Daddy Langbein (1955)

Daddy Langbein: Directed by Jean Negulesco. With Fred Astaire, Leslie Caron, Terry Moore, Thelma Ritter. A wealthy American has a chance encounter with a joyful young French woman, and anonymously pays for her education. She writes letters to her mysterious benefactor, nicknaming him from the description given by some of her fellow orphans.

“Fred Astaire, that supremely talented perfectionist, had a graceful and utterly charming partner in Leslie Caron in this oft-told fairy tale, so handsomely mounted by Twentieth Century Fox. Itu0026#39;s an artifact of its era, with elements such as Ray Anthonyu0026#39;s dance band for the prom scene; New York before it became overwhelmingly crass and vulgar; scenes set in a studio version of France when it was still permissible to admit a liking for things Gallic (which is now tantamount to treason – How absurd!); Terry Moore before she began claiming that sheu0026#39;d been secretly married to Howard Hughes; and Thelma Ritter allowed once more to almost steal the whole show with her slightly cynical brand of warmth. Sure there are things to object to: Larry Keatingu0026#39;s merciless depiction of a pompous old fogey, eager to deflect Cupidu0026#39;s arrows; the somewhat overblown dream sequence (which did not benefit from Fred Astaireu0026#39;s ability to make a production number flow so matchlessly, as in the u0026quot;Sluefootu0026quot; dance with Fred and Leslie, in which sheu0026#39;s allowed to outshine all of her American schoolmates); and a score with only a couple of memorable numbers (i.e., u0026quot;Dreamu0026quot; and the unforgettable u0026quot;Somethinu0026#39;s Gotta Give!u0026quot;)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut overall you have to be more than demanding to find this anything but a delightful way to forget the worldu0026#39;s harsher realities. The VHS version, with a DVD version probably not on the immediate horizon, no doubt does not duplicate Leon Shamroyu0026#39;s elegant CinemaScope framing. So be forewarned – this was made at a time when the hierarchy at Twentieth virtually commanded that all A-list productions take full advantage of the widescreen ratio and if thatu0026#39;s lost, then you wonu0026#39;t be seeing anything like what we saw in theaters during the theatrical release of this charmer.”