Daddy Long Legs (1955)

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Movie
German title Daddy Long Legs
Original title Daddy long legs
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1955
length 124 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Jean Negulesco
script Phoebe Ephron
Henry Ephron
production Samuel G. Engel
for 20th Century Fox
music Johnny Mercer
camera Leon Shamroy
cut William H. Reynolds
occupation

Daddy Langbein is a romantic musical comedy by Jean Negulesco from 1955. It is the fifth and at the time most elaborate film adaptation of the novel Daddy Langbein by Jean Webster , which was published in 1912, but is only loosely based on the novel. The leading roles were played by Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron .

action

Millionaire and playboy Jervis Pendleton happened to see 18-year-old Julie Andre in an orphanage in France, who fascinated him with her loving manner with the younger children. Julie's adoption is not possible as her age would cause gossip and scandal in high society. Jervis therefore decides to sponsor Julie's studies at a college in Walston, Massachusetts as an anonymous sponsor. Julie's only consideration should be regular letters to a P.O. Box address in which she talks about her student life. After two years in college and not a single reply to her letters, Julie is sad and frustrated. In New York, Jervis' employees Alicia Pritchard and Griggs have so far archived all of Julie's letters as requested and kept them away from Jervis, but they too are now urging Jervis to write to his ward. After reading her letters, he decides to visit her. Since Julie lives in a room with his niece Linda, he can see her at a college party without being noticed. He falls in love with her, but Julie has no idea of ​​his true identity.

Jervis invites Linda and Julie to New York; Linda apologizes for illness. After persuasion from acquaintances, Jervis realizes that he is behaving foolishly - after all, he wanted to give a girl a diamond ring and confess his love, which could theoretically be his daughter. Head over heels he leaves Julie, who returns to college depressed. Meanwhile, Jervis travels around the world until Alicia Pritchard and Griggs intervene again: He brings Jervis back to New York with a forged telegram and she brings Julie to New York with the promise of finally being able to meet her patron. Both meet in Jervis' house and Julie realizes that their great love was also their patron.

production

Actress Mitzi Gaynor was originally intended for the role of Julie , but Fred Astaire stood up for Leslie Caron as a film partner. After his wife died while filming, Fred Astaire himself was close to giving up his role, but in the end decided against it. In some scenes of the film his eyes are still red because he repeatedly withdrew mourning during the filming.

It was Fred Astaire's first film in CinemaScope , which gave him more space in the numerous dance sequences. For the film, Johnny Mercer wrote the classic Something's Gotta Give , which reached the top 10 on the Billboard charts in 1955 in interpretations of The McGuire Sisters and Sammy Davis, Jr. Ray Anthony and his orchestra made a musical guest appearance in the film .

The title refers to Julie's name for the unknown patron who the children at the orphanage told her had long legs.

Awards

Daddy Langbein was nominated for 3 Oscars in 1955 , but won none of the awards:

criticism

The lexicon of international films rated Daddy Langbein as a "humorous, romantic film adaptation of a novel, which, above all, is an untroubled pleasure through well-choreographed, fairytale dance and dream scenes." The Protestant film observer is also full of praise: "Love story as a background for a tasteful entertainment film with music, dance and serenity. Highly recommended for ages 14 and up. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 20th Century Fox: Great Classic Movies - Daddy Long Legs . Supplement to the DVD, 2006.
  2. ↑ Daddy Long Legs on movies.nytimes.com
  3. ↑ Daddy Long Legs. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ↑ Review No. 811/1955