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13 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Before the Days of "Over Paid, Over Sexed and Over Here", 19 December 2003
7/10
Author: Ralph Michael Stein (riglltesobxs@mailinator.com) from New York, N.Y.

A black-and-white trip back to the glory days of the studio system, "A Yank at Oxford" was MGM's first feature movie filmed in England. Released in 1938 as the Depression was slowly losing its grip on America and the shadow of an inevitable global conflict was sensed by too few, this rollicking comedy about a clash of cultures - small town America and elitist Oxford - is a glimpse of a world that never existed except in movie theaters.

Robert Taylor is super-athlete Lee Sheridan from somewhere in quintessential, rah-rah, white America. His newspaper publisher dad, Lionel Barrymore, holds the presses so that his son's latest track and field victory can be bannered on the front page. Lee is the All-American collegiate sports hero.

Along comes an opportunity for Lee to go to Oxford and he's sent off with a parade, the first of several big processions in this film.

Lee is a boastful American but he's received with good humor and sharp pranks by the English students at the fictional Cardinal College. Conflict develops when Lee is attracted to Molly Beaumont, played by Maureen O'Sullivan. Molly is the sister of Paul, Griffith Jones, a fellow student whose rivalry with Lee is fueled by the latter's arrogant and, from an English viewpoint, unsportsmanlike behavior. The contretemps between the two handsome men is the center of the fable about competition and honor.

Complicating everything is Paul's relationship with pretty, flirtatious Mrs. Elsa Craddock, wife of a curmudgeonly and older bookshop proprietor. Elsa, clearly to our eyes an adulteress, may have been for original audiences little more than a simple charmer who professes love for serial college males but is never shown doing anything less chaste than planting quick kisses. Elsa is acted by Vivien Leigh who two years later had a starring role in some Hollywood spectacle about the Civil War.

"A Yank at Oxford" is a funny, light period piece most interesting for its reflection of a Hollywood that would soon shift gears as the world burned. It did allow Taylor to recast his image as a more manly character, his athleticism a change from the more effete roles for which he was better known. MGM had a plan here and it worked.

7/10 - worth renting.

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10 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Robert Taylor Invades Merrie Old England, 14 August 2000
10/10
Author: Ron Oliver (revilorest@juno.com) from Forest Ranch, CA

A skilled, albeit highly egocentric young athlete becomes A YANK AT OXFORD when he accepts a scholarship to the English university. Romance and various personal problems help punch a hole through his self-conceit.

Robert Taylor gets to show-off his athletic prowess (running, rowing) in this pleasant, lightweight film. Produced by MGM's British division, it is an enjoyable look at a privileged world about to be changed forever by World War Two.

Taylor does a fine job in the title role, but he is also aided immensely by excellent co-stars from both sides of the Atlantic: Lionel Barrymore, giving another acting lesson as Taylor's peppery, loyal father; lovable Edmund Gwenn, as the long-suffering Dean of (fictional) Cardinal College, Oxford; beautiful Maureen O'Sullivan, as Taylor's English girlfriend; and enchanting Vivien Leigh, one year before her tremendous success in GONE WITH THE WIND, as a philandering young wife with an eye for male students.

Equally impressive is a gaggle of less well known British actors: stalwart Griffith Jones, as Taylor's main college rival; Robert Coote, as a cheery student forever looking for new ways to get sent down; Walter Kingsford, as a benevolent dean; ancient C. V. France as a delightfully forgetful academician; and cuddly Edward Rigby as Taylor's elderly attendant.

Claude Gillingwater appears as Barrymore's caustic banker. Movie mavens will recognize Ethel Griffies as an Oxford proctor.

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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Pleasing entertainment, 12 January 2002
Author: JoeytheBrit from www.moviemoviesite.com

A YANK AT OXFORD offers a quaint version of Oxford academia in which days are spent boating on the river or running on the track rather than sitting in a stuffy classroom with a textbook the size of a housebrick; a world in which students wear suits and smoke pipes, and flee for the back door of the pub whenever a professor is seen.

Robert Taylor plays the conceited but likeable 'Yank' of the title in this typical 'fish out of water' movie that starts strongly before rambling a little as it concentrates on the animosity he encounters from another student (Griffith Jones, giving a solid performance). Taylor's a little too old for the part, but still has the boyish good-looks that faded so badly in the Forties. A flighty Vivien Leigh and a pretty Maureen O'Sullivan both look young and fresh, and add a little brightness to the fusty old halls of academia.

The movie offers a picture of a pre-World War II world that perhaps never existed, although it would be nice to believe that it did. Either way, it's a pleasant way to lose yourself from the modern world for 90 minutes.

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
pre-Scarlet, pre-war, and pre-Waterloo Bridge, 1 September 2006
6/10
Author: blanche-2 from United States

Robert Taylor is "A Yank at Oxford," a 1938 comedy also starring Maureen O'Sullivan, Lionel Barrymore, Vivien Leigh, Edmund Gwenn, and Griffith Jones. Taylor is Lee Sheridan, an all-American athlete who is accepted into Cardinal College at Oxford and leaves his hometown and his dad (Barrymore) who owns a newspaper. Lee has no idea what he's in for, as his egotism makes him an easy mark for a fake "reception" by the students and other barbs. He immediately becomes attracted to the lovely Molly Beaumont (O'Sullivan), whose brother Paul (Jones) is having an affair with one Mrs. Craddock (Leigh). Due to a series of unfortunate events, Paul and Lee become mortal enemies. This film surely had the women drooling in 1938 as Taylor uses his muscular arms to row, his strong legs to run, and his beautiful smile to charm. He glistens with youth and vitality, and there are plenty of shots of "the world's most perfect profile" to please his fans. Normally Taylor exhibits a very likable personality in films, but in this one, he comes off as too aggressive, finally becoming aggravating to this viewer. He was probably directed that way so that he would appear as a bull in a china shop among all the Oxford gents. Taylor has fallen into disregard since declaring himself a good American and ratting out Howard da Silva and others during the '50s Communist witch hunts. No one came out a winner who was involved, not the victims nor the blabbermouths. The sad thing about Taylor is, he truly believed every word he said. If you can separate his politics from his career, he was a very good actor, a gorgeous man, and a very big star back in the day.

Maureen O'Sullivan is perky and pretty as Taylor's love interest - that same year, she and Taylor worked together in "The Crowd Roars." British actor Griffith Jones plays her brother and is not only excellent but very handsome. According to IMDb, he worked into the 1980s and is apparently still alive at 95. The supporting cast is marvelous, including Edmund Gwenn as a professor and Lionel Barrymore as Lee's proud father. Vivien Leigh plays a flaky, flirty bookshop owner married to a much older man and not adverse to a little hanky-panky on the side. It's not much of a role, and though she was a natural beauty, no one would have considered her for Scarlett just watching this film. Her last line, however, given the character she portrays, is hilarious. She and Taylor would meet again for the classic "Waterloo Bridge." "A Yank at Oxford" shows an England untouched by war and young men who worked at being superior athletes and gentlemen as they roamed the hallowed halls of Oxford. That would all end soon. It was a nice fairytale while it lasted.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Not exactly deep, but a very entertaining MGM flick, 27 May 2007
7/10
Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

A young Robert Taylor plays an obnoxious but highly talented athlete who wins a scholarship to one of the colleges at Oxford. Unforutunately for him, his brash ways immediately alienate him from his classmates and the going is very rough. But, of course, there are people pulling for him--including some wonderful MGM stock actors.

Despite a very good score of 7, I actually enjoyed the film more than the score might indicate. However, I really couldn't give the film a higher score since it was a tad formulaic and a tad hokey. You see, for me, I don't mind if a film from Hollywood's Golden Age has these qualities, as the studios knew this when they made some of these films. Sure, there was some predictability and a few clichés, but the films were highly entertaining and fun--so the secret is counter-balancing these aspects with a quality production. So, when braggart Robert Taylor (in one of his best early roles) appears, you KNOW that eventually he will learn humility and to become a team player. But, the journey along the way is so well done (thanks to excellent acting, writing, direction and music) that you just suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride.

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An Adjustment Of Image., 5 November 2009
8/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

After his early days at MGM when Robert Taylor was marketed as a modern romance magazine cover, it was perceived by Louis B. Mayer that Taylor needed an adjustment of image to expand his casting potential. It was perceived by Taylor as well who was not happy with some of the snide powder puff comments he was getting in some quarters.

Accordingly A Yank At Oxford was an original screenplay written specifically for him in mind. As Taylor in real life was an athletic sort, the casting was no stretch that way.

In his part as an American on scholarship to Oxford Taylor was going into Tyrone Power's territory of the hero/heel. Taylor was more often a nice guy 100% in this stage of his career. But he does very well with the part.

Arriving at Cardinal College in Oxford, Taylor doesn't do much for Anglo-American relations with his braggadocious ways. He makes particular enemies with three classmates, Griffith Jones, Robert Coote, and Peter Croft. But he also backs his brag up and when he meets Maureen O'Sullivan who is Jones's sister who planes out the rougher side of Taylor.

The film was produced by MGM and shot over in the United Kingdom with the real Oxford locations used. Take a look at the writing credits of this film. I'm quite flabbergasted that so many talented hands went into the screenplay. Usually that means a muddled mess, but it all works here.

Several of the players had only worked in British cinema before and A Yank At Oxford was America's first look at a lot of them. Most importantly Vivien Leigh. She had a really interesting part as the wife of a bookstore owner. Her husband is a good deal older than her and she amuses herself with her pick of the young Oxford students. She sets her cap at one point for both Taylor and Jones and it's on her flirtatious ways that the plot hinges. Her naughty flirt in this film may very well have made one David O. Selznick cast her as the ultimate young flirt in Gone With The Wind.

A Yank At Oxford was remade almost 50 years later as Oxford Blues with Rob Lowe in the lead. As an actor in his Brat Pack days, Lowe was cast in a lot of parts that would have gone to a Robert Taylor or Tyrone Power. Still A Yank At Oxford became one of Robert Taylor's most popular roles with the general public and with his enduring legion of fans.

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0 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Unfortunate American Slop, 6 November 2008
4/10
Author: Denny Kelly from United States

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)

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6 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Distinctly anti-American comedy is easy to resist..., 17 May 2005
5/10
Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

ROBERT TAYLOR is refreshingly natural in the role of a brash American Yank who immediately succeeds in alienating his fellow Oxford classmates to the extent that they play practical jokes on him. The entire tone of the film seems to want to portray Americans as distinctly out of their element among the British elite. There's a distinctly mean-spirited flavor to some of the proceedings.

MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN is pleasant as Taylor's chief love interest, but it's hard to detect any of the qualities VIVIEN LEIGH would later show as Scarlett O'Hara in her role as a flirtatious bookstore worker. Her pencil thin eyebrows and unflattering hairdo don't suggest any of the attractive make-up that transformed her into a Southern belle just a year later. She looks almost dowdy here before Hollywood gave her the glamor treatment.

Taylor and Leigh would exhibit much better chemistry in 1940's WATERLOO BRIDGE. Here she is somewhat irritating in a small role.

Sports-minded individuals will get more of a kick out of this than the casual movie-goer looking for a good romantic comedy.

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