A Yank at Eton
A Yank at Eton | |
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Lobby card | |
Directed by | Norman Taurog |
Produced by | John W. Considine Jr. |
Written by |
George Oppenheimer Thomas Phipps Lionel Houser |
Starring |
Mickey Rooney Ian Hunter Peter Lawford |
Music by | Bronislau Kaper |
Cinematography |
Karl Freund Charles Lawton Jr. |
Edited by | Albert Akst |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release dates |
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Running time | 88 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $751,000[1] |
Box office | $2,677,000[1] |
A Yank at Eton is an American comedy/drama film. It was the 1942 sequel to the 1938 A Yank at Oxford. It tells the tale of a cocky youth (Rooney) unwillingly yanked from an American school who has to move to England, where he is sent to attend the elite Eton College.[2] With England at war, all of the movie was filmed in the United States, not at Eton.
Much of the storyline relates to the misunderstandings arising from differences between the two countries' cultures, customs and language. At first these cause the boy anger and confusion, particularly against the traditional practices of fagging and physical hazing inflicted at Eton on the lower boys by the uppers. The film caricatures Etonian manners and behavior as snobbish and stuffy, but in due course Rooney's character settles down, stops being rebellious and comes to realize that, beneath the different habits and views, "Yanks" and "Limeys" have basic values in common and can get along when they have to.
The propaganda intent, as U.S. troops poured into the U.K. to join World War II in 1942, was evidently to show that Americans and Britons could set aside their superficial differences and pull together in the common cause of the war effort.
The film has the Eton boating song as its theme tune (played at a faster tempo than usual), though no boating is shown in the film.
Cast
- Mickey Rooney as Timothy Dennis
- Edmund Gwenn as Headmaster Justin
- Ian Hunter as Roger Carlton
- Freddie Bartholomew as Peter Carlton
- Marta Linden as Winifred Dennis Carlton
- Juanita Quigley as Jane "The Runt" Dennis
- Alan Mowbray as Mr. Duncan
- Peter Lawford as Ronnie Kenvil
- Raymond Severn as Isaac "Inky" Weeld
Reception
According to MGM records it earned $1,542,000 in the US and Canada and $1,135,000 elsewhere, giving the studio a profit of $1,101,000.[1][3]
References
External links
- A Yank at Eton at the Internet Movie Database
- A Yank at Eton at AllMovie
- A Yank at Eton at the TCM Movie Database