The rascal from America

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The rascal from America
Original title A Yank at Oxford
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Publishing year 1938
length 102 minutes
Rod
Director Jack Conway
script Malcolm Stuart Boylan ,
Walter Ferris ,
George Oppenheimer
production Michael Balcon
music Hubert Bath ,
Edward Ward
camera Harold Rosson
cut Charles Frend
occupation
synchronization

The rascal from America (Original title: A Yank at Oxford ) is a British comedy film from 1938. Directed by Jack Conway , Robert Taylor can be seen in the title role.

action

Lee Sheridan wins one sports competition after another at his college. His father Dan, who owns a US regional newspaper, actively supports him in his sports career and always ensures that Lee's victories are on the front page. But Dan, who took over financially for Lee, now threatens to lose his newspaper. Lee therefore declines a scholarship to Cardinal College at the University of Oxford to help his father raise the necessary money. However, Dan receives the money from banker Ben Dalton, and so Lee sets off for England to the cheers of his friends and followers . Once there, on the train to Oxford he meets the three students Paul Beaumont, Wavertree and Ramsey, who make fun of letting Lee, who is boasting of his sporting triumphs, get off at the wrong stop.

When Lee finally arrives in Oxford, Paul and his friends allow themselves another joke with him. They put on a big reception for him, for which Wavertree disguises himself as the dean of Cardinal College. Lee sees through her little game and runs after the wavertree hurrying away. But instead of Wavertree, he gives the real dean a kick in the ass. Lee then wants to leave Oxford again, but his personal servant Scatters persuades him to stay. In a bicycle shop, Lee meets the married Elsa Craddock, who immediately casts an eye on the handsome Lee. He then arrives with her bike at the sports stadium, where he is completely convinced of his own ability to demonstrate his running skills in a race. He brings Elsa, who works in her far older husband's library, back the bicycle and meets Paul's sister Molly, whom he had already met on the train to Oxford, between the bookshelves. If she initially let him down, Molly is now starting to go out with him.

When Lee is not allowed to take part in a relay race between Oxford and Cambridge , he pushes Paul aside without further ado and instead wins the race that Oxford almost lost. His fellow students subject him to a ritual for his unsportsmanlike conduct and leave him without pants on campus. Because he wants to tackle Paul for it, he goes in search of him and finds him in an inn on a secret rendezvous with Elsa. They begin to fight, but are then forced to flee from officials at the university. One of the officials is knocked to the ground by Lee, for which Paul is subsequently held responsible and the dean warned him. Even his friends and Molly don't believe Paul that it was Lee who hit the man.

Lee is now very popular and meets with Molly regularly. He joins the Oxford Rowing Club and extends a friendly hand to Paul after winning a race. However, Paul rejects him. One evening, when Elsa tries to warn Paul about her jealous husband, Lee tries to hide Elsa to save Paul further inconvenience. Craddock and the Dean now find Lee and Elsa alone in a room, and Lee has to leave the university as a result. Without having found out about his eviction, Lee's father Dan travels to England to watch his son row against Cambridge. Once there, Dan can't believe that Lee should have had an affair with Elsa, since Lee always raved about Molly in his letters. Dan then looks for Elsa in the bookstore and gets her to speak to the dean. Elsa tells him that she actually met Wavertree and Lee only wanted to protect his friend. Wavertree, on the other hand, who has not been in debt so far, plays along and is even proud of having had an affair with a married woman. Paul and Lee, who is still allowed to study at Oxford, become friends and win the rowing race against Cambridge.

background

Mid-1930s, the British government decided, the number of the United Kingdom to restrict films shown from abroad. As a result, the Hollywood- based film studio MGM decided to realize a number of prestige projects in Great Britain in order to maintain the sales market there. In addition to professionals from Hollywood, the British should be specifically represented in the staff and cast. The rascal from America was the first film MGM had produced in Denham Studios in England. The British labor cost alone was £ 112,000. Since it was not allowed to shoot on original locations at the University of Oxford, the university had to be rebuilt in Denham Studios. The British Lawrence P. Williams was appointed as the film architect . Denham Court in Buckinghamshire also served as a film location in part. Additional scenes from the film, which ultimately budgeted for $ 900,000, were shot at MGM Studios in Culver City , California.

Involved in the script but not named in the credits: F. Scott Fitzgerald (1937)

Jack Conway was hired as a director. René Hubert designed the costumes . The story behind the script was written by Leon Gordon , Sidney Gilliat and Michael Hogan based on an idea by John Monk Saunders . In addition to a number of other uncredited authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald was involved in the creation of the script with corrections and the writing of additional dialogues.

Leading actor Robert Taylor had established himself alongside Irene Dunne in Magnificent Obsession (1935) and alongside Greta Garbo in The Lady of the Camellias (1936) as a romantic hero of Hollywood, to whom the female audience was particularly fond. Male viewers viewed him as effeminate, which is why MGM boss Louis B. Mayer decided to make Taylor appear more masculine in the role of a sporty student. To convince as an athlete in The Rascal from America , Taylor underwent a tough training program and competed against actual athletes. He also sat in an ice-filled bathtub every morning for the rowing scenes, which were filmed in cold water. His Irish-born screen partner Maureen O'Sullivan met British actress Vivien Leigh on the set , with whom she had once attended a convention. Mayer was originally against the casting of the then unknown Leigh, who would get the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind a year later . Producer Michael Balcon , himself British, was able to dissuade Mayer from casting the role of Elsa Craddock elsewhere, as it would have cost too much to ship a better-known actress from Hollywood to England. The shooting took place from September 13th to the end of November 1937. Mayer visited the set several times and gave instructions. He got into an argument with producer Balcon, who left the project shortly afterwards.

The film hit US cinemas on February 18, 1938, where it proved to be a huge box-office success. The film opened in the German Reich in the summer of 1938. In 1942 a sequel followed under the title A Yank at Eton with Mickey Rooney in the lead role. The 1984 film Oxford Blues , in which Rob Lowe played the lead role, was referred to as the remake of Conway's 1938 film when it was released, but has few in common.

Reviews

For Frank S. Nugent of the New York Times , The Rascal from America was "an extremely entertaining film". However, this is not due to the well-known story and also not to Robert Taylor, but above all to the “credible” supporting actors who, with their “authentic Oxford accent”, make a “completely satisfactory film” alongside “two extremely attractive leading actresses and the impressive university buildings” about Oxford life ”.

Variety described the film as an "entertaining hurray movie" that was full of swing and emotion. The "sometimes hilarious adventures" have been linked to "a sentimental story". Edmund Gwenn stands out as dean of Cardinal College. Griffith Jones also showed a credible performance. O'Sullivan “fits well with the ensemble with her pronunciation”, and Vivien Leigh “captivates as a college vamp with her looks and the special nature” she has about herself.

German version

The German dubbed version was created in 1938 in the MGM dubbing studio in Berlin.

role actor Voice actor
Lee Sheridan Robert Taylor Gustav Knuth
Dan Sheridan Lionel Barrymore Erich Ponto
Molly Beaumont Maureen O'Sullivan Ruth Hellberg
Elsa Craddock Vivien Leigh Hilde Sessak
Dean of Cardinal College Edmund Gwenn Ingolf Kuntze
Paul Beaumont Griffith Jones Wants to fly quad
Dean Snodgrass CV France Franz Weber
Scatters Edward Rigby Wolf Trutz
Cecil Davidson, Esq. Morton Rare Philipp Manning
Dean Williams Walter Kingsford Ernst Stahl replica
Wavertree Robert Coote Kurt Meisel
Ramsey Peter Croft Clemens Hasse
Captain Wavertree Edmund Breon Will Dohm

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d cf. Margarita Landazuri on tcm.com
  2. ↑ Jeffrey Richards: The Unknown 1930s: An Alternative History of the British Cinema, 1929-1939 . IB Tauris, London 1998, p. 66.
  3. ↑ cf. Notes on tcm.com
  4. ↑ a b cf. Deborah Looney on tcm.com
  5. ↑ Illustrated Film-Kurier No. 2821
  6. ↑ “ A Yank at Oxford turns out to be an uncommonly diverting show. It can't be the story, for we've read the one about the old college spirit before. And it can't be Robert Taylor […]. It must be the accents, the caps and gown, the cycles and the remarkably credible chaps Metro hired to play dean and tutor, scout and students. [...] Between them, and supported by several authentic Oxonian accents, two most attractive leading ladies and the convincing university architecture, they have evoked ??? wholly satisfactory picture of Oxford life. ” Frank S. Nugent : Robert Taylor Appears as 'A Yank at Oxford' at the Capitol . In: The New York Times , February 25, 1938.
  7. ↑ “Robert Taylor brings back from Oxford an entertaining rah-rah film which is full of breathless quarter-mile dashes, heartbreaking boat race finishes and surefire sentiment […]. Teamed to these sometimes hilarious adventures is a sentimental story […]. Edmund Gwenn as the Dean of Cardinal College, one of the Oxford group, does a standout. Griffith Jones is an English boy, and gives a sincere and earnest performance. O'Sullivan and her diction fit nicely into ensemble, and Vivien Leigh, as a college vamp, has looks and a way about her. " See A Yank at Oxford . In: Variety , 1938.
  8. ↑ cf. synchrondatenbank.de
  9. ↑ The rascal from America. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on February 2, 2020 .
  10. ↑ cf. dievergessenenfilme.wordpress.com