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 that's lost, then you won't be seeing anything like what we saw in theaters during the theatrical release of this charmer.I first read this book as a translation when I was a teenager, I loved Judy and daddy long legs, but that was only the first book, then I found out there's a sequel and i had to have it, I got it and i read it and never had I been more touched so deeply, the only other writer who does that to me is Charlotte Bronte and Jean Webster is a true disciple. The VHS version, with a DVD version probably not on the immediate horizon, no doubt does not duplicate Leon Shamroy's elegant CinemaScope framing. Sure there are things to object to: Larry Keating's merciless depiction of a pompous old fogey, eager to deflect Cupid's arrows the somewhat overblown dream sequence (which did not benefit from Fred Astaire's ability to make a production number flow so matchlessly, as in the 'Sluefoot' dance with Fred and Leslie, in which she's allowed to outshine all of her American schoolmates) and a score with only a couple of memorable numbers (i.e., 'Dream' and the unforgettable 'Somethin's Gotta Give!') But overall you have to be more than demanding to find this anything but a delightful way to forget the world's harsher realities. It's an artifact of its era, with elements such as Ray Anthony'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 she'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.

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.

Daddy long legs and dear enemy