickey Rooney, John Caradine. It was also one of the first Hollywood movies to treat a black character with dignity and respect. The ship's cook was even bilingual, speaking both English and Portugese, and was a respected member of the crew, not just an Uncle Tom.
They don't make them any better than this--and not a single word of profanity, no sex or sexual episodes, must a wonderful story, well acted, sad but uplifting.
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $1,645,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 57 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1