BEST OF TWO WORLDS

Radio Record, 10 June 1938, Page 25

BEST OF TWO WORLDS

Robert Taylor Goes to Oxford

VEN if you went to Cambridge, don’t on any account miss seeing "' Yank at Oxford." It is higher education’s greatest gift to the world of entertainmentand there’s not much educatior about it either. We’ve had American college pictures ad nauseam in which the bumptious hero goes through the scholastic and sporting mill and eventnally emerges a Man, fit to be rewarded with a co-educational kiss. Now we have an Anglo-American effort which is fundamentally just the same old story all over again, but which has heen handled with gueh pace and hnmour and real intelligence that its 1038 minutes seem all too few-and you know how | object fo most long pictures! Anglo-American "A YANK AT OXFORD" is the first Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film to be produced in England. It combines, as ir. were, the best of two worlds-the vitality and zest of the finest type of Ameriean direction, the evenness of casting and the polish of production

that is to typical of M.-G.-M,, and with all this there is a British restraint to temper Hollywood extravaganee, and un authenticity of atmosphere and setting that is purely English. Hollywood's contribution also ineludes tobert Taylor, in his best role to date; hut Britain keeps the balance even by throwing in Vivien Leigh, Wdmund Gwenn, a notable neweomer named iriffith Jones, and a handful of superb old character players, These are the things you notice on the surface, but beneath them there is a healthy, good-natured "kidding" of Inglish and American national idiosyncracies that should give offence to none and delight to everybody ‘The film is satirical without ever being heavily conscious of the fact. It should-but it won’t-do as much to improve AngloAmerican relations and clinch the Trade Agreement as a dozen diplomatie conferences, First Encounter HE Yank who comes to Oxford is Lee Sheridan, pride of the small American University of TLakedale, Athletic records of all. kinds have been smashed to smithereens beneath his manly feet, Seeking new worlds to conquer he seec-

ures a scholarship to Oxford. "Iv’ll be fun to show those beef-eaters what’s what," modestly remarks Mr. Sheridan. "Pye sure put little old Iakedale on the. map." | "You won't be faced with the same problem at Oxford," is the dry comment of the Lakedale dean, . Regardless of such warnings, Mr. Sheridan sets out on his one-man invasion of England. First defeat for America comes after a conversation in the Oxford train with peppery-. old Morton Selten, "Nice little country you’ve got here," graciously. comments Mr. "But: America’s a real big country. Say, do you know . .’.?" "T’ve no doubt, young man, that you are going to tell me you could put. the whole of England into the State of Oregon. But with what object?" Unabashed, Mr. Sheridan proceeds to sing the. ‘praises ‘of Mr. Sheridan, with special reference to the good fortune of Oxford in having such, a © reeruit, ending with an enthusiastic re quest for further information about. his new Alma Mater. His travelling, companion is not responsive. "Young man," he says, "anything you may wish ‘to learn about Oxford University can, I understand, be obtained from the special guide-book of the place. Tt happens I went to Cambridge." © (Continued on next page.)

Ragging And De-Bagging HAVE made a good deal of those opening sequences-without doing justice to them-because they are typical of the spirit of the show. But what comes after is just as good. Oxford does not take kindly to the bragging of Mr. Sheridan. It rags him and de-bags him; but has to admit that he is a super-athlete, after he has won a freshman’s race in cap and gown. pulled off the inter-varsity relay, and put. his college at the head of the river in the annual bumping races, It also has to admit, at time goes on and Mr, Sheridan falls under the spell of the ancient cily and the charming Maureen O'Sullivan, that he isn't such a bad fellow after all. Eventually the heroine’s brother, Griffith Jones, is the only die-hard Sheridan-hater Jeft, and even he comes round at the end when Sheridan nobly shoulders the blame for a Jonesinn escapade with a married woman (Vivien Leigh) and hy so doing jeopardises his chance to row in the big race against Cambridge. However, diplomacy by Mr. Sheridan's — father (Lionel Barrymore) puts Mr. Sheridan pack in the Oxford boat in time for a last-minute victory over the Light Blues. Kicking The Dean HE trouble with that rather bald recital of the story is that ir shows up the familiarity of the situations without giving much hinr of their freshness of treament or the excifement with which they are invested. Nor does it suggest at all the mellow Englishness of the backgrounds. As a true chronicle of Oxford life, the film is probably not without ils peculiarities. For instance, would one find at Oxford a Dean who wonld have to fight back the atavistic desire to kick’ even ag annoying an undergraduate’'as Mr. Sheridan in the seat of his gown-even when the said Dean had just suffered a similar indignity from the said undergraduate? Now, if it had. been Cambridge... .

And, as usual in college pictures,.the emphasis is on sport rather than learning. Practically the only mention of study is when his tutor asks the Yank what he is reading, and he replies that he is still only half way throngh "Gone With the Wind!" Mellow With Age ET even so, this film has an almost perfect atmosphere. I don’t know how much of it was actually made on the spot, but I do know that it does suggest something of the antiquity and traditions of Oxford, This is conveyed by one or two brief panoramas of ihe ancient eity slumbering by the Isis, by the sound of bells, by a glimpse of May morning on the river, and by a few words spoken by Edward Rigby as the old college servant. to th despondent Yank: "In this very room Sir Walter Raleigh must have heard those bells as you are hearing them now..." Not Just Handsome I in the past I have been inclined to doubt Robert Taylor's acting ability and have suggested that his talent is mainly decorative, let me now make umends by stating that he gives a grand performance-and a sympathetic one-in a role that quite easily could have been thoroughly obnoxions, Underneath the cocksure Americanism of Mr. Sheridan there jis a charm that is quite us rent and infections as that of his English colleagues. Griffith Jones, as handsome as a young Anthony Eden, is a coming star, or I'm the world’s worst critic; and altention also, please, for Robert Coote as the brainless student who cannot uchieve his ambition to be "sent down." Coote, you may remember, was almost the best thing worth seeing in the Australian "Rangle River.’ 3ut it’s the old boys like Edward Rigby, C. Y. France, Edmund Gwenn and Morton Selten who walk off with the reai plums in the supporting east. with Lionel Barrymore trailing far behind. OF the two girls, Maureen O'Sullivan

and Vivien Leigh, the latter has it all her own way, so far as acting goes, in the particularly difficult role of the college flirt who causes half the trouble in the story. I do wish, though, that Miss Leigh hadn't worn that hat tied on with a bow under her chin, That [am reduced to. criticising a girl’s harp may give you some idea of how much | enjoyed "A Yank at Oxford," Nice work, Mr, Metro, Mr. Goldwyn, and Mr, Mayer! "A Yank at Oxford." M-G-M. Directed ly Jack Conway. Starring Robert Taylor. First release Wellington and Auckland, July 1 (tentative).