8:00 p.m. (ET)/5:00 p.m. (PT) A YANK AT OXFORD (1938) In the mid-1930s, quotas imposed by the British government on the number of foreign films that could be shown in the United Kingdom had American film companies looking for ways to get their product into the country. MGM decided to produce a series of "prestige pictures" in Great Britain, using MGM know-how and a combination of British and American talent. Englishman Michael Balcon was chosen to head MGM's U.K. studio, and in the summer of 1937, shooting began on their first feature, A Yank at Oxford (1938), with Balcon producing and directing. It's the story of a cocky midwestern college athlete (Robert Taylor) who learns about loyalty and school spirit when he goes to Oxford as an exchange student. For the stunningly handsome Taylor, who'd been playing swoony romantic leads in films like Camille (1936), it was an opportunity to change a somewhat sissy image by playing a more masculine hero. Taylor trained hard for the part, soaking in tubs of ice before the rowing sequences, which were filmed in cold water. He showed off his buff body and hairy chest in skimpy athletic wear. He challenged professional athletes. MGM head Louis B. Mayer was pleased. "Now you are a man, Bob," he told Taylor. The leading lady, Irish actress Maureen O'Sullivan, enjoyed a reunion with her convent school friend Vivien Leigh, who had a small part. Leigh, a year before she won the role of Scarlett O'Hara, was still a relative unknown. Mayer didn't want her for the part in A Yank at Oxford, until the canny Balcon pointed out that since Leigh was English, the studio wouldn't have to pay her travel expenses. Mayer was determined to show everyone who was boss, and was constantly on the set. He berated Balcon within earshot of O'Sullivan and Leigh, and Balcon soon resigned. American Jack Conway took over as director, though Balcon retained the producer credit. Many writers worked on the film, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, who provided some clever dialogue, but did not receive a screen credit. A Yank at Oxford was a big hit, and MGM's British production unit was successfully launched. It would take a world war to end it. Director: Jack Conway Producer: Michael Balcon Screenplay: Malcom Stuart Boylan, Walter Ferris, George Oppenheimer; original story by Leon Gordon, Sidney Gilliatt, Michael Hogan; based on an idea by John Monk Saunders. Uncredited writers include F. Scott Fitzgerald. Editors: Margaret Booth, Charles Freund Cinematography: Harold Rosson Music: Hubert Bath, Edmund Gordon Cast: Robert Taylor (Lee Sheridan), Lionel Barrymore (Dan Sheridan), Maureen O'Sullivan (Molly Beaumont), Vivien Leigh (Elsa Craddock), Edmund Gwen (Dean of Cardinal College), Griffith Jones (Paul Beaumont) BW-103m. Closed captioning. By Margarita Landazuri 10:00 p.m. (ET)/7:00 p.m. (PT) THE CITADEL (1938) Adapted from A. J. Cronin's best-selling novel, The Citadel (1938) is about a doctor (Robert Donat) temporarily forsaking his ideals for money. At first, full of lofty goals as he labors in the slums of a mining town, Dr. Manson struggles to save the health of downtrodden miners only to be beaten by both the bureaucracy and the rebellious miners. His disillusionment leads him to London with his wife Christine (Rosalind Russell), where a chance encounter with a medical school chum (Rex Harrison) leads to his quiet seduction by an ethically challenged medical establishment. Soon he finds himself questioning his own ethics when his best friend Denny (Ralph Richardson) dies at the hands of an incompetent, social-climbing surgeon. Rosalind Russell, the sole Yank in the cast, recalled working on the film in her autobiography with Chris Chase, Life is a Banquet: "Travel is a perk that comes with an acting career, and I got my first taste of this in 1938 when Metro sent me to England to make a picture called The Citadel. It had a tremendously polished cast - Robert Donat, Ralph Richardson, Rex Harrison, Emlyn Williams - and I don't think I was a very welcome addition to it, since the English labor unions had wanted an English girl to play my part. The rules are still strict about American actors working in England, but in the thirties they were even worse. King Vidor, the director, and I were the only two non-Britons involved in The Citadel; even so, my being there caused a furor. It was during this stay in London that I was invited to the American Embassy. Joseph Kennedy was our Ambassador, and everybody assumed that I'd known the Kennedys in the United States. (I hadn't.) Everybody also assumed that the Kennedys had pulled a gaffe. "You're going to the Embassy? That's never been done before, they don't have actresses." Rosalind, the social pariah, didn't care. I put on my long white gloves and off I sailed." The Citadel was King Vidor's first MGM film under the (newly formed by Vidor) Screen Directors Guild contract and the studio's second British co-production with a script co-authored by Elizabeth Hill (who Vidor would soon marry). In many ways, The Citadel is the missing link between idealized medical biographies like The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936) and strong, socially conscious films like John Ford's How Green Was My Valley (1941). The only reason American doctors didn't raise a fuss over the film's often negative view of the medical profession is probably because the story takes place in England and not the United States. The critical success of The Citadel was followed by Academy Award¨ Nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Robert Donat), Best Director (King Vidor), and Best Original Screenplay (Ian Dalrymple, Elizabeth Hill, Frank Wead). Director: King Vidor Producer: Victor Saville Screenplay: Ian Dalrymple, Frank Wead, and Elizabeth Hill; additional dialogue: Emlyn Williams; from the novel by A. J. Cronin Cinematography: Harry Stradling Editor: Charles Frend Art Direction: Lazare Meerson and Alfred Junge Music: Louis Levy Sound: A. W. Watkins and C. C. Stevens Cast: Robert Donat (Andrew Manson), Rosalind Russell (Christine), Ralph Richardson (Denny), Rex Harrison (Dr. Lawford), Emlyn Williams (Owen), Penelope Dudley Ward (Toppy LeRoy) BW-113m. Closed captioning. By Celia Reilly 12:00 a.m. (ET)/9:00 p.m. (PT) GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS (1939) MGM invaded England and conquered the hearts of the world when it transferred one of production chief Irving G. Thalberg's last projects to the studio's recently acquired studios in Denham. Although owning a studio in England must have had a special charm for studio head Louis B. Mayer, a renowned Anglophile, the move was purely economic. England operated under a quota system that required a strict balance between British and imported films. By shooting some films in England, MGM could get more of its pictures into the sceptered isle. Denham had already given MGM two hits in 1938: A Yank at Oxford, starring Robert Taylor as an American student abroad, and The Citadel, with Robert Donat as a young doctor led astray by riches and social prestige. The latter was such a big hit, that Mayer chose Donat over Brian Aherne and Charles Laughton for Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Donat had appeared in American films, but only sporadically, following his international success in Alfred Hitchcock's 1934 The 39 Steps. But ill health had cost him the lead in Captain Blood (1935) while his devotion to the stage led him to refuse other offers. With Goodbye, Mr. Chips, which allowed him to age from 25 to 83, he had the part for which he would always be remembered. It even made him a surprise Oscar¨ winner in 1939, the year when Gone With the Wind swept the Academy Awards¨, and Clark Gable was considered a major contender for Best Actor. To play Chips's wife, Kathy, MGM needed an actress with just the right combination of gentility and high spirits. Elizabeth Allan, who had played the mother in David Copperfield (1935) was originally considered for the role. Then Rosalind Russell was assigned the female lead in The Citadel, a role first assigned to Allan. The actress sued for breach of contract, effectively ending her Hollywood career. With no leading lady in mind, director Sam Wood started looking through old screen tests. Then he spotted the test for a beautiful Irish actress Louis B. Mayer had discovered in London. Greer Garson was already on the lot, but had had nothing to do since signing with MGM. She thought she'd soon be headed back to England a total failure, but instead returned as the star of a major motion picture. The film would establish her as MGM's top female star and win her the first of seven Oscar¨ nominations (she would win in 1942 for another British story, Mrs. Miniver). Goodbye, Mr. Chips did location shooting at the Repton School, founded in 1557. This was considered such a great honor for the school that students and teachers gave up their summer vacations to appear in crowd scenes and otherwise help out on the production. Their sacrifice was amply rewarded when the film became the biggest hit yet from the Denham studio. Director: Sam Wood Producer: Victor Saville Screenplay: R.C. Sheriff, Claudine West & Eric Maschwitz Based on the Novel by James Hilton Cinematography: Freddie A. Young Art Direction: Alfred Junge Music: Richard Addinsell Principle Cast: Robert Donat (Charles Chipping), Greer Garson (Katherine Ellis), Terry Kilburn (John/Peter Colley), John Mills (Peter Colley as a Young Man), Paul Henreid (Max Staefel), Judith Furse (Flora) BW-115m. Closed captioning. Descriptive video. By Frank Miller 2:00 a.m. (ET)/11:00 p.m. (PT) SABOTAGE AGENT (1943) Made by MGM British studios in 1942, Sabotage Agent was released in the U.S. in 1943 as The Adventures of Tartu, perhaps to avoid confusion with two Hitchock films, the British Sabotage (1936), and Saboteur (1942). In Sabotage Agent, a fast-paced wartime adventure saga, Robert Donat plays a British officer posing a Romanian named Tartu in order to sabotage a Nazi poison-gas factory in Czechoslovakia. Donat, the son of a Polish father and British mother, was a leading actor of British stage and films. Talented, dashing and handsome, Donat had attracted international attention in 1933's The Private Life of Henry VIII, and several American film studios wanted to sign him to a contract. But Donat had no interest in Hollywood stardom, and preferred to work in Britain. Finally, in 1938, Donat agreed to a six-picture deal with MGM, on the condition that the films be made in England. That was fine with the studio. In response to a U.K. quota imposed on the exhibition of foreign films, MGM had recently set up a production unit in England, planning to use the studio's production talent and British actors. Donat's first MGM film, The Citadel (1938), earned him excellent reviews. The second, Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939), won him a best actor Oscar¨. Then came the war, and MGM wanted Donat to go to Hollywood. But he again refused to leave Britain, rejected script after script, and became embroiled in lawsuits with MGM over his contract. They eventually settled the litigation with two more films, the first of which was Sabotage Agent. Sabotage Agent is hardly the prestige vehicle that Donat's two previous MGM films had been. But even critics who found the plot the somewhat contrived and confusing were charmed by Donat's witty performance. "That it is fun despite the looseness with which it stacks its cards is due largely to the gusto that Mr. Donat brings to the film," said The New York Times . "Mr. Donat seems to be having the time of his life." Critics also praised the performances of the elegant leading lady, Valerie Hobson, and a very young Glynis Johns as a Czech patriot. Director: Harold S. Bucquet Producer: Irving Asher Screenplay: John Lee Mahin, Howard Emmett Rogers; story by John C. Higgins Editor: Douglas Myers Cinematography: John J. Cox Art Direction: John Bryan Music: Hubert Bath Cast: Robert Donat (Capt. Terence Stevenson, AKA Jan Tartu), Valerie Hobson (Marushka Lanova), Walter Rilla (Inspector Otto Vogel), Glynis Johns (Paula Palacek), Phyllis Morris (Anna Palacek), Martin Miller (Dr. Novotny) BW-111m. By Margarita Landazuri 4:00 a.m. (ET)/1:00 a.m. (PT) HAUNTED HONEYMOON (1940) An occurrence that rarely happens but is always refreshingly different is when the original leads from a Broadway production get offered the same roles in the film version. That's precisely the case with Busman's Honeymoon by mystery writer Dorothy L. Sayers. Produced in England and known in the United States as Haunted Honeymoon(1940), the film features Sayers' detective Lord Peter Wimsey (Robert Montgomery) and crime novel writer Harriet Vale (Constance Cummings) as newlyweds who have pledged to temporarily give up their interest in crime while honeymooning at a remote cottage. Lord Wimsey and Harriet discover that they may not be able to hold to this pledge when a body is found in the cellar of the cottage by the house's cleaning staff. Scotland Yard Inspector Kirk (Leslie Banks) is brought in to work on the case but he is not sly enough to determine the identity of the murderer. The newly married couple realize they must crack the case on their own before they can be allowed to enjoy their honeymoon. Dorothy L. Sayers had enjoyed some notoriety as a mystery writer in the 1920s and 1930s, especially with her novels featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. In the 1930s, her friend and fellow writer Muriel St. Clare Byrne convinced her to bring Lord Wimsey to the London stage, resulting in Busman's Honeymoon. The novel version appeared in 1937, one year after the play began its run. In 1939, director Arthur B. Woods began production on the screen version of the novel for MGM, at the company's British studio. Robert Montgomery (who had gotten his acting start on Broadway) and Maureen O' Sullivan were cast as the crime-fighting duo, but O' Sullivan soon bowed out and returned to the United States. World War II had begun, causing problems with film production abroad. First of all, Woods was a Royal Air Force pilot and was only able to work on the film when given official permission. To make matters worse, the Germans threatened to bomb the studio because MGM had recently released an anti-Nazi film, The Lion Has Wings (1939). Luckily, the threat was never carried out and the production was safe to continue, with Constance Cummings (whose career also began on Broadway) replacing O' Sullivan as Harriet Vale. The finished film was released in the United States in 1940; Bosley Crowther of The New York Times Film Review stated "Seldom has there been a film so pleasantly conducive to browsing as this leisurely, bookish fable of murder. A glass of port, at least, should be taken along with it." In a time of world crisis, Haunted Honeymoon, with its body count of one, served as an easy escape from serious wartime issues and entertained armchair mystery fans. Director: Arthur B. Woods Producer: Harold Huth Screenplay: Harold Goldman, Monckton Hoffe, Angus MacPhail (based on the novel by Dorothy L. Sayers) Cinematography: Freddie Young Editor: Al Barnes, James B. Clark Music: Louis Levy Cast: Robert Montgomery (Lord Peter Wimsey), Constance Cummings (Harriet Vane), Leslie Banks (Inspector Kirk), Seymour Hicks (Bunter), Robert Newton (Frank Crutchley) BW-84m. By Sarah Heiman