A Yank at Oxford

Director: Jack Conway Jack Conway

Overview

In this film, Lee Sheridan is an arrogant young American scholar/athlete who intends to show the "Brits" a thing or two while attending Oxford University. His abrasive attitude grates against the Oxonian students, who retaliate by subjecting Sheridan to a rather humiliating hazing.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/26/2016
UPC:	0888574389710
Original Release:	1938
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[B&W]
Language:	English
Time:	1:42:00
Sales rank:	42,880

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Robert Taylor	Lee Sheridan
Lionel Barrymore	Dan Sheridan
Maureen O'Sullivan	Molly Beaumont
Vivien Leigh	Elsa Craddock
Edmund Gwenn	Dean of Cardinal College
Griffith Jones	Paul Beaumont
C.V. France	Dean Snodgrass
Edward Rigby	Scatters
Morton Selten	Cecil Davidson
Claude Gillingwater	Ben Dalton
Tully Marshall	Cephas
Walter Kingsford	Dean Williams
Robert Coote	Wavertree
Peter Croft	Ramsey
Noel Howlett	Tom Craddock
Edmund Breon	Capt. Wavertree
John Warwick	Actor
Ronald Shiner	Bicycle Repairman
Syd Saylor	Second Printer
Doodles Weaver	Bill
Richard Wattis	Latin Speaker at Dinner
Anthony Hulme	Actor
Peter Murray-Hill	Actor
Jon Pertwee	Actor
Kenneth Villiers	Actor
Philip Ridgeway Jr.	Actor
John Varley	Actor

Technical Credits

Michael Balcon	Producer
Jack Conway	Director

Editorial Reviews

A Yank at Oxford is an enjoyable, middling little comedy that will please undemanding audiences in the mood for something light. It's often thought of as the film that changed Robert Taylor's career, as it showed that he was more than just a "soft" romantic figure for the likes of Greta Garbo to emote over. Yank revealed that Taylor could play a "man's man," and opened new doors for him. As cinema history, therefore, it has some special interest, but taken on its own terms as a film, it's entertaining but little more. Certainly, the cast is not to blame. Taylor plays the brash American well and demonstrates the required virility well, and certainly displays his physique in an impressive manner. Edmund Gwenn is a sheer delight as a dean at the college, Maureen O'Sullivan is appealing as Taylor's love interest and a young Vivien Leigh plays her supporting part for all it's worth. Jack Conway's direction is brisk and to the point, if not overly original. The problem lies with the screenplay, which -- despite (or perhaps because of) the contributions of some dozen credited and uncredited writers, including the unidentified F. Scott Fitzgerald -- is far too familiar and skin-deep.