It's an old movie circa 1950's but no later than 1965. It's about a young(?) girl named Lily (or Lilly) and it starts with her walking along a street with a suitcase, and looking in a shop window at a pretty doll, and she's going to her uncle's house. Then later she ends up at a circus with a puppeteer.

That's pretty much all I remember, but I'm sure the puppeteer was part of the central plot of the movie.

Oh, and Fred Astaire might have been one of the characters (I think he teaches her how to dance), but I searched his IMD and didn't find anything.
I first saw it when I was 14-17(? Long time ago) in Romanian, in a small theater in Romania.

Please help, I would be very grateful, I've been looking for it for a long time!

If Fred Astaire was in the movie this website might be a good place to start your search. Fred Astaire at Reel Classics: Biography (http://www.reelclassics.com/Actors/Astaire/astaire-bio.htm)

I've tried search through Fred Astaire's films, but I can't seem to find it. It really is driving me crazy.

Amazingly enough I believe the movie is called "Lili" with Leslie Caron.

Here's the IMDB profile (http://imdb.com/title/tt0046000/).

Oh, thank you so much! I saw it with my dad when I was young, and I've been trying to find it ever since!

Thank you VERY much for the help! :):):)

It's an old movie circa 1950's but no later than 1965. It's about a young(?) girl named Lily (or Lilly) and it starts out with her walking along a street with a suitcase, and looking in a shop window at a pretty doll, and she's going to her uncle's house. Then later she ends up at a circus with a puppeteer.

That's pretty much all I remember, but I'm sure the puppeteer was part of the central plot of the movie.

Oh, and Fred Astaire might have been one of the characters (I think he teaches her how to dance), but I searched his IMD and didn't find anything.
I first saw it when I was 14-17(? long time ago) in Romanian, in a small theater in Romania.

Please help, I would be very grateful, I've been looking for it for a long time!

It wasn't Astaire. I forget who the guy was.

The movie was LILI and is based on a musical called CARNIVAL. (Not to be confused with CAROUSEL.)