Daddy Long Legs

Based on a 1912 novel by Jean Webster (adapted twice before—in 1919 with Mary Pickford, and in 1931 with Janet Gaynor), filmmaker Jean Negulesco's 1955 Cinemascope musical version pairs dance virtuosos Leslie Caron and Fred Astaire. The latter plays millionaire Jervis Pendleton III, a hedonistic hep cat who pounds a drum set in his high-rise office, much to the consternation of his put-upon assistant (Fred Clark). On a mission of diplomacy to France, Pendleton's car is stranded and he walks to a nearby orphanage, where he spies 18-year-old French girl Julie Andre (Caron) in the courtyard teaching English to youngsters. Pendleton decides to become her secret sugar daddy, putting her though college in the States, while she continues to send letters to the man she briefly glimpsed from afar, her “daddy long-legs”—although propriety dictates that the relationship should remain anonymous and the two should never meet. Except they do, of course, and when the script inevitably starts to head in a May-December romance direction, many viewers will surely cringe. Fortunately, the predictable and rather pedestrian plotting is made more palatable by the singing, including the Johnny Mercer classic “Something's Gotta Give,” and the sparkling dance sequences, including the college campus “Sluefoot” number, Caron's impressive ballet-inspired turns, and her sultry Hong Kong café routine. Also costarring Terry Moore and Thelma Ritter, Daddy Long Legs bows on Blu-ray with extras including an audio commentary by film historian Ken Barnes and Astaire's daughter Ava Astaire McKenzie, a Movietone newsreel, and footage from the film's London premiere. Recommended. (R. Pitman)