Let's Make Up

Most of the reviews imply that Errol Flynn carries "Lilacs In The Spring".Not so.The film belongs to the one and only Dame Anna Neagle.Her's is a tour de force performance and her age(around fifty at the time) in no way detracts from her convincing,multi-layered portrayal of the daughter-mother-daughter characters.This lady is pure class and with her peaches and cream complexion,gracious presence and incredible versatility,she is a delight in every scene.The somewhat confusing plot has been expertly explained by the other reviewers (thank you) and like them,I have only been able to acquire a murky,poor quality video print.I remember seeing it the cinema in 1956 and it was magic all the way. Looking at the film now,I'm astounded at Anna Neagle's dancing skills.Whether dancing the tango,waltz or,best of all,her 1920's 'Dance Little Lady' number,she's enchantment all the way.Arguably a better dancer than a singer,she nevertheless delivers two lovely renditions of 'We'll Gather Lilacs' and she's ravishing dancing to the orchestral version. Errol Flynn fans may only show interest in his contribution but by the time he appeared in this film he was clearly past his prime (the kindest thing I can say).Fortunately,he had the amazing Anna Neagle to prop him up in all their scenes together.Bravo,Dame Anna!

... part musical, part old fashioned nostalgic drama, and Flynn is barely in the first half of the production. You keep waiting for him to appear. But the film improves noticeably in its second half when Errol is in it. The story takes on aspects (never fully explored, unfortunately) of A Star Is Born, with Flynn as a faded stage star whose wife's show business career is on the rise. It allows Errol to show some vulnerability.

His finest moment of acting in the film is set on a Hollywood sound stage. Flynn's character by this time has had a comeback as a costume action film star (obviously based on the actor himself) and he is dressed up in uniform for what appears to be a Charge of the Light Brigade-type adventure.

By this time his character is divorced from Anna Neagle but it's apparent that he still carries a torch for her. He receives word on the sound stage just as they are about to shoot a scene that Neagle will be re-marrying. Flynn tries to act breezy and stoic as an aggressive reporter peppers him with questions about the upcoming wedding but you can see that he is bothered by the questions. He gives the reporter a boot in the rear (pure real life Flynn) and when the reporter tries to punch him in response an angry Flynn knocks him down.

Then he has to shoot the scene for the film he is making. It is here that Flynn has an unexpectedly touching moment as an actor. He's having a dialogue exchange with another actor and there is a closeup of Flynn's face. His mind starts to wander back to his wife and the good times they had once had as he says a few words related to her not in the script. In this closeup Flynn's eyes show the faintest signs of starting to water and his chin begins to slightly quiver.

The director yells "Cut!" and Flynn snaps back into reality once again. But in that brief four or five second closeup there genuinely appears to be pain in his eyes. It's a beautifully understated moment, and, brief as it is, reflects the often unrealized potential Errol had as an actor. I only wish Lilacs in the Spring had allowed him more opportunities this good but, at least, it does have this one touching moment.

I was too young to be an Anna Neagle fan, but after seeing her in ' Lilacs in the Spring ' I can well understand that she had a number one following in the UK for many decades. She danced superbly, and her flirtatious charm showed how elegant and sophisticated she was on stage and screen. Her films are rarely shown, and despite her reputation she has fallen into that eclipse called time. We live in another world now, far away from her death in 1986. As for this film, found second hand on DVD I will treasure it if alone for the ' Lilacs in the Spring ' song by the great Ivor Novello at the end, where she is dancing and singing to troops in Burma towards the end of World War 2. Herbert Wilcox, her husband directed and he was not the best of directors, and sadly she worked with almost only him on film. And yet her presence surmounts any doubts about her own greatness. Now the plot. Suffering from concussion after a Blitz attack she dreams of other times, and again takes on her former roles as Queen Victoria and Nell Gwynne. Her mother another actor is played by herself and a feat in itself. She is loved by an actor played by Erroll Flynn. The chemistry between them works well, and I gladly give this film a 9. A past age, and one we risk forgetting. If the plot seems complicated it isn't. I recommend a UK television showing of many of her films.

After production of Errol Flynn's financial debacle, WILLIAM TELL, was halted, the actor discovered that he not only had lost the money he'd invested in the project, but that his long-time business manager had been swindling him for years, as well. Fighting bankruptcy, the aging one-time 'King' of Hollywood swashbucklers found himself desperately in need of work, to stave off an army of creditors. Fortunately, legendary British producer/director Herbert Wilcox liked the high-living star, and, realizing that Flynn's name still had marquee value in England, cast him opposite his wife, popular British actress Anna Neagle, in the filming of her recent stage success, 'The Glorious Days', retitled LILACS IN THE SPRING.

A sentimental tale told largely in flashback, Neagle portrays an English stage star who is injured in a WWII air raid. Flying from Hollywood, her long-estranged father, film star John Beaumont (Flynn, with silver hair) must deal with an army of the press, and her would-be beau, British army officer Charles King (David Farrar). Meanwhile, Neagle, unconscious, hallucinates herself as being legendary star Nell Gywn, and Queen Victoria. Upon seeing her father, she relives her mother's early life, when she was 'discovered' by Beaumont in his days as a vaudevillian song-and-dance man (Flynn gets a chance to do a bit of soft shoe, singing 'Lily of Laguna', and making up for his limited musical ability with abundant charm). As her star ascends, his declines, and after leaving the stage to fight in WWI, he returns to find himself a forgotten man. Hollywood beckons, however, and he sees an opportunity to strike it rich as an actor in motion pictures. She refuses to leave England, and the couple separate. Achieving stardom in America, Beaumont is far too involved in his career to get to know his daughter...until her injury reminds him of how much he loved her mother, and needed to know her.

Maudlin, yes, but British audiences loved this kind of tearjerker, which offered several well-choreographed production numbers with Neagle...and, if you look carefully among the silhouetted male dancers during a tango, you'll find 24-year old Sean Connery, unbilled, and fresh from the chorus of a London stage revival of 'South Pacific'.

While the film bombed in the U.S. (under the title LET'S MAKE UP), it was popular enough in the U.K. to keep Errol Flynn working, and his creditors at bay for a little longer. Next on his agenda would be his very last swashbuckler, THE DARK AVENGER...

"Let's Make Up" is the American title of the British film I watched on DVD, "Lilacs in the Spring." Some people may see this sort of film as sappy, but the British audiences of the early 1950s like it. One other reviewer mentioned that the English generally like this sort of film.

Well this is a combination comedy, romance and musical, with some fantasy and drama, and set on the edge of the Second World War. The fantasy is imaginary scenes dreamed by Anna Neagle's Carole Beaumont during her lapses or periods of unconscious after having suffered a blow on the head during London bombing inn WW II. The plot is a little complicated with her father, John Beaumont, played by Errol Flynn, who has bene living in America where he is a major cinema star in Hollywood. He went there after WW I when his stage star faded in England and that of his wife (also Carole Beaumont and played by Neagle), rose. Beau had taken her under his wing to make her a star, but she then didn't wanted to leave the British stage to go to American with her husband.

There's more to this love story as well; but then skipping to WW II and the young girl's rise under another actor/director, Charles King (played by David Farrar). Eventually, Beau travels to England to see his daughter whom he has seen for years, and King is about to head out with a show troupe for Burma to entertain the British and Allied forces there. Will love win out this time, or show business again break up another couple? Perhaps the vice of experience in the person of another successful actor and father, Beau Beaumont will help the decision.

The dancing, music and show numbers in this film are very good and the main reason to see this film. Neagle does more dancing with some very good variety that I had seen in any other film of hers that I've watched. And Flynn gets in some nice soft shoe. It's a nice period film of the times, history, customs, and people and what they enjoyed in entertainment.