A Yank at Oxford (1938)

Director:

Jack Conway

Writers:

John Monk Saunders (idea)
Leon Gordon (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

18 February 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

Here's The Yankee Clipper Himself ! A two-fisted terror from the States . . . who landed in England with a chip on his shoulder . . . but let a blue-eyed beauty walk off with his heart ! Bob Taylor's Biggest Picture Hit !

Plot:

Lee Sheridan, a young American comes to study at Oxford University, but is instantly disliked by the other students...

Plot Keywords:

College | Book Seller | Oxford | Rowing | Unsportsmanlike Behavior

Cast

Robert Taylor	...	Lee Sheridan
Lionel Barrymore	...	Dan Sheridan
Maureen O'Sullivan	...	Molly Beaumont
Vivien Leigh	...	Elsa Craddock
Edmund Gwenn	...	Dean of Cardinal
Griffith Jones	...	Paul Beaumont
C.V. France	...	Dean Snodgrass
Edward Rigby	...	Scatters
Morton Selten	...	Cecil Davidson, Esq.
Claude Gillingwater	...	Ben Dalton
Tully Marshall	...	Cephas
Walter Kingsford	...	Dean Williams
Robert Coote	...	Wavertree
Peter Croft	...	Ramsey
Noel Howlett	...	Tom Craddock
Edmund Breon	...	Captain Wavertree
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Derek Aylward	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Harlan Briggs	...	Printer (uncredited)
Joe Cobb	...	Boy with Drum (uncredited)
Clive Dunn	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Norah Howard	...	Barmaid (uncredited)
Anthony Hulme	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Peter Murray-Hill	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Jon Pertwee	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Philip Ridgeway	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Syd Saylor	...	Second Printer (uncredited)
Ronald Shiner	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Richard Todd	...	Extra in sporting event (uncredited)
John Varley	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Kenneth Villiers	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
John Warwick	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Richard Wattis	...	Latin Speaker at Dinner (uncredited)
Doodles Weaver	...	Bill (uncredited)

Directed by
Jack Conway

Writing credits
John Monk Saunders		(idea)
Leon Gordon		(story) &
Sidney Gilliat		(story) and
Michael Hogan		(story)
Malcolm Stuart Boylan		(screenplay) &
Walter Ferris		(screenplay) and
George Oppenheimer		(screenplay)
Roland Pertwee		(contributing writer) uncredited and
John Paddy Carstairs		(contributing writer) uncredited and
Angus MacPhail		(contributing writer) uncredited
Frank Wead		(contributing to treatment) uncredited and
F. Scott Fitzgerald		(contributing to treatment) uncredited

Produced by
Michael Balcon	....	producer

Original Music by
Hubert Bath		(musical score by)
Edward Ward		(musical score by)

Cinematography by
Harold Rosson

Film Editing by
Charles Frend

Art Direction by
Lawrence P. Williams		(as L.P. Williams)

Costume Design by
René Hubert		(as Rene Hubert)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Pen Tennyson	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
C.C. Stevens	....	recording director
A.W. Watkins	....	recording director

Camera and Electrical Department
Gerry Massy-Collier	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Margaret Booth	....	supervising editor

Other crew
Elliott Morgan	....	technical advisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1938) (UK) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1938) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1938) (Germany) (theatrical) (Ostmark)

Runtime:

USA:102 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #4009)

Filming Locations:

Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios

Trivia:

In a scene shortly after arriving at Oxford, Sheridan meets with his assigned tutor, who asks him, "What are you reading?" by which he means what is your field of study. Sheridan, confused, replies, "Well, I am reading 'Gone With The Wind', but I am only halfway through it." Vivien Leigh, also in this movie, would of course portray Scarlett in Gone with the Wind (1939) which was released the year after this movie. Reportedly, it was known as early as 1937 from a Selznick memo that Leigh had secured the role.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Vivien Leigh: Scarlett & Beyond (1990) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Academic Festival Overture in C, Opus 80

Unfortunate American Slop

Taylor was entirely too old (27) and WAY too "meaty" to play a star athlete in this film. His fat legs show to disadvantage, and the scenes of him outpacing the track team are absurd. Thers is no possibility of someone of his weight beating the skinny competition shown in this film.

If the character had shown some spark of humility & a desire to learn better, this would have been a much more enjoyable story. Think of Harold Lloyd in "The Freshman", where his character wants to succeed by his own efforts, and learns early-on that he can't fake it. Heart warming was that, while this is just a demonstration of a notion of Yankee Superiority and how 'We Americans' can overcome the 'Snooty Englishers'. Spare us.

Taylor's character ultimately fails to win our hearts with sincerity; his "nerve" is all he has, and while that's enough to turn the story to his favor, it really isn't sufficient to make us believe he's a good egg after all.

Of course, all of this is tainted by Hollywood's habit of using 25-30-35 year olds in the roles of college students (and even 40 year olds, in the case of The Nutty Professor of Jerry Lewis - several of his supposed Football Heroes were OLDER than he was, at the time of filming)