Daddy Long Legs (1955)

I wish I were a bigger fan of Leslie Caron because she’s obviously a beautiful dancer. I just can’t get into her roles in these 1950s spectacular musicals. Here she is a French orphan who catches the eye of wealthy playboy Fred Astaire so that he offers to secretly pay for her to attend college in the United States. The pairing is pretty gross as Astaire is bordering on being old enough to be her grandfather. The costuming seems to play with this idea, making her look young in the orphanage and while in school but older when she’s being wooed. The songs are fairly unmemorable, but the dancing is a sweet blend of Astaire’s tapping and Caron’s ballet.  

Oscar Nominations: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Music, Original Song; Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture