jacobs-greenwood Mary Pickford plays an orphan girl. So what's new in this drama? Well, of course she's the one that leads and/or cares for the other children in the orphanage which is run by a tyrant (Milla Davenport) while its unawares board members eat high on the hog with the public money.So what's new in this Mary Pickford drama? Well, there's a rich girl (Fay Lemport) who's raised in luxury with all the comforts of home that provides a stark contrast to Pickford's orphan.So what's new in this Pickford drama? It's not so much that anything is new in this one (in fact, actually, this was probably one of the first of this type that was later copied - e.g. in Sparrows (1926), among others - ad nauseam to give the public what it wanted from her throughout her career) as much as it is the quality of its execution and the mysterious benefactor angle.Jerusha Abbott (Pickford), so named by a conveniently seen gravestone and a random page turned in the phonebook, grows up to be the "protector of the small" other orphans in the facility. Her care for the others is recognized by one of the wiser trustees (Percy Haswell) who then selects Jerusha as the recipient of a wealthy benefactor's charity - he offers to pay for her college education. The benefactor chooses to remain anonymous, but insists on written accounts from "Judy" about her experiences. Without knowing his name, she dubs him "Daddy Long Legs" because of an image she believes she saw of him though a translucent window. Living at a better place now, she meets, and is then courted by, a "goofy" young lad named Jimmie McBride (Marshall Neilan, this film's director!). She also spends time with her roommate's Uncle (Mahlon Hamilton), an older gentleman whom she doesn't know is also her benefactor. As his interest in her turns to love, she doesn't take him seriously enough to allow their relationship to become more than just friends.Eventually, her benefactor reveals who he is and, though she initially exhibits disdain (for his lechery?), she has a change of heart.

claudecat Mary Pickford gives her usual delightful performance in "Daddy Long Legs", but the screenplay for this movie drove me crazy. The storyline jumps around and is misleading. For example, Mary's character Judy is at first shown to be a tomboy who speaks the sort of Huck Finn dialect that silent-film intertitle writers found so amusing, but suddenly we're told that she's a brilliant scholar. The impression I had up to then was that the orphanage kids weren't exactly being given a stellar education. The supporting characterizations are also inconsistent. The orphanage mistress is mostly murderously abusive, but then is shown desperately trying to help Judy catch a train to a new school. Why does she suddenly care? Judy's young suitor is portrayed alternately as an oafish fool and a charming lad, 'til we don't know what we're supposed to think of him. I'm not saying movie characters should be one-note--the heartless rich girl in the story is so unbelievably mean that she's dull--but the extreme switches indicate that the screenplay wasn't well-thought-out. There are loads of loose ends: what was the deal with the broken tail-light? What happened to the $1000 check? Why was Mary too ashamed to tell a certain story about herself, but not too ashamed to write a book about it? AND DID THAT GIRL EVER GET OUT OF THE WELL? I also was kind of creeped out by the Jarvis Pendleton character--he was too controlling. There are good things in the film besides Mary: the photography and tinting are beautiful (though the untinted whites of Mary's eyes are a little distracting), I liked the score, and the subject of the orphanage was an important one in its day. (I just today heard a radio documentary that discussed orphanages of that period, and they were much worse than the one in the film, which I had wrongly assumed was exaggerated.) To the film's credit, Judy works hard to become independent, but that aspect of the story isn't fully explored.All in all, worth it for serious Mary fans, but for everyone else, I'd recommend "My Best Girl" over this one any day.

Dr. Ed stars in the first film version of Daddy Long Legs and is dazzling. A peerless comedianne of the silent screen, Pickford plays the spunky orphan as Chaplin would have---lots of physical comedy, sight gags, and pathos. In the 2nd half of the film, Pickford "grows up" and displays here usual warmth. Surely as Pickford films become more available, she will reclaim her place in the Hollywood pantheon. She ranks with Lillian Gish and Gloria Swanson as the best actresses of the silent era, but Pickford remains untouched (even by Mabel Normand and Marie Dressler) as a comedienne!

John Sexton This film has all the elements of the quintessential Mary Pickford film. The little girl. Spunky. Full of love and against the odds. Willing to risk. From the "ash cans" and down to earth but capable of walking with high society with her head held high. Her profile shots by Charles Rosher are the ones we've learned to remember "Little Mary" by. The cupid scenes are incredible not so much for their content but their originality and sentiment in a film made in 1919.