thinbeach 'Daddy Long Legs' is two tales woven together - half orphanage, half love story. A pretty orphaned girl (Mary Pickford) suddenly has a college education paid for by an unknown man. Here she falls in love with an older man, who must appeal to the parent-less girl as both a potential husband and father figure.After beginning with an almighty ten minute slog that feels like more title-cards than images, the orphanage scenes really shine, as a poor Mary along with the other kids get up to all sorts of mischief, and turn the establishment which is compared to a prison into a joyful childhood ride. Unfortunately the adults don't receive much character development here - all are shown to be harsh and humourless, and are clearly shown this way in order to evoke our sympathies for Mary. This half of the film manages to make you sad, make you smile, make you detest, make you love and consider things from multiple points of view.When Mary leaves the orphanage to college it is initially a breath of fresh air, an unexpected departure from the harrowing set up, though the progression of the love story and the twist at the end are entirely predictable, and it slowly loses tension. It almost feels that the second male character introduced to compete for the heart of Mary is done so purely to try and provide some extra drama, for it is a plot point that runs exactly nowhere. This is true of most characters in the film, who are there just to evoke certain sympathies, with no real development, and a few loose ends. This half of the film however does feature some superb outdoor photography.

drednm Another terrific Mary Pickford performance and film. Daddy-Long-Legs is a familiar story, but the Pickford version accentuates the comedy and leaves the sappy romance to the horrid 50s version with Astaire and Caron. Sweet and innocent, this film has several memorable comic moments, including Mary getting drunk with a fellow orphan (Wesley Barry?) and leaving the jug for a dog. Very funny. A little tipsy, Mary also slides down banisters and accidentally knocks "Stink Weed" down a well. Oops! This film is a little unusual for a Pickford picture since it allows Mary to grow up. She gets to go to college and be wooed by her roommate's uncle (Mahlon Hamilton). She's also pursued by Jimmie (Marshall Neilan, who also directed the film). Milla Davenport is the orphanage director and Fay Lemport is the nasty Angelina.Nice comedic touches throughout to keep it all light and entertaining. The version I saw was clean, had beautiful title cards, and good (new) score my Maria Newman. All very impressive for a 1919 film. This film seems miles away from Pickford's 1917 Pride of the Clan, but she had been in over 200 films by the time she made this! Pickford was one of the greats, a true giant in Hollywood, and it's too bad she's so forgotten now. I've never seen a Pickford film I didn't like.

ColeSear What I really want to know after watching this film is what happened? Please excuse me for sounding like I'm using latent feminist criticism here, which I'm not but I really dislike the change in Judy's (Mary Pickford's) character after about the first 50 minutes of this film. Yes, there is the great silent humor by both Pickford and the boy when they get drunk which rivals the genius of Chaplin. There is also The Prune Strike and Judy's defense of the baby and Bosco against the harshness of the Trustees/ Aristocrats. She seems like a Dickensian Joan of Arc who will one day save all the children from the harshness of the orphanage.Now I'm not against Ironic twists of fate because she is set up by the headmaster who wants to be rid of her. So a trustee is coerced to pay for her education and Judy then falls in love with him not knowing this man is also the trustee, when a surprise is obvious to me (I am easily mesmerized and don't usually guess how films end) someone has done something wrong. Not only that but when she finds out Daddy-Long-Legs is the man she wants to marry she curses him and marries him anyway? While Pickford's performance is excellent throughout I cannot understand why she is so pleased at conforming. With all the liberal-minded titles which are sometimes poetic and sometimes just too much suddenly we are give a tale where a woman who hated the rich is now constantly surrounded by aristocracy at school, marries a man she used to fear, and she lives happily ever after? She could've shutdown the orphanage, reformed it or adopted a kid but we get none of that. And it left me scratching my head.Not only that as soon as she gets to college there is a non-diegetic inclusion of these baby cupids that make absolutely no sense and make this film seem like it was two stories spliced together when they would've been better as two separate shorts instead of as one feature. On the plus side it was enjoyable watching a beautifully restored, shot and finally a tinted silent film. Mary Pickford is a film legend who was so natural as a visual performer that words to her would just be clutter. It's just a shame to be exposed to her in a film where her character's motivation is ill-defined.

Dr. Ed stars in the first film version of Daddy Long Legs and is dazzling. A peerless comedianne of the silent screen, Pickford plays the spunky orphan as Chaplin would have---lots of physical comedy, sight gags, and pathos. In the 2nd half of the film, Pickford "grows up" and displays here usual warmth. Surely as Pickford films become more available, she will reclaim her place in the Hollywood pantheon. She ranks with Lillian Gish and Gloria Swanson as the best actresses of the silent era, but Pickford remains untouched (even by Mabel Normand and Marie Dressler) as a comedienne!