Daddy Long Legs

'Daddy Long-Legs', previously filmed silent with Mary Pickford and once more in the 1930s, gets the musical treatment here as the story of the millionaire and the orphan he sponsors gets a Technicolor, Cinemascope, Johnny Mercer update.

Fred Astaire, at 55, is a little old for his role as stick-in-the-mud business whizz Jervis Pendleton, but hey, this is Hollywood. And his interest in, and subsequent wooing of, the French girl Julie Andre (played with charm and wit by Leslie Caron) is helped a lot by the fact that the two stars do not actually share screen time until nearly halfway through the film! With scintillating choreography for both Astaire and Caron, those wonderful songs, and support from Fred Clark, Thelma Ritter, and Terry Moore, 'Daddy Long Legs' is an excellent musical just balancing on the cusp of classic musical vs rock n roll.