The Worst Film Ever

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

SYNOPSIS: Timothy Dennis (Mickey Rooney) and his sister (Juanita Quigley) travel the Atlantic to Eton to live with their newly married mother (Marta Linden) and stepfather (Ian Hunter). (Hmm. That doesn't sound so good. Better make it "their recently remarried mother." No, that won't quite do either. Better leave it). At first, our Mick is a bit resentful at being enrolled at Eton, but by film's end he comes to love the Brits.NOTES: As a generalization, Freund photographed the first two-thirds of the film up to and including the car crash sequence, at which point Lawton took over. The difference between the gray-toned lighting favored by Freund and the glossy blacks created by Lawton is really striking. On the other hand, the camera-work is more inventive under Freund's control, using a combination of effective tracking shots and attractive compositions.This was Freddie Bartholomew's last important film role. He starred in a PRC movie, "The Town Went Wild", released in 1945, and finished up with a co-starring part in Edgar Ulmer's "Saint Benny the Dip" (1951). COMMENT: The screenplay itself comes across as rather dated, thanks to blatant wartime propaganda sermonizing, but the players give it their all. In fact, many of the actors seem a bit too anxious to make an impression somewhat larger than life. Edmund Gwenn appears a trifle overly patronizing, whilst Miss Quigley lays on her over- precocious mannerisms with a trowel. On the other hand, Ian Hunter is his usual stuffy self. Alan Mowbray, however, has to be content with only a small part as a helpful driver.As for Master Rooney/Maguire/Yule, he does his best with a rather odd script that doesn't always present the character in a favorable light. The assault on Alan Napier, for example, whilst it makes for plenty of scuffling action, becomes rather violent. It's also rather dubiously motivated and even morally irresponsible. Even if we apply the old adage that boys will be boys, it still loses a deal of sympathy for the title character. Nonetheless, "A Yank at Eton" has been realized on a grand scale, with top location and studio photography, nice second unit work and a wonderfully appropriate Etonian score (deftly recorded too). Although the main unit worked entirely in Hollywood, both exterior locations on the MGM back lot and interiors within the sound stages, all look solidly authentic.

This film is extremely derivative--with most of the story elements of several films of the era being recycled. In many ways, it's a lot like "Boy's Town", "A Yank at Oxford" and "A Yank in the RAF". A brash young American (in this case Mickey Rooney) goes to the UK and enters one of its finest institutions. And, in the process, he makes a total nuisance of himself and expects the Brits to conform to his non-conformist ways. And, naturally, by the end of the film, he's finally learned humility and a true team spirit.The film begins on a bizarre note. Rooney and his sister are in some sort of prep schools while their irresponsible mother is in England being wooed by some Lord or something (Ian Hunter). When she marries, she THEN informs the kids they have a new father and they are to come to live with them! Not surprisingly, the oldest child (Rooney) has difficulty with this transition.His new step-dad and mom decide that the best thing for Mickey is to enroll at Eton--probably the most prestigious prep school on the planet. Unfortunately, the stuffy atmosphere is not to his liking. Some of it is because Rooney is a jerk and some is because he naturally didn't take to the lovely English tradition of the upperclassmen beating and otherwise maltreating the lower class. While I love the UK and have spent some time there, this is a British institution that simply makes no sense (conversely, American football and WWE wrestling are odd and brutal institutions which justifiably baffle most Brits). Not surprisingly, the sadistic system is not to Rooney's liking and he makes no bones about the contempt he feels towards these upperclassmen. Unlike these three other films, in this case you can somewhat understand the upstart American's attitudes...somewhat (especially since I saw the British film "If...." before watching this film). It all ends in a horribly contrived plot line involving a stolen car--but have no fear, Rooney MUST and WILL redeem himself by the end of the movie.So is this all worth seeing? Well, not until you've already seen these other films, as they are better and more original. However, if you are an old movie nut like me, certainly give this a try as well. Just understand that there is little, if anything, that will take you by surprise (other than the way the mother remarried).By the way, pay attention to a couple standouts among the upper class. Peter Lawford is the chief baddie among them and Freddie Bartholomew is distinctly less adorable than he's been in "Captains Courageous" and "Little Lord Fauntleroy". As for Rooney, he once again plays a teenager--even though he was 22 and got married the same year this film debuted. Also, when I saw all the cute boys running about in tophats and dress clothes, it almost looked like someone had created a school full of Charley McCarthy clones!

The old prep school is set on its ear when A YANK AT ETON tries to defy the established rules & regulations.Mickey Rooney, MGM's human dynamo, is in all his glory in this pleasant film obviously fashioned to his particular talents. Although a mite old to be playing a high school boy (he turned 22 in 1942), Rooney pulls out all the stops, and shows considerable athletic ability, as an American kid who's angry about having to attend Eton, rather than his beloved Notre Dame. It's hard to fault all of his behavior today, as some of the conventions he rebels against, especially the physical brutality inflicted upon the lower boys at Eton, needed to be changed.However, the film's purpose is not to deliver a social message. It's aim was to provide a money maker for MGM, as well as a salute to our British allies. The Second World War and our common enemies are never mentioned, but the affectionate comradeship between our two nations is certainly underlined.Mickey is given excellent support from a fine cast of costars. Puckish Edmund Gwenn plays Rooney's house master, his whimsicality marred somewhat by his casual allowance of the older boys beating of the younger. Earnest Ian Hunter gives a thoughtful performance as Mickey's new English stepfather. Gangling Freddie Bartholomew plays Hunter's well-bred son; this tall, skinny youth bares scant resemblance to the small boy who charmed audiences in David COPPERFIELD and CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS back in the 1930's.Marta Linden & Juanita Quigley appear as Mickey's supportive Mom and badly behaved younger sister. Little Raymond Severn plays a tiny earl who becomes Rooney's best pal at school. Peter Lawford is convincingly nasty as a bullying upper boy. Genial Alan Mowbray enlivens his brief appearance as a befuddled old Etonian trying to remember a particular steeplechase race from decades past.Movie mavens will recognize several uncredited performers: Minna Phillips as a slightly silly Eton school matron; Billy Bevan as a tour guide; former child star Terry Kilburn as one of Bartholomew's student friends; cheery Aubrey Mather as a butler who learns an important bit of American vernacular; and Alan Napier as a restaurant club owner with a profound dislike for Eton boys in his establishment.********************The song sung over the opening credits is the first verse of the famous Eton Boating Song (1863, William Johnson & Capt. Algernon Drummond); the second verse is heard later on in the film. The words are as follows:Jolly boating weather, And a hay harvest breeze, Blade on the feather, Shade off the trees, Let us swing, swing together, With your bodies between your knees, Swing, swing together, With your bodies between your knees.Skirting past the rushes, Ruffling o'er the weeds, Where the lock stream gushes, Where the cygnet feeds, Let us see how the wine-glass flushes At Supper on Boveney meads, Let us see how the wine-glass flushes At Supper on Boveney meads.Interestingly, those are American, not British, voices singing. And the film never shows Rooney or the other boys doing any boating whatsoever.Eton College, the largest of England's great public (independent secondary) schools, was founded by Henry VI in 1440-1441, and is located across the River Thames from Windsor Castle. Its student body is made up of over a thousand Oppidans, generally drawn from Britain's wealthiest or aristocratic families and who live in boardinghouses under the care of house masters; and the King's Scholars, of which 70 are named each year by means of a special examination, who dwell in elite quarters. Generally, lads attend Eton from age 13 until they are ready to enter university.

By some strange coincidence I caught this movie on the same day that I saw "Lord Jeff"(1938), from M-G-M. I note this because it had some of the same cast (Mickey Rooney, Freddie Bartholomew, Peter Lawford). However, in 1938 Bartholomew was the lead and received top billing. Only four years later, Rooney was the top rated star in Hollywood, and Bartholemew had only a couple of movies left, before M-G-M cut him loose.The stories come from basically the same formula, as well. Both involve boys who are put into a new location, both feel they are better than the others around them, both are shunned by their peers, only to win them over in the final reel. Both are also extremely predictable.This film (the better of the two), will appeal to Rooney fans, and is a decent way to spend an hour and a half. Not a classic.6 out of 10