A Yank at Eton

High school football star Timothy Dennis (Mickey Rooney) is headed for Notre-Dame. He gets surprised by his mother's marriage in England. He gets sent to Eton College where he struggles with the clash of cultures. His only friend is little Inky. His stepbrother Peter Carlton (Freddie Bartholomew) becomes a rival.

Mickey Rooney is doing his usual Andy Hardy stuff and clashing with the Brits starting with Lord Fauntleroy. It's fine. It goes rather easy on the Brits with the real war raging outside. Edmund Gwenn makes a meal of fighting side by side with them. It is what it is.

"A Yank at Eton" is an MGM comedy drama very similar to the studio's 1938 hit film, "A Yank at Oxford," that starred Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh. Although the characters and backgrounds are different, the story line is generally the same. An American attends a top British school, where he clashes with some of the Brits, makes friends with a couple, and competes in and wins athletic events; eventually to fit in and be heartily accepted by his British schoolmates. The two schools - Oxford and Eton, are at different levels, of course, and the story details differ, including some of the sports competitions. The one that is the same is a running race. But here at Eton, the Yank gets into European football; while at Oxford, he competed in rowing.

Where the collegiate-level Oxford film also had a romantic aspect, this film has more of the school and house structure and its politics. From what I have read, MGM apparently made this film as a sort of compatriot propaganda film. American forces were descending on England to build up for the Allied assault of Germany. So, this film portrayed the friendly relations between the English and Americans. Of course, the war in Europe was raging at the time. The U. K. had survived the German bombings in 1941. So, it is strange that this film doesn't even have a hint of the war going on.

The Oxford film of 1938 was made in England. It was the first one out of MGM's newly established English studio. But, this film was made entirely in Hollywood. The entire cast gave very good performaces. Mickey Rooney gave a believable performance as a talented athlete. He's a young American, Timothy Dennis, who longed to play football at Notre Dame, but finds himself in a prep school in England after his widowed mother marries a prominent Englishman. So, the story isn't about Mickey Rooney, the very short actor. And the scenes of his sports on the field, and his racing are well acted and filmed. If there is a fault here, it's in portraying Ronnie Kenvil in the steeplechase as being so hesitant and fatigued.

Edmund Gwenn is the one key cast member who played a similar role as a school master in this film, to the one he had in the 1938 film. And, of course, this is one of Peter Lawford's very early films - just his sixth. Except for his quite distinct voice, I wouldn't have recognized the youthful 18-year-old Lawford who plays Ronnie Kenvil. Other familiar actors of note in this film are Ian Hunter, Alan Mowbray and Freddie Bartholomew.

"Yank at Oxford" had been a big hit at the box office in 1938 - finishing 29th for the year in ticket sales. This film wasn't as big a hit (well, it didn't have Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh) but was a success and finished the year 60th in box office receipts, It didn't pass the earlier film, but it also had much greater competition with films of all types, including war-related. This was the year of such all-time classics as "Casablanca" and "Mrs. Miniver," and a host of fine musicals, dramas, comedies and other war-related stories.

This is an enjoyable film that reflects something of the time and higher end of English culture of the day. It's a good family film and one most people should still be able to enjoy well into the 21st century.

Although A Yank At Eton is supposed to put you in mind of MGM's classic A Yank At Oxford, in fact this film is a reworking of the plot of Boys Town. Please note that Norman Taurog directed star Mickey Rooney in Boys Town and Men Of Boys Town.

After the death of her husband, Marta Linden takes a trip to Europe and returns with a new husband in Ian Hunter to the distress of her children, Rooney and Juanita Quigley. She says they're moving to England and Rooney doesn't like the idea because he wants to play football for Notre Dame.

Hunter gets the Mick into his old alma mater Eton and Rooney takes to it much like his character of Whitey Marsh took to Boystown. But the Mick's got a heart of gold which soon comes out. If you have seen Boys Town and remember the plot situations that's roughly what happens here.

There were some criticisms of A Yank At Eton one of which was the mistake of showing folks using left hand drive in cars instead of right hand which is what they have in the UK. Most of the time the negative was just reversed like they did for Gary Cooper to show a left handed batting Lou Gehrig in Pride Of The Yankees. In crowd scenes that couldn't be helped and unlike A Yank At Oxford, this film was done on the MGM back lot.

However having Rooney as a track star was a bit much. Face it folks, Mickey's size and short legs would never have made him any kind of star in running. And here they have Mickey doing hurdles and doing it in street shoes. Track coaches around the world probably laughed their heads off.

Although this was a wartime film with the obligatory reminder to buy bonds at the end of the film, there's not a mention of war or impending war in the film. Just a reminder of how Eton trains some of the future leaders in Great Britain who have never let the country down in peril. They might well have quoted the Duke of Wellington's aphorism of how the Battle Of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.

It's not Boystown, but A Yank At Eton is an entertaining film if one can overlook some flaws. They should have had Mickey stick to football, he would have been interesting playing rugby in the climax.

If you're considering skipping A Yank at Eton, don't. It's extremely cute, and amidst the turmoil of the United States entering WWII, it came out at the perfect time. Providing a united front with our brothers across the pond, it shows that cultural differences don't matter, as long as we become friends in the end.

Mickey Rooney's mother marries the English Ian Hunter, and right in the middle of his high school heyday on the football field, Mickey and his sister are yanked-no pun intended-out of their world and forced to live in England with their new stepfather. Mickey has to go to Eton, and he doesn't like it. He doesn't appreciate the strings Ian had to pull to get him enrolled, and he doesn't appreciate the amount of rules headmaster Edmund Gwenn insists he abide by. In America, Mickey was the top dog, but at Eton, he's an underling who has a curfew, shares a room, and has to do little errands for upperclassmen, no questions asked. If you recognize one of the upperclassmen with the distinctive accent, you'll see the very young face of Peter Lawford!

Six years earlier, Mickey Rooney and Freddie Bartholomew starred in The Devil Is a Sissy together. Freddie played the newbie who didn't fit in, and Mickey was older and wiser who befriended him. Now in A Yank at Eton, Mickey is the newbie who doesn't fit in, and an older, taller, lower-voiced Freddie plays a student who tries to help him adjust. It's really too bad that Freddie's career petered out, since when he grew up, there was nothing wrong with his talent.

As much as Freddie threatens to steal the show, as much as Mickey threatens to steal the show, and as much as Edmund Gwenn threatens to steal the show, it's little Raymond Severn who succeeds. You might not know his name, but you'll recognize those big eyes on him and his seven siblings who acted in movies in the 1940s. He's an absolute doll. He idolizes Mickey Rooney, standing by him when no one else does, and his positive attitude just can't be doused. He gets bossed around by the upperclassmen and teased, and he takes it all with a smile. When he tries to catch on to American slang, it's too cute for words.

The end gets a bit silly, but keep in mind when it was made. The overwhelming theme of the movie is camaraderie, and the Americans and the English needed to become fast friends to fight the Germans. Rent this cute movie. If you like classic boys' school stories and would prefer one on the lighter side, you'll love it.

I always thought Mickey Rooney could do it all and here he is very good as an American who gets uprooted to England. It's pretty funny to see how he contrasts his Americanness (slang etc.) with the stuffy British ways. The the girl who plays the visiting American snob is a little too much though. The best scenes are Rooneys when he is battling the school system though I was annoyed with him when he took the prize horse out of the stable -- you just knew something bad was going to happen. I also like Ian Hunter as his stepfather; His films are always good too. Freddie Batholomew showed why MGM had great child stars. A nice diversion.