Ciel de gloire

Dashing young WWI pilot Gary Cooper falls for village girl Colleen Moore in this late silent. It's well-staged and the aerial fights and crashes are shot well, but I can't shake the feeling that they shied away from the tragic ending towards which the movie seems to be heading.

Lilac Time which starred Colleen Moore was a big boost to the career of Gary Cooper. He played the British flier who was stationed on a base at Colleen Moore's farm during the World War. He cuts quite a dashing figure as a British air ace and son of British General Burr McIntosh.

This film is a great example of the universality of silent films where the very American speaking Cooper and Moore could get away with playing a British and a French national respectively. In Cooper's career afterward, when playing in a foreign setting it was always explained he was Canadian, he was one of the first of Hollywood leading men to have that gambit used when sound arrived. But in the silent era the only demand was that one be photogenic and no one was more photogenic than Gary Cooper.

Lilac Time was a play written by and starring Jane Cowl on Broadway during the 1917 season. It was one of Cowl's bigger hits on Broadway and a pity she didn't do the screen version. It concerns a small base of the Royal Flying Corps established on the farm of Eugene Besserer and her daughter Colleen Moore. Moore is something of a mascot to the men, but when she spots Cooper she doesn't want to be thought of as a pet.

As for Cooper he's got a fiancé back home, one of those aristocratic arranged marriages and his fiancé is played by Kathryn McGuire. At first he and Moore do not get along, he regards her as a nuisance. But the chemistry kicks in after a while.

Lilac Time made at the tail end of the silent era was one of the first films to have a music score written for it. The copy I have is a compilation of old World War I era ballads, but with the popular standard written expressly for this film, Jeannine, I Dream Of Lilac Time. This was one of the first songs written directly for the screen, albeit for a silent film. It and the rest of the score is done on a Wurlitzer organ and the song makes this film a candidate for revivals at festivals. Gene Austin had a big selling record of this song in 1928 when the film came out.

Viewed over 80 years after it came out, Lilac Time still holds up very well, a bit melodramatic, but a nice romance.

In 1918, flighty farm girl Colleen Moore (as Jeannine Berthelot) becomes attached to seven British fliers, who are stationed near her home, in France; and, the airborne group is just as fond of the charming Ms. Moore. Sadly, one of the pilots dies, after a typically dangerous mission; quickly, he is replaced by Gary Cooper (as Phillip Blythe). Mr. Cooper has arrived to do his "bit" for his British country, and fiancée. Although they may not acknowledge the fact, it's obviously love at first flight for Moore and Cooper. Once Moore and Cooper pledge their love, he and his men are ordered out on a suicide mission...

The popularity of Moore and the aviation theme were enough to make "Lilac Time" bloom at the box office. Moore handles the comedy/drama characterization well; and, Cooper is a handsome love interest. Their overblown love story becomes too maudlin, however. Although Moore (especially) and Cooper play their romantic meeting and courtship exceedingly well; the comic set-up, and proceeding situation, makes it all quite ludicrous. The fate of the squadron, the bombing of Moore, and the Grande Finale may combine to induce feelings of nausea.

****** Lilac Time (8/3/28) George Fitzmaurice ~ Colleen Moore, Gary Cooper, Jack Stoney

How great can a film be? This is one of the answers to that. Sweet Colleen Moore and Gary Cooper are a perfect couple, and Lilac Time a perfect love story. Forget Titanic! Bring a handkerchief when you see this.

British and American pilots launch attacks during World War I from a small town in France. A caring Colleen Moore is dedicated to providing moral support to these pilots. Gary Cooper replaces a downed pilot. Antagonism between Moore and Cooper precedes romance and provides a comic beginning. As romance develops, the pilots, including Cooper, are sent on a dangerous mission. A commercially available release of this film allow interested viewers to find Cooper's fate and the end result of Moore's trials and tribulations to also find his fate. This end of the silent era movie is worth the effort to ferret out for viewing.

The theme song of the motion picture, "Jeannine, I Dream of Lilac Time," is commercially available. It was recorded by well over a hundred top artists, including Louis Armstrong, Skitch Henderson, Guy Lombardo, The London Symphony Orchestra, opera star John McCormack, Mitch Miller, The Platters, Lawrence Welk, and Paul Whiteman. Many of these recordings have been transferred to commercially available CDs. For example, a recording by the composer, Nat Shilkret, is included in the ASV CD "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes," which is available from amazon.com.