A Yank at Oxford (1937)
Director: Jack Conway
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Thrusting young Taylor is perfectly cast as the athletic American bound for Oxford's fictional Cardinal College in this jaunty piece of vintage fluff from MGM's British arm. Considering its tourist trail trappings are obviously there for the delectation of the US market, it's surprising that the plot focuses on taking this young buck down a peg or two, as he realises the error of his unsportsmanlike conduct during a collegiate relay race and eventually makes it up with his new English chums after a traditional 'de-bagging'. Romantic intrigue is, of course, part of the equation, with O'Sullivan a fresh-faced fellow student and Leigh ripping into a character part (when Louis B Mayer denied her the female lead) as the lubricious spouse of the town bookseller. Not that anyone ever actually seems to read a book.Author: TJ
Cast & crew
Director: Jack Conway
Producer: Michael Balcon
Cast: Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Vivien Leigh, Griffith Jones, Edmund Gwenn, CV France, Edward Rigby, Robert Coote full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 102 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.



What do you think?
Post your review now