Voyage en Birmanie

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.

"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.

When the producing/acting team of Herbert Wilcox and Anna Neagle got Errol Flynn he was willing to work for just about anything in Lilacs In The Spring. He owed the US government a lot of back taxes and was abroad so he couldn't be arrested for same and his epic William Tell had gone belly up. So the Wilcoxes were able to get Flynn for a fraction of his asking price from a decade ago for this Neagle film.

In it Anna Neagle plays a musical comedy star and her own daughter, in addition to reprising two of her previous screen roles in dream sequences, Queen Victoria and Nell Gwynn. The frequent use of flashbacks and imaginary sequences is going to leave the viewer quite a bit confused.

As for Errol Flynn he's both husband and father to Anna Neagle in her two different guises. The young Anna Neagle is caught between two suitors, producer David Farrar and stagedoor johnny Peter Graves. That is not the Peter Graves of Mission Impossible.

Neagle sings beautifully of course, she was one of the United Kingdom's premier musical comedy stars as well as a film star. As for Flynn he does a nice song and dance to Lily Of Laguna, but compare it to the number he did in Thank Your Lucky Stars with Warner Brothers during World War II, That's What You Jolly Well Get. Errol's aged quite considerably and it shows.

I wish both of these stars had teamed years earlier because they're a bit long in the tooth for this material, especially Flynn.

"Lilacs in the Spring" is a very confusing and, in my opinion, ill-conceived film. There's plenty of stuff to like in the movie (such as seeing Errol Flynn dance for, I think, the second time in a movie)....but the sum total just didn't work for me.

The film begins during the later portion of the Blitz in London...1944. The story follows Carole Beaumont (Anna Naegel) through a story and multiple flashback scenes. After getting bumped around by a bomb explosion, Carole believes she's back in the time of Charles II of Britain. The man playing Charles in this flashback is her boyfriend, Charles. Later, she has another flashback during which she's Queen Victoria hanging out with her husband, Albert....who is played by another one of Carole's boyfriends. Later, there is a LONG flashback, though from whose viewpoint, I have no idea! You see Carole's parents dating (played by Flynn and Naegle) which is confusing, as Flynn plays both father AND lover to two different characters played by Naegle (the mother and then daughter)! It's a bit creepy...and confusing...and it doesn't fit in at all with the previous two flashbacks. In fact, this flashback really is like a whole separate movie!

The bottom line is that the script just seemed like a mess. The singing, dancing and story (at times) were nice but the whole package was just strange and confusing...like it needed a revision to the script. It also would have helped to have two different actresses play Carole and her mother. A misfire.

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!