A few years back, I started to watch this film and stopped. What bothered me was that Mary Pickford near the beginning of the film playing a 12 year-old and that just seemed so silly I switched it off! However, after recently having forced myself to actually watch it all, it turned out to me amazingly good. Now this isn't to say this is a perfect film--the whole 12 year-old aspect is pretty tough to believe AND the time-line of the film is a real mess (if you pay attention, it seems that Mary goes to college and falls in love at age 12!)--they really needed to explain that a lot of time lapses between the opening scene of 12 year-old Mary and the closing scenes. However, if you ignore this, the rest of the film is very worth seeing.

The first part of the film is mostly light comedy with Mary playing a plucky trouble-maker with a heart of gold at the orphanage. Some of the stuff she gets into is pretty funny and she is about the most unwanted orphan in the film. However, about halfway through the movie, it abruptly changes to a romance. Mary is sent to college by an anonymous benefactor who does not want to be known to her, and so she labels him "Daddy Long Legs" and sends update letters to him telling him her progress--never knowing exactly who it is.

Both parts of the film work very well, but some might be bothered by it being almost like two totally different films--since the tone is so different in each. However, both elements DO work and work well. While this isn't my favorite Pickford film (I liked SUDS better and I still have a lot more of her films to see), this is among the better silent films I've seen (and I've seen a lot). A good story, excellent acting and a general likability of Pickford's character make this a good example of the genre.

• The original play opened in New York on 28 September 1914.
• This was the first film of Mary Pickford's new production deal. The part of the deal that clinched it was she was finally able to have approval over the final film edit, which she had been unable to get before. It was predicted by some to be a risky deal, but this proved to be a big success for Pickford.