The old prep school is set on its ear when A YANK AT ETON tries to defy the established rules & regulations.
Mickey Rooney, MGM's human dynamo, is in all his glory in this pleasant film obviously fashioned to his particular talents. Although a mite old to be playing a high school boy (he turned 22 in 1942), Rooney pulls out all the stops, and shows considerable athletic ability, as an American kid who's angry about having to attend Eton, rather than his beloved Notre Dame. It's hard to fault all of his behavior today, as some of the conventions he rebels against, especially the physical brutality inflicted upon the lower boys at Eton, needed to be changed.
However, the film's purpose is not to deliver a social message. It's aim was to provide a money maker for MGM, as well as a salute to our British allies. The Second World War and our common enemies are never mentioned, but the affectionate comradeship between our two nations is certainly underlined.
Mickey is given excellent support from a fine cast of costars. Puckish Edmund Gwenn plays Rooney's house master, his whimsicality marred somewhat by his casual allowance of the older boys beating of the younger. Earnest Ian Hunter gives a thoughtful performance as Mickey's new English stepfather. Gangling Freddie Bartholomew plays Hunter's well-bred son; this tall, skinny youth bares scant resemblance to the small boy who charmed audiences in David COPPERFIELD and CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS back in the 1930's.
Marta Linden & Juanita Quigley appear as Mickey's supportive Mom and badly behaved younger sister. Little Raymond Severn plays a tiny earl who becomes Rooney's best pal at school. Peter Lawford is convincingly nasty as a bullying upper boy. Genial Alan Mowbray enlivens his brief appearance as a befuddled old Etonian trying to remember a particular steeplechase race from decades past.
Movie mavens will recognize several uncredited performers: Minna Phillips as a slightly silly Eton school matron; Billy Bevan as a tour guide; former child star Terry Kilburn as one of Bartholomew's student friends; cheery Aubrey Mather as a butler who learns an important bit of American vernacular; and Alan Napier as a restaurant club owner with a profound dislike for Eton boys in his establishment.
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The song sung over the opening credits is the first verse of the famous Eton Boating Song (1863, William Johnson & Capt. Algernon Drummond); the second verse is heard later on in the film. The words are as follows:
Jolly boating weather, And a hay harvest breeze, Blade on the feather, Shade off the trees, Let us swing, swing together, With your bodies between your knees, Swing, swing together, With your bodies between your knees.
Skirting past the rushes, Ruffling o'er the weeds, Where the lock stream gushes, Where the cygnet feeds, Let us see how the wine-glass flushes At Supper on Boveney meads, Let us see how the wine-glass flushes At Supper on Boveney meads.
Interestingly, those are American, not British, voices singing. And the film never shows Rooney or the other boys doing any boating whatsoever.
Eton College, the largest of England's great public (independent secondary) schools, was founded by Henry VI in 1440-1441, and is located across the River Thames from Windsor Castle. Its student body is made up of over a thousand Oppidans, generally drawn from Britain's wealthiest or aristocratic families and who live in boardinghouses under the care of house masters; and the King's Scholars, of which 70 are named each year by means of a special examination, who dwell in elite quarters. Generally, lads attend Eton from age 13 until they are ready to enter university.
