Customer Reviews

Daddy Long Legs

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

- Good packing
- It was value for money
- Nice design
- My friend loved , brought old memories back!
- arrived on time
- Great gift for an elderly

I'm currently on a kick to buy all of my all time favorite romantic movies and this is definitely one of them. I fell in love with this movie when I was a kid and have enjoyed watching it ever since. The dancing -- how could it not be great with Astaire and Caron? The music -- two fabulous songs came out of this movie: "Dream" and "Something's Gotta Give." The incomparable Thelma Ritter adds her wonderful presence. (Watching this film again, I suddenly realized that three of my favorite movies have her as a supporting player: Daddy Long Legs, All About Eve and Pillow Talk). And there's a wonderful dance sequence at the college gym called "Slue Foot."
If you are an Astaire fan or a fan of great musicals, you owe it to yourself to check this one out.

Daddy Long Legs(released May/55) is a smart film that turns what could have had a very lecherous overtone of a plot into a winner in the home stretch.Astaire's 24 year old co-star,Leslie Caron, stars in her eighth American film and contributes more to the acting sequences than the dancing ones.
The story involves a rich American industrialist by the name of Jervis Pendleton III(Astaire).He is a rather distracted person with his love of dancing and music,which often gets under the skin of his assistant Griggs(Fred Clark), who tries to keep his empire running as smoothly as possible.On a diplomatic mission to Paris with others,the car they are in gets stuck.Jervis wanders off to get help and comes upon an orphanage.While there he is struck by the charm and exuberance of a teenage girl by the name of Julie Andre(Caron).He confronts the American ambassador with a plan to adopt the girl and to bring her to the States to be educated.The ambassador questions his real motivations and a compromise is reached when it is agreed just to sponsor her;a less offending and questionable course of action.Of course Jervis's motives ARE strictly honourable and it is set up that the only interaction he will have with the girl is to receive regular correspondence from her regarding her school work.Andre is of course ecstatic and attends a college in Massachusetts that the Pendletons have sponsored for years.She does well with her studies and sends Jervis regular letters;none of which get answered.Griggs has been intercepting them and giving them to his secretary Alicia(Thelma Ritter)who reads them and dutifully files them away.When Alicia can't take the poor Julie's feelings of rejection anymore she pressures Griggs who in turn finally talks with Jervis.Jervis who had completely forgotten about his charge finally sits down to read the letters.He is touched and attends the college under the pretense of visiting his niece,who is Julie's roommate.They get to dance together and Jervis by nights end is quite taken with her.When she graduates he sets her up in a penthouse apartment in Manhattan.Everything is quite platonic but the feelings between the two are obviously growing.The American ambassador from the beginning of the film happens to over hear and misconstrue a conversation the two are having on their terrace.He calls Jervis and confronts him about what he heard.Even though it was innocent Jervis finally realizes what it looks like and agrees to stop things before they go any further.He travels the world but Julie follows his every move,clipping newspapers.Still not knowing that Jervis is really her "Daddy Long Legs"/benefactor she again writes to him urgently for advice.Alicia can take no more and brings Julie back to NYC to see Jervis in person.Jervis realizes he can't fight what he feels any longer and agrees to see her.Julie is taken aback in that first moment but soon realizes things couldn't be better.The movie ends with the two embraced.
Filming started in early /54 only to be sidelined due to the death of his beloved wife Phyllis.Astaire wanted out of the project but it was agreed to postpone the filming for a few months to let him grieve.Astaire finally came back but still very much upset.He made it through the film and thankfully his dancing does not suffer in the least.He has a great moment near the beginning of the film where he is drumming to some bigband music(very proficiently I might add) and he does a nice routine away from the drum kit with drum sticks in hand.He next becomes a dream like representation of what Julie thinks an American millionaire would look like.Astaire is in a Texas outfit c/w hat and boots and his singing is overdubbed by the venerable talent of Thurl Ravenscroft(Tony the Tiger).Astaire then does a high energy kick up your heels swing dance with Caron and other dancers in the "Slu-Foot" number.Finally he sings his famous"Something's Gotta Give" to Caron,quite reminiscent of his Ginger days.Leslie Caron was discovered by Fred's friend Gene Kelly and the latter starred her in An American in Paris four years before,so Fred asked for her for this project.Caron had(dance wise)more of a ballet background and the musical numbers were geared to reflect that.Caron had trouble with some of the routines and conquered it through constant rehearsal.The trouble I found is her dancing generally comes off as quite stiff and uninspiring.She has an an entire 12 minute sequence in which to shine and the results are disappointing,to say the least.Her best moments come with Astaire in the "Slu-foot" number and in the finale of the film.It is evident the studio was trying to highlight Caron but a sequence like Caron thinking about her "Daddy Long Legs" at a blackboard at the orphanage are flat and could easily have been cut(with her ballet number)with no harm to the film whatsoever.
Costar Fred Clark as always provides good support in his role as Griggs,the over worked and frustrated secretary to Jervis.Thelma Ritter as Griggs' assistant Alicia also has some good moments on screen to help things along.
The movie I would give about a 3 1/2 star rating to.However the technical department is the area this particular release really shines in and bumps the rating up to a solid four.The 2:55:1 aspect ratio along with the absolute pristine and gorgeous transfer evident here is something to behold.It is absolutely gorgeous to look at.The DVD comes with some nice extras:there is additional commentary by Ken Barnes,Astaire's daughter Eva and songwriter Johnny Mercer,Fox movietone news footage of the Hollywood,New York and London premieres of the movie,still photos,the trailer and four repro lobby cards of the film.The DVD itself is in its own case and it is in turn covered by another matching outer sleeve.This is prevalent amongst Fox's recent "Marquee Musicals" collection series.
Finally,while the movie itself would only rate between 3 and four stars,the extras and print here bump it up to a solid four.The film can be uneven at times,due mainly to sequences unfortunately involving Astaires co star Leslie Caron.Astaire suffered personally through this film but his anguish does not come across on screen and his dancing is up to his usual standards.I can recommend this film and Astaire fans will find more than a few satisfying moments to relish.

Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron are wonderful in this film. They dance so beautifully and make a wonderful couple. Leslie's cotumes ar ebeautiful and elegant. It's a great story as well.

Fred Astaire made over thirty musicals, beginning with a brief role in DANCING LADY and ending in FINIAN'S RAINBOW, and this one is far from his best, but it does contain many marvelous moments. Once you get past the fact that Fred was over thirty years older than Leslie Caron, there is everything to enjoy about the film. Unfortunately, the film contains one of the weaker scores in any Fred Astaire film, with one glorious exception. By any standard, Johnny Mercer's "Something's Gotta Give" is one of the great songs in any Astaire film. Although Fred was never a great singer, he was unparalleled in his ability to present a song onscreen. There is something exquisite in the way he gestures as he sings about an irresistible force like her meeting an old immovable object like him. Unfortunately, the rest of the songs are not up to that standard.

Leslie Caron is, to me, one of the most extraordinarily attractive women in the history of film. I think I would enjoy a film in which she did nothing but sit in a chair. Fortunately, in this film she does a great deal more than sit in a chair. Although trained as a ballerina, Caron possessed a gaminlike style of dancing that I find enormously appealing.

This film was made near the end of Astaire's career in romantic musical comedy. He was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the age differences between him and his leading ladies. He made his next two and final musicals, FUNNY FACE and SILK STOCKINGS, only with great reluctance. Rather than ignore the great age difference in this film between the two leads, it becomes a part of the plot.

Again, this is not one of Astaire's greatest films. It is not in the same category as his work with Ginger or Rita Hayworth, or such films as THE BAND WAGON or EASTER PARADE. But it is still a thoroughly enjoyable film, and one that any fan of musicals or Fred Astaire or Leslie Caron can watch with enormous enjoyment.

meets an old immovable object like the average 20th Century Fox musical, something does give, at least for the three or four minutes it takes for Astaire and Leslie Caron to sing and dance to that tune--that and "Sluefoot". The rest I can take or leave.

The movie differs quite a bit from the book, which consists after the first few pages exclusively of letters and sketches that the heroine sends to her unknown benefactor. This aspect is confined in the movie to a few dream ballet sequences. Also out the window not amazingly is any talk of social reform and abusive orphanages. Then there's the revelation of the benefactor's identity, which remains a secret till the very end of the book, but is disclosed to the audience in the beginning of the film.

In short, most of what makes the book so engaging is watered down into a rather mediocre movie. It has some good points--Leslie Caron is one of the most charming screen partners Astaire ever had, on or off the dance floor, and she's one of the few besides Ginger Rogers with a certain spunky toughness to her that plays off him to good advantage. This is partly what makes the age difference between them seem so trifling to me. (The other reason is the way the script POINTS OUT his seniority, something I don't think any other Astaire musical besides THE BAND WAGON does. The May-December thing is easier to take when it doesn't seem like the filmmakers are trying to pass him off as thirty-five years old.)

But all that is wasted in my opinion on a film with too little momentum and too much running time with too many ballets. I'm glad I saw it once, but except for "Something's Gotta Give" and the "Sluefoot" number, I doubt I'll be visiting it again.

Fred Astaire has never been a dirty old man-- at least not on screen!! Though he was indeed 56 years old here and Caron was 22 years old (and playing 18), the film's approach to this rather sticky material is completely chaste and innocent. That's why it soars so beautifully. The initial courtship is anonymous. Things only get sticky in the ensuing months as true love intercepts. But it is a prudish visiting ambassador, not Astaire himself, who makes a tacky "sugar daddy" reference, forcing Astaire to go 'noble' and disappear (temporarily) from Caron's life as his own conscience starts bothering him. Ironically, this is really the only dull moment of the film for me- the extended dream ballet of Caron imagining the elusive Astaire all around the world. But the story itself- aided by some lovely musical sequences ("Welcome Egghead," "C-A-T," "Dream," and especially "Something's Gotta Give")- is charming, safe viewing for the entire family. The ending is especially fine, because *two* love stories have resolved instead of just one. And how cool is it to dance with someone on your roof terrace, step into your hat, spin into your wrap, and dance out the front door?!!

Daddy Long Legs is a funny movie with ballet and tapdancing. (although not that many)The two main characters are Fred Astair and Leslie Caron. Fred Astair, who acts as Daddy Long Legs (I'm also not sure what his name is in the movie), brings a French girl (Leslie Caron but I'm not sure what her name is in the movie) to college. Meanwhile, the French girl is writing to Daddy Long Legs but doesn't know who he is. The Daddy Long Legs and the French girl meet many times, but the French girl does not know who he is. Will she find out? You've got to watch this movie to find out the ending!

You know, when I was a kid and first saw this on "Movie in the Morning", I just didn't like it; don't know why, just didn't. Well, the other night, I rented it. Hadn't seen it in over 25 years, still don't like it, but now I have a better understanding of why.

Most of the plot of "Daddy Long Legs" hinges on Fred's being considerably older than Leslie Caron. That doesn't have to be bad, in and of itself. But there's a leering quality to the film--there are all these references to sugar daddies and implied jailbait remarks. Fred's character is a millionaire who somewhat impulsively sponsors a young French orphan at an American college anonymously, and then completely forgets about having done it for a few years. The orphan faithfully writes her unknown benefactor a letter every month, calling him Daddy Long Legs. Well, eventually Fred is made to remember about the orphan and seeks her out at a college dance. But when he talks to her in the garden, he really sounds like he's checking her out. I never thought Fred Astaire could be creepy, but he's border line here. Anyway, the underage stuff is far-fetched because while Leslie Caron is far from middle-aged herself, she ain't no eighteen either.

Granted, the two move gracefully together, and she has some marvelous clothes. I'm always amazed to see Fred dance especially in these later movies; here in 1955, he was 56. That's the same age as Bogart, a year older than Tracy, two years older than Gable that year, but there's no comparison with what he could do physically and what those men were like at the same exact moment in time.

So, final verdict is that it is too long and for the first time I was uncomfortable at a Fred Astaire movie.

I highly recommend this film. It is very entertainng,
and has some great song and dance numbers.