Captains Courageous

For once, a script perfectly suited to its director and star and one of the most lyrical children's classics ever made. Ignore the typical MGM "prestige picture" touches and enjoy the spirited cast performing under man's man director Fleming, who is reverential to the Kipling story. Young Harvey (Freddie Bartholomew), the spoiled-rotten son of a business tycoon, believes he can lie, cheat, and whine his way through life. On a trip to Europe with his father, the young man falls off a posh ocean liner into the sea and is rescued by a boat filled with Portuguese fishermen. One of the sailors is Manuel (Spencer Tracy), a big-hearted veteran of the seas who has a lot to...