Yank at Oxford, A (1938)

Robert Taylor wins track meets, friends and Maureen O’Sullivan in this smashing British collegiate comedy costarring Vivien Leigh. Arriving in England to attend Oxford’s Cardinal College, cocky American athlete Lee Sheridan (Taylor) soon learns his boasts have earned him more enemies than mates. Dating Molly Beaumont (O’Sullivan), his rival Paul’s (Griffith Jones) lovely sister, Lee becomes BMOC when her brother is wrongfully accused of striking a proctor’s assistant. Determined to make amends and show he’s a jolly good sport, Lee hides Paul’s paramour (Leigh) in his room, a scandalous act that could cost him his girl, get him expelled and lose them a race against Cambridge. The first M-G-M production made in Great Britain, A Yank at Oxford was a box-office hit and would later inspire a sequel (A Yank at Eton, 1942), remake (Oxford Blues, 1984) and spoof (Laurel and Hardy’s A Chump at Oxford, 1940).