• Article Database
  • E-Store
  • FAQ
  • Guestbook
  • Multimedia Files
  • Photo Archive
  • ScarlettOHara.org
  • Suzanne Holman Farrington
  • The Vivien Leigh Society

  • A Yank At Oxford

    Starring: Vivien Leigh (Elsa Craddock), Robert Taylor (Lee Sheridan), Lionel Barrymore (Dan Sheridan), Maureen O'Sullivan (Molly Beaumont), Edmund Gwenn (Dean of Cardinal College), Griffith Jones (Paul Beaumont), CV France (Dean Snodgrass), Edward Rigby (Scatters), Morton Selten (Cecil Davidson, Esq), Claude Gillingwater (Ben Dalton), Tully Marshall (Cephas), Walter Kingsford (Dean Williams)

    Director: Jack Conway

    Producer: Michael Balcon

    Screenplay: Malcolm Boylan, Walter Ferris, George Oppenheimer, Walter Ferrie, George Oppenheimer, Leon Gordon, Ronald Pertwee, Herman Mankiewicz, CS Forester, John Van Druten, Christopher Isherwood, RC Sherriff, John Hilton, Frederick Lonsdale

    Photography: Harold Rosson

    Music: Hubert Bath, Edmund Ward

    Editor: Margaret Booth

    Opened: in New York, February 25, 1938; London, April 1, 1938

    Reissued: 1945

    Running Time: 100 minutes (black and white)

    Synopsis: written by Cynthia Molt: "Lee Sheridan, son of small town newspaper publisher Dan Sheridan and a midwestern college track star, is persuaded by the dean to leave the midwest and go to Oxford. Thinking he can show off and astonish the British athletes, he becomes the butt of their jokes in the dorm. He responds by retaliating against another member of the track team. The British students find Lee and take off his pants in public in order to get back at him. He becomes interested in Mary Beaumont. As Lee learns to accept Oxford's ways, he becomes more poular. At one point he takes the blame for an action of Paul's and faces being expelled from school. Luckily, Lee is clearned of any wrongdoing and arrives in time to take the Oxford rowing team, pitted against Cambridge, to victory, while Elsa Craddock, who has an eye for handsome Oxford lads, cheers from the sidelines."

    Note: Vivien was cast in this film becuse Louis B. Mayer thought he could save traveling expenses by hiring her.

    Vivien Leigh Society wrote: General Opinion- They went all the way to England to film what turned out to be not better than what could have been done in Hollywood. It has its moments (however brief) but in essence this is just an average movie. Those in support of leads Robert Taylor and Maureen O'Sullivan excel, particularly Vivien Leigh and Edmund Gwenn. Miss Leigh never lets her character down while coming within an inch of perfection at all times. Too, Gwenn is almost priceless. They make the film worthwhile.

    Articles & Reviews: