Daddy Long Legs

Daddy Long Legs (1931) is an American Pre-Code film directed by Alfred Santell and starring Janet Gaynor and Warner Baxter. The story involves an orphan who is taken under the wing of a wealthy benefactor. The original story, written in 1912 by Jean Webster, compared the childhood of the wealthy to those in the orphanage. Although suffering under a tough matron, Judy Abbott (Janet Gaynor) manages to cope and help the other orphans through intelligence and hard work. Wealthy Jervis Pendleton (Warner Baxter), who is the benefactor, can't help admiring his young charge, though she doesn't know that he's sponsoring her schooling. She does not realize he has been sponsoring her, even when they meet, through Jervis' niece, who is Judy's room mate; and, the girl who was once alone, has to choose between their growing affection, and a younger suitor.