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If you're considering skipping A Yank at Eton, don't. It's extremely cute, and amidst the turmoil of the United States entering WWII, it came out at the perfect time. Providing a united front with our brothers across the pond, it shows that cultural differences don't matter, as long as we become friends in the end.

Mickey Rooney's mother marries the English Ian Hunter, and right in the middle of his high school heyday on the football field, Mickey and his sister are yanked-no pun intended-out of their world and forced to live in England with their new stepfather. Mickey has to go to Eton, and he doesn't like it. He doesn't appreciate the strings Ian had to pull to get him enrolled, and he doesn't appreciate the amount of rules headmaster Edmund Gwenn insists he abide by. In America, Mickey was the top dog, but at Eton, he's an underling who has a curfew, shares a room, and has to do little errands for upperclassmen, no questions asked. If you recognize one of the upperclassmen with the distinctive accent, you'll see the very young face of Peter Lawford!

Six years earlier, Mickey Rooney and Freddie Bartholomew starred in The Devil Is a Sissy together. Freddie played the newbie who didn't fit in, and Mickey was older and wiser who befriended him. Now in A Yank at Eton, Mickey is the newbie who doesn't fit in, and an older, taller, lower-voiced Freddie plays a student who tries to help him adjust. It's really too bad that Freddie's career petered out, since when he grew up, there was nothing wrong with his talent.

As much as Freddie threatens to steal the show, as much as Mickey threatens to steal the show, and as much as Edmund Gwenn threatens to steal the show, it's little Raymond Severn who succeeds. You might not know his name, but you'll recognize those big eyes on him and his seven siblings who acted in movies in the 1940s. He's an absolute doll. He idolizes Mickey Rooney, standing by him when no one else does, and his positive attitude just can't be doused. He gets bossed around by the upperclassmen and teased, and he takes it all with a smile. When he tries to catch on to American slang, it's too cute for words.

The end gets a bit silly, but keep in mind when it was made. The overwhelming theme of the movie is camaraderie, and the Americans and the English needed to become fast friends to fight the Germans. Rent this cute movie. If you like classic boys' school stories and would prefer one on the lighter side, you'll love it.

I always thought Mickey Rooney could do it all and here he is very good as an American who gets uprooted to England. It's pretty funny to see how he contrasts his Americanness (slang etc.) with the stuffy British ways. The the girl who plays the visiting American snob is a little too much though. The best scenes are Rooneys when he is battling the school system though I was annoyed with him when he took the prize horse out of the stable -- you just knew something bad was going to happen. I also like Ian Hunter as his stepfather; His films are always good too. Freddie Batholomew showed why MGM had great child stars. A nice diversion.

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

Fun Mickey Rooney picture with Mickey as an American teenager who's a big shot and football star at his high school before his mom marries a stuffy Brit and forces Mickey and his little sister to move to England. Cue the expected clichés that come with fish out of water stories like this. Despite its formulaic plot, it's pretty solid entertainment thanks to that great old MGM gloss and a wonderful cast. Mickey is enjoyable as always, of course. The rest of the cast includes Ian Hunter, Edmund Gwenn, Alan Mowbry, Freddie Bartholomew, and a young Peter Lawford. Not too shabby. The scene stealers are the younger actors, Juanita Quigley and Raymond Severn. Quigley reminds me a little of Virginia Weidler. It's a good movie, though not a great one, that will likely entertain most classic film fans on a rainy Saturday afternoon. It's got heart and humor and feel-good patriotism like they excelled at in the old days. Give it a look if you're a Mickey Rooney fan. I doubt you'll be disappointed.

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.

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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.