The Duke of West Point (1938)

The Duke of West Point
Directed by Alfred E. Green
Written by George Bruce
1938/USA
Edward Small Productions
First viewing/Streaming on Amazon (free to Amazon Prime members)

[box] Picture making is a youngster’s game. When a man gets older he doesn’t want to take a chance to try something new. And this business moves so fast that if you don’t change your methods with every picture you’re out of luck. In a few years I won’t have a thing to do with the creative. Afraid, I’ll hire young men with plenty of nerve to handle that for me. — Edward Small, 1926[/box]

I don’t know if it was the titular character or the actor who played him who was insufferable.   At any rate, I couldn’t stand this movie.

Steven Early (Louis Hayward) is an American raised in England by his military attaché father.  Generations of the family have attended West Point and Steven sets out there.  He makes a big splash with his high-handed superiority, refusal to obey the rules and athletic prowess.  He also sets out to steal Ann (Joan Fontaine), the only girl in miles around, from an upperclassman.  But Louis has a well-hidden heart of gold and secretly supplies the money needed to allow his roommate to stay in school.  When he is caught after hours wiring this money, he is tried,and sentenced to the silent treatment for the rest of his stay at the Academy.  How can Louis get back in the good graces of his classmates and win the girl?

By the time we were ten minutes into the story, I was actively rooting for something bad to happen to Louis.  His grin and attitude really rubbed me the wrong way.  Setting that aside, this is your typical patriotic military academy affair, with plenty of football and hockey thrown in and an unmotivated romance.  The average IMDb user liked it much more than I did.

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