Screenplay by John Lee Mahin, Marc Connelly and Dale Van
Every from Rudyard Kipling’s 1897 serialized novel, this movie for me is all
about what it means to be a [masculine?] role model for a young person [in this
case a boy]. Freddie Bartholomew plays a
rich and arrogant lad who is rescued and forced to take a job on a schooner. Spencer Tracy won an Academy Award for his
performance as Manuel Fidello, an American-Portuguese fisherman on the schooner
who rescues the boy and becomes a much-needed mentor.
This is the place to mention a few other Kipling inspired
movies which I recommend highly: The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936 starring
Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland, yeah,
okay, I will probably always recommend anything with Errol Flynn it it!); Elephant Boy (1937 starring Sabu); Gunga Din (1939 starring Cary Grant and
Joan Fontaine [who is Olivia de Havilland’s sister); The Jungle Book (1942 starring Sabu); Kim (1950 starring Errol Flynn, see,
I told you!); and, of course, the musically delicious animated 1967 version
of The Jungle Book.
Produced by Louis D. Lighton and directed by Victor Fleming,
this picture is one of those movies my family liked to watch with me so they
could prove that I was actually capable of crying (I AM KIDDING but it really does make me cry). Some of my personal favorites of Mr. Tracy’s
are Boys Town
The film also stars Freddie Bartholomew, Lionel Barrymore,
Melvyn Douglas, Mickey Rooney, Charley Grapewin and John Carradine. If you want to see more of these great actors
in very good films then I also recommend Little
Lord Fauntleroy (1936 which also has stars Freddie Bartholomew and Mickey
Rooney in it and is my second favorite movie with the ‘spoilt brat gets a taste
of the real world’ plotline), David Copperfield (1935 which also has stars
Freddie Bartholomew and Lionel Barrymore in it), Treasure Island (1934 which has Lionel Barrymore in it with stars
Jackie Cooper and Wallace Beery and also directed by Victor Fleming) and Grand Hotel (1932 which has Lionel
Barrymore in it along with stars Greta Garbo and John Barrymore).
I have not seen A
Free Soul (1931 for which Lionel Barrymore won the Academy Award for Best
Actor) however you can see from Wikipedia’s webpage why it’s on my short list
of movies to see ASAP:
As for Melvyn Douglas he has been in so many films that most
of them I have never seen or heard of however two personal favorites are Billy Budd (1962 starring Terence
Stamp) and Mr. Blandings Builds His
Dream House (1948) which is a comedy that stars Cary Grant and Myrna Loy
and puts movies like The Money Pit (1986)
on the bad side of town. He was
in films like Ninotchka (1939) and Hud (1962) which I cannot remember if I
ever saw them but are fairly well known films. Being There (1979 stars Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine) was one
of Douglas ’ last films and he won the Academy
Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Benjamin Rand. Douglas was
in a lot of playhouse and made for TV productions which you can find on
www.imdb.com.
Charley Grapewin is famous for playing Uncle Henry in The Wizard of Oz (1939 also directed by
Victor Fleming) and Grandpa Joad in The
Grapes of Wrath (1940 which stars Henry Fonda and also has John Carradine
as Jim Casy). In addition, Grapewin is credited
with appearing in more movies in the 1930’s than anyone else.
John Carradine deserves his own paragraph because he was in
a lot of movies as a bit player, however I am only going to mention a few which
I know are movies I have seen and recommend:
Stagecoach (1939), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962)
and The Shootist (1976) which
starred John Wayne; Kidnapped
(1938); The Hound of the Baskervilles
(1939 which stars Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as the famous duo Sherlock
Holmes and Dr. Watson); Drums Along the
Mohawk (1939 starring Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda); Captain Kidd (1945 starring Charles
Laughton and Randolph Scott); The Court
Jester (1955 starring Danny Kaye); Cheyenne
Autumn (1964 starring Richard Widmark); and, of course, my all time
favorite is Sex Kittens Go to College
(1960 starring Mamie Van Doren where he plays Professor Watts - I AM KIDDING but he really was in that
movie.) Carradine was in so many horror
movies and made so many guest appearances on lots of TV series (such as The
Twilight Zone, Bonanza, Ironside and Kung Fu [imagine that!]) that if you want a complete list then check out the
awesome www.imdb.com.
A Favorite Quote: “Wake
up, Little Fish. Hey, wake up, wake
up! Somebody think you dead, they have
celebrations.” [Spencer Tracy as Manuel Fidello]
Genre: Sea Adventure [Yeah that sounds so cool, doesn’t it?]
Running Time: 115
Minutes
Release Date: May 11,
1937
The next installment in my top ten by alphabet will be The Godfather.
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