Daddy Long Legs

Starring:Wesley Barry, True Boardman (II), Betty Bouton, Jeanne Carpenter, Audrey Chapman, Milla Davenport, Estelle Evans, Mahlon Hamilton, Percy Haswell, Fred Huntley, Lillian Langdon, Frankie Lee, Fay Lemport, Joan Marsh, Mary Pickford, Carrie Clark Ward
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
In Daddy-Long-Legs, Mary Pickford plays an orphan, Jerusha (Judy) Abbott, abandoned as a baby in an alley and raised in a cruel orphanage. The scenes in the orphanage are extraordinary. Pickford, although in her late '20s when the film was shot, is absolutely believable as a pigtailed 12-year-old; she's the epitome of a child-woman, the essence of gamine. Protector and champion of her fellow orphans--truly adorable kiddies dressed in identical gingham outfits--Pickford's Judy is brave and kind but full of piss and vinegar, never sticky-sweet. One scene in particular is a showcase for Pickford's mastery of physical comedy. She and an orphan lad, played by Wesley Barry, a little boy whose slapstick flair matches Pickford's own, get drunk on applejack. It's plain hilarious.

Description

Fred Astaire becomes both the benefactor and suitor of Leslie Caron in this charming story of a playboy who falls under the spell of a beautiful French orphan. While traveling through France, Jervis Pendleton lll (Astaire) anonymously sponsors an 18-year-old girl named Julie (Caron), whom he sends to college in America. Two years later they finally meet face to face and start to fall in love. But complications arise and their happiness is threatened when Jervis embarks on a noble yet misguided attempt to do "the right thing" about their age difference. Featuring imaginative production numbers and a Johnny Mercer score that includes the 1955 Oscar® -nominated hit for Best Song "Something's Gotta Give", Daddy Long Legs is a song-filled blend of dance and fantasy for romantics of all ages.

Customer Reviews:

Daddy Long Legs.......2007-03-24

I think this is one of Fred Astaire's best. A lot of people rave about "Top Hat," but I like his later movies better. His dancing is exceptional. The only problem I have with the film is it's another of the "teen age girl falls in love with old man" movies. That hasn't changed much over the years if you've seen any Clint Eastwood movies. Of course, I am an old man who would like to think it could happen to me.

Fred is a "stand-up, elegant" dancer compared with Gene Kelly who is a "squat low, gymnastics" dancer. Both are great. In this film, I think Leslie Caron was superb. She had an air of innocence which she portrayed very well and she is such a lovely dancer. I think she fits as a dance partner better with Fred that with Gene who is better suited with someone like Cyd Charisse.

I saw the movie when it first came out in 1955 and several times since. It has remained one of my favorites because of the music and dance routines more than the storyline. I would have purchased it earlier, but it wasn't digitized for DVD until 2005 and I didn't want the VHS version.

If you are a fan of musicals like I am, you will love this film.

A touch of Old Fashioned Charm.......2007-02-21

This is a Musical for the discerning. Someone who appreciates the way things 'use to be'. Mr Astaire executes with effortless elegance, grace and 100% charm.
A Youthful Leslie Caron almost flawlessly mirrors Mr. Astaire's natural effortlessness and makes you wish that you had enough talent to look so relaxed partnering a legendary entertainer.

If you enjoy the innocent/natural charisma of a bygone era with its genteel elegance....you cannot go past this classic!

On the downside [purely personal taste] I think that Miss Caron's 'fade to dream dance sequences' are too long and too numerous to hold my attention and don't add enough 'value' to the overall storyline.

Ultimately, Uncle Jervis is everyone woman's dream man [fully loaded, without the traditional 'drop dead/georgeous' skin deep covering...but what he lacks in 'looks' is outweighed by his endless charm, charisma and downright Godgiven talent! Delightful!

Delightful Golden Oldie.......2007-01-14

Daddy Longlegs is a wonderful movie showcasing the great dancing of both Fred Astaire and Leslis Caron. If you are a fan of either, this is a must-have. There's also some good extras on the DVD.

Daddy Long Legs.......2007-01-07

Rapid delivery - in excellent order. Would purchase from this buyer again.

great old movie.......2007-01-05

this was one my favorite movies growing up. it's classy, elegant, and charming. it was made when you didnt have to have any profanity, nudity, or violence to make a good movie.

Average customer rating:

What a Charming whimsical movie. One of pickfords best
Daddy Long Legs
'Little Mary' grows up.
A Film of Pain and Romance
A charming movie

Daddy Long Legs
Starring: Wesley Barry , True Boardman (II) , Betty Bouton , Jeanne Carpenter , and Audrey Chapman
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( D ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: 6305617791
Release Date: 1999-11-23

Amazon.com

In Daddy-Long-Legs, Mary Pickford plays an orphan, Jerusha (Judy) Abbott, abandoned as a baby in an alley and raised in a cruel orphanage. The scenes in the orphanage are extraordinary. Pickford, although in her late '20s when the film was shot, is absolutely believable as a pigtailed 12-year-old; she's the epitome of a child-woman, the essence of gamine. Protector and champion of her fellow orphans--truly adorable kiddies dressed in identical gingham outfits--Pickford's Judy is brave and kind but full of piss and vinegar, never sticky-sweet. One scene in particular is a showcase for Pickford's mastery of physical comedy. She and an orphan lad, played by Wesley Barry, a little boy whose slapstick flair matches Pickford's own, get drunk on applejack. It's plain hilarious.

Description

Daddy-Long-Legs (1919, 85 min.) - One of Mary Pickford's most delightful films. A mysterious benefactor pays to send Judy, the oldest and cutest kid in the orphanage, to college. Restored by the Mary Pickford Foundation, "Daddy-Long-Leg" includes the rarely seen Pickford short film "What the Daisy Said" (1910, 13 min.), directed by D.W. Griffith.

Customer Reviews:

What a Charming whimsical movie. One of pickfords best.......2006-10-21

This has to be about my Favorite Pickford film. It stands the test of time. It shows the full gammut of emotions from slap stick comedy to heart felt tragedy. From her as the Child with nothing who had spunk and courage to her blossoming into a beautiful women and her mentor falling in love with her which concluded to the ultimate happy ending.
This is a must for all Pickford fans. it is sweet with out being overly so. it is a true fantasy that all will love.
A most Charming movie. A classic for all time!

Daddy Long Legs.......2005-02-05

A baby is found in a trashcan, wrapped in newspapers, and grows up to be Mary Pickford.
The baby, as was probably common for all post-Oliver Twist melodramas, is haphazardly named by the stern mistress of the orphanage after riffling through a phone books and surveying a clump of headstones.
The silent DADDY-LONG-LEGS is two movies delicately joined. The first follows the fortunes of young Jerusha `Judy' Abbott (Pickford) in the orphanage. From the second half comes the title of the film. A wealthy benefactor wishes to send Pickford to college, and, importantly, maintain his anonymity. The only glimpse she catches of him is his tall shadow. Hence Daddy-Long-Legs.
There's a welcome dose of comedy in the first half. Melodramas set in orphanages, especially silent ones, can be pretty rough going. Fortunately this one only kills one child and burns one thieving hand. It could be worse. The movie offsets the heavy stuff with an amusing scene with an inebriated dog and a cute look at the headquarters of Dan Cupid, un-LTD, replete with a gaggle of winged and diaper-clad toddlers intent on throwing or two at pretty Miss Pickford. The second half is a tale of love finding the delicate heroine with a terrible secret.
I enjoyed DADDY-LONG-LEGS quite a bit. Whatever made Mary Pickford "America's Sweetheart" almost a hundred years ago still works today. Watching the movie took a little bit of adjustment, though. The orphanage melodrama was about as thick as Queen Victoria's girdle, and title cards saying "Why did she raise her hair and lengthen her skirts?" confused a bit more than they enlightened. The social stigma associated with being an orphan seems dated, as well.
The other film on this disk also features Mary Pickford. WHAT THE DAISY SAID was directed by D.W. Griffith in 1910 and is a very short take on two sisters (Pickford and Gertrude Robinson) being seduced by a gigolo of a palm-reading Gypsy. The moral seems to be to trust flowers more than men who wrap their heads in handkerchiefs.

'Little Mary' grows up........2004-02-20

'Daddy Long Legs' is a beautifully crafted film in which Pickford's character, Judy Abbott, grows up. Pickford plays the role of an abandoned child who pits her wits against a child who is born with a silver spoon in her mouth, Angelina.
As a child in an orphanage, the unloved, unwanted Judy skillfully and hilariously outwits both the orphanage mistress and Angelina, by inciting the inmates to rebel against their diet of prunes, stealing Angelina's doll and by delivering it minus an arm to a dying child.
Despite the film's hilarity, it makes a genuine statement about social acceptability. As an orphan, Judy is neither worthy of Angelina's company nor is she her social equal. Even the young Angelina looks down her nose at Judy who wears the orphanage gingham with dignity.
Years later, as a young woman at college, sponsored by a much older gentleman, Judy again meets Angelina who treats her as inferior and lacking social connections. Later, Judy's writing finally enables her to socialise with the wealthy but when this breakthrough occurs, she is mindful of her origins and cannot bring herself initially to wed into the snobbish families she encounters.
Judy arrives at a decision involving which beau to accept after heartfelt thought and agonising. Then a well hidden secret is disclosed, to Judy's embarrassment.
The ending is happy and satisfying. Any Pickford fan would enjoy this film. It is intellectual as well as entertaining and is delightfully photographed.

A Film of Pain and Romance.......2001-03-07

Daddy Long Legs is a wonderful example of Mary Pickford's talent for portraying adolescent girls even when she herself was much older. She was 26 when the film was made in 1919, but she is convincing even when she plays a 12-year-old orphan and is quite captivating when she grows up to go to college. Pickford may have gone on playing the teenager a little too long. Some of her later films stretch credibility too much, but this is not the case here. Interestingly this DVD includes a Biograph short from 1910, What the Daisy Said, where 17-year-old Mary appears to be older than in many of her later roles. Ironically, at this time she wanted to appear older than she was and it has been said that one of the reasons why she left Biograph was that Griffith would not allow her to develop into full adult roles.

Daddy Long Legs starts as a sort of exposé of an orphanage. There is one particularly gruesome scene of Mary being deliberately burned on a stove as a punishment. The picture gets redder and redder to emphasise the pain and the heat. But the story also has moments of fine comedy to counterbalance the more serious elements. Pickford makes a fine comic drunk and a scene where she pretends to be strangled with her own arm is as good a piece of comic ingenuity as I have seen. When she leaves the orphanage the film becomes a delightful romance. This love story keeps the viewer guessing, and shows the many faces of love, the joy as well as the despair. It is wholly believable.

The picture quality of this film is almost perfect. There is some occasional fading of the image and brief moments of apparent damage, but overall the restoration is extremely good. The picture is tinted and uses a number of colours to accompany the variations in the settings and the moods of the scenes. The titles are especially noteworthy as many of them include drawings which along with the words comment on the action. The chamber music for this film fits in well with the action. It is well played and includes some fine themes.

As I mentioned this DVD contains a Biograph short. It is about 12 minutes long and is very welcome as an additional feature. I've only seen about 10 of the hundreds of films Griffith made at Biograph and on the whole find them difficult to appreciate. These early shorts are possibly the hardest of films for the modern viewer to grasp. Nevertheless, a film like What the Daisy Said is intriguing and in a curious way entertaining. It makes me want to find out more about this period of filmmaking. Someone should bring out a series of DVD's featuring Biograph shorts.

A charming movie.......2000-07-22

This turns out to be a very charming movie with a splendid performance by Mary Pickford which proves why she was one of the biggest stars of the silent era. The film alternates between comedy and drama working well in the latter category but excelling in the first. Beautifully photographed and directed it's a highly entertaining movie which makes you forget that you are watching a silent film because you get involved in the story right away. Also the acting is very understated and natural so that you really believe in the characters. Unlike many early movies where you have to watch them from a historical perspective to enjoy them this should work for a modern audience just as well.

The transfer to DVD is excellent in my opinion. It contains a chamber score by Maria Newman which is superior to most scores you will hear on videos for silent films even though it is not in the same league as Carl Davis' scores for the British channel 4 silent movie series (some of which are available on video in the U.S. e.g. The Big Parade).

Product Description

There's one thing the band Wolfpac never seems to have a shortage of: Hot girls hanging around! What better way for us to share all the action than with this hot DVD that is sure to raise the stock value of hand lotion companies nationwide. (Adults Only)

Marquee Musicals Collection (Down Argentine Way / Moon Over Miami / My Blue Heaven / The Dolly Sisters / Weekend in Havana / Daddy Long Legs / Pin-Up Girl)

Average customer rating:

Marquee Musicals Collection (Down Argentine Way / Moon Over Miami / My Blue Heaven / The Dolly Sisters / Weekend in Havana / Daddy Long Legs / Pin-Up Girl)
Starring: Fred Astaire , Betty Grable , Alice Faye , John Payne , and Don Ameche
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000MCH7GG
Release Date: 2007-03-01

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