Daddy Long Legs

Daddy Long Legs (1955) is a musical romance you can watch online on iFILM. Director Jean Negulesco hands the film over to two dancers — Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron — and lets their feet do most of the talking. Wealthy American Jervis Pendleton meets a bright young orphan in France and quietly funds her college education.

There is one rule: Judy must never know who pays the bills. She writes letter after letter to the faceless benefactor she nicknames her long-legged "daddy," and gets nothing back. Then Jervis turns up at her New England school under a false pretext, hiding who he is, and falls for a woman far younger than himself. That age gap sits under the whole story like a held breath.

The real engine here is Astaire's choreography — his solos and his pairings with the ballet-trained Caron matter more than any line of dialogue. Thelma Ritter adds her dry, lived-in humor on the side. It's an old-fashioned, sweet-tempered picture for anyone who still wants real dancing in their Hollywood musicals. Stream Daddy Long Legs (1955) online on iFILM.