''Lilac Time'' is a 1928 American silent romantic

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...

directed by

George Fitzmaurice George Fitzmaurice (13 February 1885 – 13 June 1940) was a French-born film director and producer. Career Fitzmaurice's career first started as a set designer on stage. Beginning in 1914, and continuing until his death in 1940, he directed ...

and starring

Colleen Moore Colleen Moore (born Kathleen Morrison; August 19, 1899 – January 25, 1988) was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era. Moore became one of the most fashionable (and highly-paid) stars of the era and helped po ...

and

Gary Cooper Gary Cooper (born Frank James Cooper; May 7, 1901May 13, 1961) was an American actor known for his strong, quiet screen persona and understated acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice and had a further three nominations, a ...

. The film is about young American aviators fighting for Britain during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

who are billeted in a field next to a farmhouse in France. The daughter who lives on the farm meets one of the new aviators who is attracted to her. As the flyers head off on a mission, the young aviator promises to return to her. ''Lilac Time'' was produced by John McCormick (Moore's husband), and distributed by

First National Pictures First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre owners in the United States, and became the count ...

. The silent film "adaptation" by

Willis Goldbeck Willis Goldbeck (October 24, 1898 – September 17, 1979) was an American screenwriter, film director and producer. He wrote for 40 films between 1923 and 1962. He also directed ten films between 1942 and 1951. Willis graduated from Worcest ...

is based on a 1917 Broadway play written by

Jane Murfin Jane Murfin (October 27, 1884 – August 10, 1955) was an American playwright and screenwriter. The author of several successful plays, she wrote some of them with actress Jane Cowl—most notably '' Smilin' Through'' (1919), which was adapted ...

and actress

Jane Cowl Jane Cowl (December 14, 1883 – June 22, 1950) was an American film and stage actress and playwright "notorious for playing lachrymose parts". Actress Jane Russell was named in Cowl's honor. Biography Cowl was born Jane Bailey in Boston, Mas ...

. Though some sources erroneously cite the play as having been based on a novel by

Guy Fowler Guy or GUY may refer to: Personal names * Guy (given name) * Guy (surname) * That Guy (...), the New Zealand street performer Leigh Hart Places * Guy, Alberta, a Canadian hamlet * Guy, Arkansas, US, a city * Guy, Indiana, US, an unincorpo ...

, the reverse is true: Fowler novelized the Goldbeck adaptation for the popular line of

Grosset & Dunlap Grosset & Dunlap is a New York City-based publishing house founded in 1898. The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of Penguin Random House through its subsidiary Penguin Group. Today, through the Penguin Gro ...

Photoplay Editions ''Photoplay'' was one of the first American film (another name for ''photoplay'') fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that J. Stuart Blackton founded '' Motion Picture Story,'' a magazine also directed at fans. For mo ...

, also drawing upon text and dialogue of the play itself. ''Lilac Time'' offers several phases, beginning with slapstick comedy elements, becoming an intense romantic film, then segueing into a spectacular aerial showdown. This was followed by a duel in the sky between Cooper's character and the "Red Ace" before returning to romantic complications.

Plot

Seven young English aviators are billeted at the Berthelot farm near the French front. One of the flyers, Philip Blythe (

) is a replacement pilot who falls in love with the farmer's daughter, Jeannie (

), She loves Philip, and on the morning before a dangerous mission he also declares his love for her. Philip is shot down, and Jeannie helps an ambulance crew to extricate his apparently lifeless body from the wrecked aircraft. The crew will not allow Jeannie to accompany Philip and cannot tell her where they are taking him. Jeannie obtains an address for the military army hospital where he is. When she visits, she is told that he has died from his wounds, based on incorrect records. Jeannie sends a bouquet of lilacs to his room in remembrance, and Philip, recognizing the flowers as her gift, painfully drags himself to his window in time to call her back to him.

Cast

as Jeannine Berthelot *

as Captain Philip Blythe *

Burr McIntosh William Burr McIntosh (August 21, 1862 – April 28, 1942) was an American lecturer, photographer, film studio owner, silent film actor, author, publisher of ''The'' ''Burr McIntosh Monthly'',George Cooper as Mechanic's helper * Cleve Moore as Captain Russell *

Kathryn McGuire Kathryn McGuire (December 6, 1903 – October 10, 1978) was an American dancer and actress. Early life Born in Peoria, Illinois, McGuire was said to be recognized by critics and fans alike as one of the rising stars in film. Selected one of ...

as Lady Iris Rankin *

Eugenie Besserer Eugenie Besserer ( – May 29, 1934) was an American actress who starred in silent films and features of the early sound motion-picture era, beginning in 1910. Her most prominent role is that of the title character's mother in the first talkie ...

as Madame Berthelot *

Émile Chautard Émile Chautard (7 September 1864 – 24 April 1934) was a French-American film director, actor, and screenwriter, most active in the silent era. He directed more than 100 films between 1910 and 1924. He also appeared in more than 60 films ...

as The Mayor * Jack Stone as The Kid * Edward Dillon as Mike the Mechanic *

Dick Grace Richard Virgil Grace (October 1, 1898 – June 25, 1965), known as Dick Grace, was an American stunt pilot who specialized in crashing planes for films. Films that he appeared in include ''Sky Bride'', ''The Lost Squadron'', '' Lilac Time'', and '' ...

as Aviator * Stuart Knox as Aviator * Harlan Hilton as Aviator * Richard Jarvis as Aviator * Jack Ponder as Aviator * Dan Dowling as Aviator * Eddie Clayton as The Enemy Ace * Arthur Lake as The Unlucky One *

Philo McCullough Philo McCullough (June 16, 1893 – June 5, 1981) was an American actor. He appeared in more than 250 films between 1914 and 1969. He was born in San Bernardino, California, and died in Burbank, California. McCullough's film debut came in 1 ...

as German Officer *

Nelson McDowell Nelson McDowell (August 14, 1870 – November 3, 1947) was an American actor. He appeared in more than 170 films between 1917 and 1945. McDowell was born in Greenville, Missouri. His parents were N. B. McDowell and Anne Hampton. He attende ...

as French Drummer

Production

''Lilac Time'' was shot on sets at First National's Burbank studio and on location in El Toro, California, where a working airstrip, full-sized French village and farm serving as a base for a fictional

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

squadron, were built. For some scenes, the deserted village in Allaire, New Jersey were used for backdrops. In addition a portable machine shop serviced the seven

Waco 10 The Waco 10/GXE/Waco O series was a range of three-seat open-cockpit biplanes built by the Advance Aircraft Company, later the Waco Aircraft Company. Design and development The Waco 10 was a larger span development of the Waco 9, both single-engi ...

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

s purchased and leased by aerial coordinator

for the production.Wynne 1987, p. 82. The crash scenes in ''Lilac Time'' turned out to be particularly difficult and hazardous. One scene called for Grace to crash and flip upside down in an aircraft. The second crash scene involved a crash-landing where the aircraft pirouetted on its nose and nearly hitting Opal Boswell, Moore's double, who scampered out of the way at the last moment. The third crash pitted a Waco 10 against a stand of eucalyptus trees that tore off the wings of the taxiing aircraft. Looking for realism, many extras cast as soldiers in the film had been actual

soldiers, in the ranks they portrayed. The chief stunt pilot, Dick Grace, had only finished doing stunt work on the Paramount film ''

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...

'' (1927) nearly two months earlier. Grace sustained a severe neck injury in a stunt crash while making ''Wings'' but recovered in time for ''Lilac Time''. Among those in the cast were Colleen Moore's brother Cleve (billed as "Cleve Moore") and her cousin, Jack Stone. Eugenie Besserer had played "Mrs. Goode," a mother figure in Colleen's earlier film ''

Little Orphant Annie "Little Orphant Annie" is an 1885 poem written by James Whitcomb Riley and published by the Bowen-Merrill Company. First titled "The Elf Child", the name was changed by Riley to "Little Orphant Allie" at its third printing; however, a typesettin ...

'', the first film to bring Colleen a measure of fame.

Reception

''Lilac Time'' had its opening in Los Angeles at the

Carthay Circle Theatre The Carthay Circle Theatre was one of the most famous movie palaces of Hollywood's Golden Age. Located on San Vicente Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, it opened in 1926 and was demolished in 1969. The auditorium itself was shaped in the f ...

where, in the lobby, among other promotional materials on display, was the wrecked

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

of one of the aircraft that had been destroyed during the filming. The film cost one million dollars to produce, an amount equal to Moore's previous two films. The studio recouped the cost of the film within months. By the end of 1928, the film had out-performed Moore's earlier star vehicle '' Flaming Youth'' (1923). ''Lilac Time'' was released with a

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one th ...

score and music effects, featuring the song "Jeannine, I Dream of Lilac Time," but there was no spoken dialogue. The film premiered in New York City on August 3, 1928, and was released in the United States on October 18, 1928. Aviation film historian James H. Farmer in ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation'' (1984), described ''Lilac Time'', as "Overly sentimental; somewhat redeemed by the film's original aerial sequences, including several crashes; all of which were shot specifically for the production." Aviation film historian Stephen Pendo, in''Aviation in the Cinema'' (1985) had similar views about ''Lilac Time'', noting, "of all the aviation films of the period, 'Lilac Time' stands out as one of the most sentimental ..." The same comment about the sentimentality of ''Lilac Time'' is echoed by aviation film historian Michael Paris in ''From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema'', (1995).

Accolades

''Lilac Time'' is recognized by

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...

in these lists: * 2002: AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – Nominated"AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions Nominees" (PDF).
''afi.com'', August 19, 2016.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Codori, Jeff. ''Colleen Moore; A Biography of the Silent Film Star''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Publishing, 2012. . * Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation'' (1st ed.). Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: TAB Books 1984. . * Paris, Michael. ''From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema.'' Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. . * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. . * Sitkus, Hance Morton. ''Allaire (NJ)'' (Images of America). Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2002. . * Wynne, H. Hugh. ''The Motion Picture Stunt Pilots and Hollywood's Classic Aviation Movies''. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1987. .

External links

* *
''Lilac Time''
at Virtual History

at silenthollywood.com

at silentfilmstillarchive.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Lilac Time 1928 films American silent feature films Films directed by George Fitzmaurice 1920s romance films American aviation films First National Pictures films Transitional sound films American black-and-white films Films based on adaptations Films based on works by Jane Cowl Films based on works by Jane Murfin American war films American romance films Films scored by Nathaniel Shilkret War romance films Films shot in New Jersey 1920s American films Silent war films