Daddy Long Legs (1955 film)

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Daddy Long Legs (1955) is a musical comedy film set in France, New York City, and the fictional college town of Walston, Massachusetts. The film was directed by Jean Negulesco, and stars Fred Astaire, Leslie Caron, Terry Moore, Fred Clark, and Thelma Ritter, with music and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The screenplay was written by Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron, loosely based on the 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster.

This was the first of three consecutive Astaire films set in France or with a French theme (the others being Funny Face and Silk Stockings), following the fashion for French-themed musicals established by ardent Francophile Gene Kelly with An American in Paris (1951), which also featured Kelly's protégée Caron. Like The Band Wagon, Daddy Long Legs did only moderately well at the box office.

Plot

Wealthy American Jervis Pendleton III has a chance encounter at a French orphanage with cheerful 18-year-old resident Julie André. He anonymously pays for her education at a New England college. She writes letters to her mysterious benefactor, whom she calls Daddy Long Legs (based on her fellow orphans' description of his shadow), but he never writes back. Several years later, he visits her at school, still concealing his identity. Despite their wide age difference, they fall in love.

Cast

• Fred Astaire as Jervis Pendleton III
• Leslie Caron as Julie André
• Terry Moore as Linda Pendleton
• Thelma Ritter as Alicia Pritchard
• Fred Clark as Griggs
• Charlotte Austin as Sally McBride
• Larry Keating as Ambassador Alexander Williamson
• Kathryn Givney as Gertrude Pendleton
• Kelly Brown as Jimmy McBride
• Ray Anthony as himself (as Ray Anthony and His Orchestra)
• Olan Soule as Assistant Manager (uncredited)
• Percival Vivian as Professor (uncredited)

Production

Production was halted in July 1954, as Astaire's wife Phyllis became ill from lung cancer. She died in September, putting Astaire in a state of grief and stalling his work on the film. Although replacements were sought for Astaire's role, as too much money had already been spent on the production, he resumed and completed the film.[5]

Key songs/dance routines

Astaire had previously attempted to integrate ballet into his dance routines in

• "History of the Beat": This is an Astaire song-and-dance solo using drumsticks performed in an office environment, recalling the "
  Easter Parade (1948). As this was the first number to be filmed, some commentators^[who?
  ] have speculated that it was affected by Astaire's grief at his wife's death.
• "Daddy Long Legs": An off-screen female chorus sings this attractive number while Caron muses fondly at a blackboard cartoon sketch of Astaire.
• "Daydream Sequence": Astaire appears in three guises: a Texan, an international playboy and a guardian angel based on images of him described in letters from Caron. As a Texan, he performs a comic
  tangoes his way through a flock of women, including Barrie Chase
  , later to be his dance partner in all of his television specials from 1958 to 1968. The third routine is a gentle romantic dance with Caron, who performs graceful ballet steps while Astaire glides admiringly around her.
• "Sluefoot": This is a boisterous and joyous dance with Astaire and Caron involving sharp leg movements. Astaire inserts a short and zany solo segment, and the chorus join in toward the end. The band leader in this scene is Ray Anthony.
• "Something's Gotta Give": Astaire was grateful to his friend Mercer for composing this now-famous standard, as he felt that the film lacked a strong popular song. Some commentators^[who?] have detected a certain stiffness in Caron, especially in her upper body.
• "Nightmare Ballet": This is a solo routine for Caron frequently criticized^{[by whom?]} for its content and length (12 minutes).
• "Dream": This is a short romantic routine for Astaire and Caron with dreamlike twirling motifs and, unusually for Astaire, a kiss.

Awards and nominations

Reception

The Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa cited Daddy Long Legs as one of his 100 favorite films.^[9]

References