A Yank at Oxford
Encyclopedia
A Yank at Oxford is a 1938 British
film, directed
by Jack Conway
from a screenplay by John Monk Saunders
and Leon Gordon. It was produced
by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios
. The film was parodied in the 1940
Laurel and Hardy
film A Chump at Oxford
and remade in 1984 as Oxford Blues
.
) receives a scholarship to attend Oxford University. At first, Lee is reluctant to go to the college due to his father's limited income, but he finally does attend. Once in England, Lee brags about his athletic triumphs to Paul Beaumont (Griffith Jones
), Wavertree (Robert Coote
), and Ramsey (Peter Croft) on the train to Oxford. Annoyed, they trick Lee Sheridan into getting off the train at the wrong stop. However, Lee does make his way to Oxford where the students attempt to trick him again, this time into thinking that he is getting a grand reception. Seeing through the deception, he follows the prankster impersonating the Dean and after chasing him is thrown off and ends up kicking the real Dean of Cardinal (Edmund Gwenn
) before retreating.
Lee considers leaving Oxford but stays on after being convinced by Scatters (Edward Rigby
), his personal servant. Lee meets Elsa Craddock (Vivien Leigh
) (a married woman who "helps" the new campus students) and starts a relationship with Paul Beaumont's sister Molly (Maureen O'Sullivan
). Lee makes the track team and just when he begins to fit in he is hazed for pushing Paul out of the way during a track meet when asked to rest. In a fit of anger, Lee goes to a local bar and finds Paul in a private booth with Elsa. He starts to fight with Paul when Wavertree comes in and warns them of campus officials coming. Lee and Paul run and when they are almost caught by one of the campus officials Lee punches him. Wavertree tells his friends that he saw Paul throw the punch and it is Paul who gets in trouble for hitting the official. He is scorned for saying it was Lee who punched him and Lee is soon the favorite of Paul's old friends. Molly begins to see him again, but Lee still feels poor for what has happened between her and Paul.
Lee begins rowing and tries to make amends to Paul after winning a race, but Paul rejects the offer of friendship. Though his offer of friendship was rejected, Lee still helps Paul by hiding Elsa in his own room when Elsa is looking for Paul. The Dean catches the two of them together and expels Lee from Oxford. Lee's father, Dan Sheridan (Lionel Barrymore
), comes for the bump races having not heard of Lee's expulsion from Oxford University. When Lee tells him that he had been having an affair with Elsa, Dan believes he is lying. Judging from Lee's letters about Molly he feels that Lee could not possibly have had an affair with Elsa due to the way he feels about Molly. Dan meets with Molly and the two devise a plan to get Lee back into college. Dan meets with Elsa at the bookstore and convinces her to talk to the Dean. After flirting with the Dean and telling him that Lee was only hiding her from Wavertree, Lee is allowed back into Oxford and Wavertree (much to his disgust for he has been trying to get expelled for an inheritance from his uncle) is let off with a slap on the wrist. Lee and Paul finally make amends and win the bump races.
took a personal interest in casting, and visited the set several times. At first, Mayer was reluctant to cast the then unknown Vivien Leigh in the role of Elsa Craddock, until persuaded by Michael Balcon
, who stated that she was already living in Britain and it would cost much more to fly someone else out to England. (Mayer and Balcon later got into a fight on set, within earshot of Vivien Leigh and Maureen O'Sullivan, that led to Balcon resigning from the film.)
This film was instrumental in getting the then-unknown Vivien Leigh
noticed by David O. Selznick
for the film Gone with the Wind
. However it was known perhaps as early as 1938 that Vivien Leigh had (secretly) secured the role of Scarlett O'Hara
, which she started filming in 1939. There is a moment in "A Yank at Oxford" just a couple of minutes before Vivien Leigh first appears when Lee Sheridan goes in to his tutor. His tutor asks him what he's reading, meaning in British parlance what he planned on majoring in. Confused, Lee replies he is "about half way through 'Gone with the Wind.' Events surrounding Leigh at the time either make this a coincidental piece of scripting, or a knowing reference to those events.
The film pairs Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor as a romantic lead couple, a configuration repeated in the 1940 remake of Waterloo Bridge
. Before this film, Taylor was seen as the "romantic love interest" and thus as a 1930s equivalent to Rudolph Valentino
, with men therefore starting to doubt Taylor's masculinity. His casting in this film (by Mayer) was a successful attempt to put paid to such doubts, and dramatically boosted his reputation with both men and women.
This film marked Jon Pertwee
's (uncredited) film debut.
During the filming of A Yank at Oxford, Leigh garnered herself a reputation as being "difficult" to work with. According to her biography by Alexander Walker, Leigh felt judged by Maureen O'Sullivan, (whom she had befriended years earlier at school) because O'Sullivan was happily married and Leigh was in the midst of a scandalous affair with Laurence Olivier
and awaiting word of a divorce from her first husband, Leigh Holman. Therefore, the relationship was "strained." Also Leigh had developed a foot problem whereupon she asked to go to London
to see her chiropractic
. As Leigh was preparing to leave, the wardrobe department developed a manner in which they cut a hole in her shoes so that her toe would be at ease. According to Leigh, she was forced to pay for her own shoes and demanded that MGM help her make some of the payments. On the other hand, MGM said that they bought all of Leigh's shoes and she didn't have to pay a penny on the film. Due to the dispute, her manager, Alexander Korda
, sent Leigh a message stating that if her behavior did not improve, he would not renew her contract. Leigh's behavior did shape up and her contract was renewed. Regardless of her prior behavior, Leigh managed to make her way through the filming without much acrimony and made an impression on her costar, Robert Taylor. Taylor returned to Hollywood talking of the great English actress he had worked with and suggested to Selznick, who was still searching for his Scarlett O'Hara
, that they ought to look at her.
) portrayed the United Kingdom in a mainly positive light, it was thought to harm US-British relations at such a sensitive time.
was one of several uncredited writers, and F. Scott Fitzgerald
also spent three weeks working on the script, touching up rough points and adding bits of dialogue.
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
film, directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Jack Conway
Jack Conway (film-maker)
Jack Ryan Conway was a film director and film producer, as well as an actor of many films in the first half of the 20th century....
from a screenplay by John Monk Saunders
John Monk Saunders
John Monk Saunders was an American novelist, screenwriter and film director.-Early life and career:...
and Leon Gordon. It was produced
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios
MGM-British Studios
MGM-British was a subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer initially established at Denham Film Studios in 1936. The films produced there were A Yank at Oxford , The Citadel , Goodbye, Mr...
. The film was parodied in the 1940
1940 in film
The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
film A Chump at Oxford
A Chump at Oxford
A Chump at Oxford, directed by Alfred J. Goulding and released in 1940 by United Artists, was the penultimate Laurel and Hardy film made at the Hal Roach studios. Originally released as a streamliner featurette at forty minutes long, twenty minutes of footage largely unrelated to the main plot...
and remade in 1984 as Oxford Blues
Oxford Blues
Oxford Blues is a 1984 film written and directed by Robert Boris and starred Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy and Amanda Pays. It is a remake of the 1938 MGM film A Yank at Oxford.-Plot:...
.
Plot summary
A cocky American named Lee Sheridan (Robert TaylorRobert Taylor (actor)
Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor...
) receives a scholarship to attend Oxford University. At first, Lee is reluctant to go to the college due to his father's limited income, but he finally does attend. Once in England, Lee brags about his athletic triumphs to Paul Beaumont (Griffith Jones
Griffith Jones (actor)
Griffith Jones was an English film, stage and television actor.Born in London, England, Jones was the son of a Welsh-speaking dairy owner. In 1932, he married Robin Isaac, and they had two children: the actors Gemma Jones and Nicholas Jones...
), Wavertree (Robert Coote
Robert Coote
Robert Coote was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many films, and created the role of Colonel Hugh Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of My Fair Lady.-Biography:Coote was educated at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex...
), and Ramsey (Peter Croft) on the train to Oxford. Annoyed, they trick Lee Sheridan into getting off the train at the wrong stop. However, Lee does make his way to Oxford where the students attempt to trick him again, this time into thinking that he is getting a grand reception. Seeing through the deception, he follows the prankster impersonating the Dean and after chasing him is thrown off and ends up kicking the real Dean of Cardinal (Edmund Gwenn
Edmund Gwenn
Edmund Gwenn was an English theatre and film actor.-Background:Born Edmund John Kellaway in Wandsworth, London , and educated at St. Olave's School and later at King's College London, Gwenn began his acting career in the theatre in 1895...
) before retreating.
Lee considers leaving Oxford but stays on after being convinced by Scatters (Edward Rigby
Edward Rigby
Edward Rigby was a British character actor.-Early life:Rigby was the son of Jamaican-born Dr. William Harriot Coke and his wife Liverpool-born Mary Elizabeth of 17 High Street, Ashford. He was educated at Haileybury, and Wye Agricultural College...
), his personal servant. Lee meets Elsa Craddock (Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she also played on stage in London's West End, as well as for her portrayal of the southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, alongside Clark...
) (a married woman who "helps" the new campus students) and starts a relationship with Paul Beaumont's sister Molly (Maureen O'Sullivan
Maureen O'Sullivan
Maureen Paula O’Sullivan was an Irish actress.-Early life:O'Sullivan was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, the daughter of Roman Catholic parents Mary Lovatt and Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in The Connaught Rangers who served in The Great War...
). Lee makes the track team and just when he begins to fit in he is hazed for pushing Paul out of the way during a track meet when asked to rest. In a fit of anger, Lee goes to a local bar and finds Paul in a private booth with Elsa. He starts to fight with Paul when Wavertree comes in and warns them of campus officials coming. Lee and Paul run and when they are almost caught by one of the campus officials Lee punches him. Wavertree tells his friends that he saw Paul throw the punch and it is Paul who gets in trouble for hitting the official. He is scorned for saying it was Lee who punched him and Lee is soon the favorite of Paul's old friends. Molly begins to see him again, but Lee still feels poor for what has happened between her and Paul.
Lee begins rowing and tries to make amends to Paul after winning a race, but Paul rejects the offer of friendship. Though his offer of friendship was rejected, Lee still helps Paul by hiding Elsa in his own room when Elsa is looking for Paul. The Dean catches the two of them together and expels Lee from Oxford. Lee's father, Dan Sheridan (Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
), comes for the bump races having not heard of Lee's expulsion from Oxford University. When Lee tells him that he had been having an affair with Elsa, Dan believes he is lying. Judging from Lee's letters about Molly he feels that Lee could not possibly have had an affair with Elsa due to the way he feels about Molly. Dan meets with Molly and the two devise a plan to get Lee back into college. Dan meets with Elsa at the bookstore and convinces her to talk to the Dean. After flirting with the Dean and telling him that Lee was only hiding her from Wavertree, Lee is allowed back into Oxford and Wavertree (much to his disgust for he has been trying to get expelled for an inheritance from his uncle) is let off with a slap on the wrist. Lee and Paul finally make amends and win the bump races.
Cast
- Robert TaylorRobert Taylor (actor)Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor...
— Lee Sheridan - Lionel BarrymoreLionel BarrymoreLionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul...
— Dan Sheridan - Maureen O'SullivanMaureen O'SullivanMaureen Paula O’Sullivan was an Irish actress.-Early life:O'Sullivan was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, the daughter of Roman Catholic parents Mary Lovatt and Charles Joseph O'Sullivan, an officer in The Connaught Rangers who served in The Great War...
— Molly Beaumont - Vivien LeighVivien LeighVivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she also played on stage in London's West End, as well as for her portrayal of the southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, alongside Clark...
— Elsa Craddock - Edmund GwennEdmund GwennEdmund Gwenn was an English theatre and film actor.-Background:Born Edmund John Kellaway in Wandsworth, London , and educated at St. Olave's School and later at King's College London, Gwenn began his acting career in the theatre in 1895...
— Dean of Cardinal - Griffith JonesGriffith Jones (actor)Griffith Jones was an English film, stage and television actor.Born in London, England, Jones was the son of a Welsh-speaking dairy owner. In 1932, he married Robin Isaac, and they had two children: the actors Gemma Jones and Nicholas Jones...
— Paul Beaumont - C.V. FranceC.V. FranceCharles V. France , usually credited as C. V. France, was a British actor.-Partial filmography:*The Blue Bird *The Skin Game *Black Coffee...
— Dean Snodgrass - Edward RigbyEdward RigbyEdward Rigby was a British character actor.-Early life:Rigby was the son of Jamaican-born Dr. William Harriot Coke and his wife Liverpool-born Mary Elizabeth of 17 High Street, Ashford. He was educated at Haileybury, and Wye Agricultural College...
— Scatters - Morton SeltenMorton SeltenMorton Selten was a British stage and film actor. He was occasionally credited as Morton Selton.It was generally acknowledged that Selten was an illegitimate son of the then Prince of Wales . He began acting in 1878, with stage performances mainly in America. His film career began in the 1920s...
— Cecil Davidson, Esq. - Claude GillingwaterClaude GillingwaterClaude Benton Gillingwater was an American stage and screen actor. He first appeared on the stage then in 92 films between 1918 and 1939....
— Ben Dalton - Tully MarshallTully MarshallWilliam Phillips was an American character actor known as Tully Marshall, with nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience behind before he made his first film appearance in 1914.-Career:...
— Cephas - Walter KingsfordWalter KingsfordWalter Kingsford was a British stage, film and television actor born in Redhill, Surrey, England. He was born Walter Pearce and had several sisters...
— Dean Williams - Robert CooteRobert CooteRobert Coote was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many films, and created the role of Colonel Hugh Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of My Fair Lady.-Biography:Coote was educated at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex...
— Wavertree - Peter Croft — Ramsey
- Noel HowlettNoel HowlettNoel Howlett was an English actor, principally remembered as the incompetent headmaster, Morris Cromwell, in the ITV 1970s cult television programme Please Sir!...
— Tom Craddock - Ronald ShinerRonald ShinerRonald Alfred Shiner was a British stand-up comedian and comedic actor whose career encompassed film, West End theatre and music hall.-Career:...
— Bicycle repairman (uncredited) - Jon PertweeJon PertweeJohn Devon Roland Pertwee , was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge...
— Extra (uncredited)
Casting
This was MGM's first British production, and so MGM head Louis B. MayerLouis B. Mayer
Louis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
took a personal interest in casting, and visited the set several times. At first, Mayer was reluctant to cast the then unknown Vivien Leigh in the role of Elsa Craddock, until persuaded by Michael Balcon
Michael Balcon
Sir Michael Elias Balcon was an English film producer, known for his work with Ealing Studios.-Background:...
, who stated that she was already living in Britain and it would cost much more to fly someone else out to England. (Mayer and Balcon later got into a fight on set, within earshot of Vivien Leigh and Maureen O'Sullivan, that led to Balcon resigning from the film.)
This film was instrumental in getting the then-unknown Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh
Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she also played on stage in London's West End, as well as for her portrayal of the southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, alongside Clark...
noticed by David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
for the film Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
. However it was known perhaps as early as 1938 that Vivien Leigh had (secretly) secured the role of Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O' Hara is the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and in the later film of the same name...
, which she started filming in 1939. There is a moment in "A Yank at Oxford" just a couple of minutes before Vivien Leigh first appears when Lee Sheridan goes in to his tutor. His tutor asks him what he's reading, meaning in British parlance what he planned on majoring in. Confused, Lee replies he is "about half way through 'Gone with the Wind.' Events surrounding Leigh at the time either make this a coincidental piece of scripting, or a knowing reference to those events.
The film pairs Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor as a romantic lead couple, a configuration repeated in the 1940 remake of Waterloo Bridge
Waterloo Bridge (1940 film)
Waterloo Bridge is a 1940 remake of the 1931 film of the same title, adapted from the 1930 play of the same title.The film was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Sidney Franklin and Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay is by S. N. Behrman, Hans Rameau and George...
. Before this film, Taylor was seen as the "romantic love interest" and thus as a 1930s equivalent to Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
, with men therefore starting to doubt Taylor's masculinity. His casting in this film (by Mayer) was a successful attempt to put paid to such doubts, and dramatically boosted his reputation with both men and women.
This film marked Jon Pertwee
Jon Pertwee
John Devon Roland Pertwee , was an English actor. Pertwee is best known for his role in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who, in which he played the third incarnation of the Doctor from 1970 to 1974, and as the title character in the series Worzel Gummidge...
's (uncredited) film debut.
During the filming of A Yank at Oxford, Leigh garnered herself a reputation as being "difficult" to work with. According to her biography by Alexander Walker, Leigh felt judged by Maureen O'Sullivan, (whom she had befriended years earlier at school) because O'Sullivan was happily married and Leigh was in the midst of a scandalous affair with Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
and awaiting word of a divorce from her first husband, Leigh Holman. Therefore, the relationship was "strained." Also Leigh had developed a foot problem whereupon she asked to go to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to see her chiropractic
Chiropractic
Chiropractic is a health care profession concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders of the neuromusculoskeletal system and the effects of these disorders on general health. It is generally categorized as complementary and alternative medicine...
. As Leigh was preparing to leave, the wardrobe department developed a manner in which they cut a hole in her shoes so that her toe would be at ease. According to Leigh, she was forced to pay for her own shoes and demanded that MGM help her make some of the payments. On the other hand, MGM said that they bought all of Leigh's shoes and she didn't have to pay a penny on the film. Due to the dispute, her manager, Alexander Korda
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian-born British producer and film director. He was a leading figure in the British film industry, the founder of London Films and the owner of British Lion Films, a film distributing company.-Life and career:The elder brother of filmmakers Zoltán Korda and Vincent...
, sent Leigh a message stating that if her behavior did not improve, he would not renew her contract. Leigh's behavior did shape up and her contract was renewed. Regardless of her prior behavior, Leigh managed to make her way through the filming without much acrimony and made an impression on her costar, Robert Taylor. Taylor returned to Hollywood talking of the great English actress he had worked with and suggested to Selznick, who was still searching for his Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O' Hara is the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and in the later film of the same name...
, that they ought to look at her.
Reception
Although this film and its sequel (the 1942 A Yank at EtonA Yank at Eton
A Yank at Eton is an American comedy/drama film. It was the 1942 sequel to the 1938 A Yank at Oxford. All of it was filmed in the United States and none of it at Eton...
) portrayed the United Kingdom in a mainly positive light, it was thought to harm US-British relations at such a sensitive time.
Script
Jon Pertwee's father Roland PertweeRoland Pertwee
Roland Pertwee was an English playwright, film and television screenwriter, director and actor. He was the father of both Doctor Who star Jon Pertwee and fellow playwright and screenwriter Michael Pertwee...
was one of several uncredited writers, and F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
also spent three weeks working on the script, touching up rough points and adding bits of dialogue.