Captains Courageous Official Trailer Spencer Tracy Movie 1937 Captains Courageous is a 1937 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer adventure film. Based on the 1897 novel of the same name by Rudyard Kipling, the film had its world premiere at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles. Freddie Bartholomew Spencer Tracy Lionel Barrymore Melvyn Douglas It was produced by Louis D. Lighton and directed by Victor Fleming. Filmed in black and white, Captains Courageous was advertised by MGM as a coming-of-age classic wit