Colleen Moore

LILAC TIME

First National Pictures, 1928.  Directed by George Fitzmaurice.  Camera:  Sidney Hickox.  With Colleen Moore, Gary Cooper, Burr McIntosh, George Cooper.

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Seven young English aviators are billeted at the Berthelot farm near the French front.  One of the flyers, Philip Blythe, falls in love with farmer Berthelot's daughter, Jeannie and, on the morning before a dangerous mission, declares his love for her.

Philip is shot down, and Jeannie helps an ambulance crew extricate his apparently lifeless body from the wrecked plane.  In the following weeks, Jeannie searches in vain in all of the military army hospitals for Philip.  She does encounter Philip's father who, disapproving of her lowly origins, falsely informs her that Philip has died.

In farewell, Jeannie sends a bouquet of lilacs to his room, and Philip, recognizing the flowers as her gift, painfully drags himself to his window in time to call her back to him.

American Film Institute Catalog