Let's Make Up

"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.

A ambitious colour production that represents the first of two ill-fated attempts by Herbert Wilcox to create a romantic team out of Anna Neagle and Errol Flynn.

As in the earlier 'Elizabeth of Ladymead', the plot hinges on that phenomenon beloved of fantasy writers whereby a blow on the head (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) transports the sufferer to an earlier era; which on this occasion gives Mrs Wilcox an opportunity to recreate her earlier role as Nell Gwyn.

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!

Late Flynn, when he took almost any work he could get to pay off alimony. He turns in a sincere, believable performance, occasionally lampooning himself, and does a creditable song and dance number. Other points of interest include Peter Graves as Prince Albert (if you didn't know, you'd never guess) and Sean Connery is supposedly in there somewhere as an extra, but I haven't found him.

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...