A YANK AT OXFORD

'''A Yank at Oxford''' is a British 1938 film comedy produced by the British branch of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Jack Conway from a screenplay by John Monk Saunders and Leon Gordon.
It stars Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, and Vivien Leigh.

Contents

Plot Summary

Plot Summary

A Yank At Oxford is about a cocky American named Lee Sheridan who gets 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 go. Once in England, Lee brags about his athletic triumphs to a Paul Beaumont, Wavertree, and Ramsey on the train to Oxford. Annoyed they trick him into getting off the train at the wrong stop. However Lee does make his way to Oxford and is again tricked when the campus fools him into thinking that he is getting a grand reception. Angered he follows one of the pranksters impersonating the Dean and after chasing him is thrown off and ends up kicking a real teacher getting Lee on the bad side of one of the professors.
Lee considers leaving Oxford but stays on after being convinced by Scatters, his personal servant. Lee meets Elsa Craddock (a married woman who "helps" the new campus students) and starts a relationship with Paul Beaumont's sister Molly. 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 date him again, but Lee still feels poor for what has happened between he and Paul.
Lee begins gets into 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, comes up 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 (who had been trying to get expelled for an inheritance from his uncle) was let off with a slap on the wrist. Lee and Paul finally make amends and win the bump races.

This film was instrumental in getting 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. A funny piece of either ironic or planned scripting was when Lee Sheridan goes in to his tutor. His tutor asks him what he's reading and, confused, Lee replies he is reading ''Gone with the Wind''. Of course Vivien Leigh did go on later to become Scarlett O'Hara the following year. Ironic or not it is still humorous.
It was followed a year later by a film entitled A Yank at Eton which was not filmed on location. Although the film's portrayed the United Kingdom in a mainly positive light it was thought to harm US-British relations at such a sensitive time. It tellas the tale of an uncouth American attending Eton and having difficulty fitting even even though people try to accommodate him. It has the Eton boating song as its theme tune. It is rendered at a much faster pace than is normal for that air. Needless to say this film was not shot on location. It has been shown on TNT in 1995.