Lilacs in the Spring
| Lilacs in the Spring | |
|---|---|
| File:Lilacs in the Spring2 - Poster.jpg
1954 Theatrical Poster
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| Directed by | Herbert Wilcox |
| Produced by | Herbert Wilcox |
| Based on | the stage musical The Glorious Days book by Harold Purcell and Robert Nesbitt |
| Starring | Errol Flynn Anna Neagle David Farrar Kathleen Harrison |
| Cinematography | Max Greene |
|
Production
company |
Everest Pictures
|
| Distributed by | United Artists (US) |
|
Release dates
|
1954 (UK) 1956 (US) |
|
Running time
|
94 mins (UK) 72 mins (USA) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Lilacs in the Spring is a 1954 British musical film starring Anna Neagle and Errol Flynn. It was the first of two movies the stars made together, the other being King's Rhapsody. It was released in the USA as Let's Make Up. It was the feature film debut of (the then-unknown) Sean Connery.
Contents
Plot
A young actress, Carole Beaumont, is wooed by actor-producer Charles King but she is unsure how she feels about him. During an air raid in the Blitz, a bomb explosion rocks the cafe and Carole is knocked unconscious. In her confused state, fantasies flash through her mind, and she seems to become Nell Gwyn of Old Drury, with Charles King looking very much like King Charles.
Recovering, she is advised by her doctor to take a rest in the country and, there, another beau, Albert Gutman , prompts his grandmother, Lady Drayton (Helen Haye), to invite Carole to their family home at Windsor. She accepts and telephones Charles but hangs up when his phone is answered by a female voice.
Looking out on Windsor Castle, she sees herself as the young Queen Victoria and Albert as Prince Albert. Influenced by her day-dream, she accepts Albert's proposal. Charles arrives to tell her that all arrangements are made for her to leave with him and the company for Burma, but she refuses saying she will never marry an actor.
Barmaid Kate tells Charles why Carole feels the way she does about actors: Carole's mother, Lillian Grey , was with a touring show in 1913 when the handsome star, John Beaumont raised her from the chorus to be his partner in his first West End show. They were a success, fell in love and were married. But the war soon took Beau off to Flanders and Lillian was left to become a great star on her own. Carole was born in wartime, but saw little of her busy mother.
Cast
- Anna Neagle as Carole Beaumont/Lillian Grey/Queen Victoria/Nell Gwyn
- Errol Flynn as John Beaumont
- David Farrar as Charles King/King Charles II
- Kathleen Harrison ss Kate
- Peter Graves as Albert Gutman/Prince Albert
- Helen Haye as Lady Drayton
- Scott Sanders as Old George
- Alma Taylor as Woman in theater audience
- Hetty King as Woman in theater audience
- Alan Gifford as Hollywood director
- Jennifer Mitchell as Young Carole
- Gillian Harrison as Carole as child
The Glorious Days
| The Glorious Days | |
|---|---|
| Music | Harry Parr Davies |
| Book | Robert Nesbitt |
| Productions | London 1953 |
The script was based on the stage musical The Glorious Days, which had been a big success for Neagle, running for two years and 467 performances.[1] It referenced several earlier hits of Neagle, including Nell Gwynn (1934) and Victoria the Great (1938).
Production
Errol Flynn agreed to make the film to pay off the debts he incurred due to his abandoned William Tell project, The Story of William Tell.[2][3]
The movie was shot at Elstree Studios in London in July 1954.[4] Neagle enjoyed working with her co-star:
I love naturalness and simplicity and Errol Flynn has this to a charming degree. He has made so many friends on this picture with his sense of fun and his conscientiousness and he has been enormously co-operative. It's so unfair to judge people by what you read or hear and I mst confess I was not prepared to find him such a hard worker.[5]
Flynn used his real singing voice.[6]
Reception
The film was not a success at the box office, in England or the USA.
Critical response
Dilys Powell of the Sunday Times said the film's "pleasures are innocuous and domesticated."[7] C. A. Lejeune wrote that Flynn and Neagle "quietly manage a parody of the period that is not without distinction."[8]
The critic for the Los Angeles Times said "I could discover little reason for its being made".[9]
Other Flynn-Wilcox collaborations
Wilcox announced he had signed Flynn to make six films over two years. (Another figure quoted was £12,000 for three films over 12 months.)[10] Among the proposed projects were a version of Somerset Maugham's Caesar's Wife[11] and a movie about Napoleon's escape from Elba, with Flynn to play an Irish soldier of fortune, but no film resulted.[12]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Tony Thomas, Rudy Behlmer & Clifford McCarty, The Films of Errol Flynn, Citadel Press, 1969 p 199-200
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Actress Anna Neagle Tells Secret of Her Flat Tummy" Lane, Lydia. Los Angeles Times 11 July 1954: C9.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Powell, Dilys. "Folk-Tale." Sunday Times [London, England] 26 Dec. 1954: 4. The Sunday Times Digital Archive. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
- ↑ "BROTHERLY LOVE" Lejeune, C A. The Observer [London (UK)] 26 Dec 1954: 7.
- ↑ "Brothers' Conflict Acted by Van Johnson, Cotten" Scheuer, Philip K. Los Angeles Times 02 Feb 1956: 37.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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