Paddy the Next Best Thing
In Ireland, Major Adair’s older daughter Eileen is about to marry Lawrence Blake for his money in order to pay off her father’s debts, even though she really loves Jack Breen.
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- Cast：
- Janet Gaynor , Warner Baxter , Walter Connolly , Harvey Stephens , Margaret Lindsay , J. M. Kerrigan , Merle Tottenham
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Reviews
Wonderful Movie
Great Film overall
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Something of a follow-up to the 1931 "Daddy Long Legs," which also had Janet Gaynor as a waif eventually won by the much, much older Warner Baxter, this one has her as Walter Connolly's spunky Irish daughter, whose older sister (nicely played by Margaret Lindsay) is about to marry Baxter for his money and thus retire Connolly's debts, though she loves Harvey Stephens, who is in fact infinitely more appealing than Warner Baxter. I've never understood Baxter's appeal, and Gaynor is pretty hard to take here, too, overdoing as she so often did at Fox her "love me, I'm an adorable little girl" persona. She doesn't even attempt an Irish accent, nor can we tell whether Baxter is supposed to be American, English, Irish, or Canadian. Connolly is wonderful, though, and the Irish atmosphere is winsome and convincing--if that's not Galway location shooting, it's the best imitation I've ever seen. It's pleasant enough, with more pacing than the early Fox talkies usually displayed, but not particularly worth seeking out.