A Yank at Oxford

Designed to foster good relationships between Britain and America as Nazi stormclouds were gathering in Europe, this is the movie that marked the moment when Hollywood star factory MGM opened a studio at Denham in the heart of Ye Olde England. Robert Taylor - who was mobbed throughout his stay - plays a brash American student at Oxford who shines at athletics (well, it couldn't be Latin, could it?) and gains the envy of his fellow students while Maureen O'Sullivan goes weak at the knees at the very sight of him. Vivien Leigh may have had a leading credit in the film but she misses out on a clinch with Taylor - that happened in Waterloo Bridge. It's still good fun, especially for the Hollywood view of the way we were then.