Let's begin with the obvious: the complaints about the age difference between Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron. Yes, there is one. But I think there's a night-and-day difference between this film and, say, 'Charade' or 'Entrapment' when the leading man is grandfatherly and the leading lady is a sweet young thing, and we're not supposed to notice. The brilliant thing about DLL is that the age difference, or discrepancy, is front and center at the plot of the film. But the film broaches this rather sticky material in a very chaste and innocent way. After seeing her from afar as a teenager, Astaire's courtship with Caron becomes anonymous. For two years. The film's first masterstroke comes in the guise of Thelma Ritter acting as an armchair Cupid. Through a gentle push on her part we begin to see the pair finally interact. (And when they first dance together, it isn't even real.) Astaire also attempts nobility- several times!! But everything is in an elegant and tasteful courtship, leading up to the stunning rooftop turn of "Something's Gotta Give." I didn't like the Roland Petit ballet towards the end of the film as much as others did, just because I felt that the point of loss had been beaten to death. But the ending is especially fine because two love stories resolve instead of just one. And how cool is it to dance with someone on your roof terrace, step into your hat, spin into your wrap, and dance out the front door?!!
Review of Daddy Long Legs
