Darby O'Gill et les farfadets

As a lad I well remember the kind of campaigns Walt Disney used to publicize his films. He used all the available outlets he had such as his Mickey Mouse Club show or the Walt Disney Wonderful World of Color television shows. If Walt Disney could have worked it out, he'd have plugged Darby O'Gill and the Little People on Zorro.

I remember Disney on one of his shows having a formal meeting with King Brian of Knocknasheega to sign over screen rights to the story of the leprechauns. It was all done with a kind of serious pomp that would impress a kid with Disney and Jimmy O'Dea who played the leprechaun king, Brian Conners.

According to the Films of Walt Disney by Leonard Maltin, Disney had it in mind to do an Irish story for over 15 years before Darby O'Gill was released. In fact when he saw the original Broadway production of Finian's Rainbow, he had his leading man in mind in the person of Albert Sharpe.

Sharpe's Darby O'Gill is a gamekeeper on the grounds of Lord Fitzpatrick who in his declining years spends more time at the local pub, regaling the patrons with his tales of encounters with the leprechauns. As Walter Fitzgerald who plays Lord Fitzpatrick says, Darby retired a couple of years ago without telling me. So he's hired himself a young new gamekeeper, an outsider from Dublin named Michael McBride played by a pre-James Bond Sean Connery.

Connery's a decent chap though and he'll give Sharpe time enough to vacate the gamekeeper's gate cottage. Besides Connery's taken a liking to Darby's daughter Katie in the person of winsome Janet Munro.

The film alternates and then blends the story of Connery's courtship of Munro with the person of her other suitor, the town bully played by Kieron Moore and Sharpe's adventures with the leprechauns. King Brian tricks him a couple of times, but Darby captures him by getting him drunk and keeping him out until daylight when he has no powers.

If Darby O'Gill had been made by someone other than Disney probably Barry Fitzgerald would have played Darby. Sharpe certainly has the elfin charm of Fitzgerald's Michaeleen O'Flynn from The Quiet Man. And because he was not a movie name, he worked a lot cheaper for Disney, always a consideration in The Magic Kingdom.

The special effects are really good here considering this was the age before computer generated graphics. Enough to give even a twelve year old a fright with the appearance of the banshee and the costa bower, the death coach.

The answer to a movie trivia question is this film if it is ever asked whether Sean Connery sang in a movie. It's in fact him singing, My Little Irish Girl, both he and Janet Munro sing it alone and duet it for the finale. No dubbing, in fact Sean Connery cut a 45 rpm record of it back in the day. Probably worth a fortune if you could find one.

Janet Munro did a few films for Disney. She was a wholesome lass in his films, very appealing and her death at too young and age was a real tragedy. Either Disney didn't spot anything in Sean Connery or Connery was too smart to be tied down to a long term contract to that studio. Connery after Dr. No premiered spent the next dozen years or so trying to prove both artistically and financially that he was capable of more than James Bond.

But it sure would be fascinating to speculate on what turn Sean Connery's career would have taken if I had starred in a half a dozen or so Disney features. Can you imagine him trying to escape that kind of typecasting?

Darby O'Gill and the Little People is a children's film and I think it still has charm a-plenty even for today's generation who might be skeptical about leprechauns.

Boy, this is about as Irish as it gets: accents, terminology that is foreign to most other people but fun to hear, leprechauns, pots of gold, three wishes (no more), other magic, Irish jigs and a few songs, lush countryside with plenty of green.....and a lot of good-natured blarney. It's old-fashioned, innocent fun, with a love story thrown in the mix.

The latter involves a very young-looking Sean Connery. It's a shock to see him when he was in his late '20s, and even more of a shock to hear him sing, too! Three years later, Connery hit the jackpot (acting, not singing) playing James Bond in "Dr. No," and the rest is history.

In this Walt Disney film, he plays "Michael McBride" who winds up falling for "Katie O'Gill." The latter is played by Janet Munro, a pretty woman who had the opposite screen success of Connery. After staring in a few of these Disney movies in which she played wholesome girls, she did an about-face and played unhappy and edgy characters and that, it turned out, was a poor choice. Alocholism then led to the tragic misfortune of contracting a fatal illness which killed her at the age of 38.

The lead character, "Darby O'Gill," is played very convincingly by Albert Sharpe. He was definitely the "character" of the story.

This movie is a nice, feel-good film filled with a laughing horse, the good guys winning over the bad, a few dramatic moments, singing and dancing "little people," and an assortment of Irish delights. I think kids would still like this film, even though it's dated with the special-effects, but that's to be expected. After all, the film is almost 50 years old. It has a pleasant feel to it and should still entertain folks today.

I will begin by saying that I do not know anything about Irish lore and hence cannot tell how accurate this movie is in its portrayal. What I can tell is, it is a charming piece of work. Darby O'Gill (Albert Sharpe)is an old caretaker in a small village. Though he is too old to do his job effectively, he is well beloved by the village folk, to whom he tells stories of his encounters with the King of leprechauns(Jimmy O'Dea).

Darby and King Brian are friendly yet are constantly trying to out-fox each other. Their bromance is the best part of the movie. There is another story running in parallel: the romance between Darby's daughter, Katie (Janet Munro) and the new caretaker, Michael McBride (a then unknown Sean Connery). Katie has one of the sweetest smiles in movie history and we discover Sean Connery's singing voice. Estelle Winwood plays a devious widow and Kieron Moore plays her son, a local ruffian and Connery's rival in love. They are both extremely entertaining.

The sets and the locations are beautiful and full of old-fashioned charm. The effects are pretty good and most of them hold up even by today's standards. The banshee and the death coach are really scary. This is an under-appreciated Disney gem.

I saw this movie on TV as a child, and the scenes of the banshee and the death coach scared and impressed me so much, I carried the memory of them all my life. When I was an adult and saw it on video, I was astonished to find that the scenes are STILL impressive and creepy! Considering how sophisticated special effects have become since 'Darby O'Gill' was made in 1959, that's quite a tribute to the moviemaking skills of the day. The scenery is lovely, the actors skilful and wholeheartedly into their work, the music catchy and delightful, and really there's nothing not to like in this movie. The duels between Darby and his nemesis, King Brian, are wonderfully funny, as each tries to outsmart the other. The village characters are all well-drawn and likeable personalities. Pony Sugrue seems more 'American' than the others, but then, he's not supposed really to fit in in the village, and his punishment at the end is an enjoyable comeuppance. Favourite scenes - the banshee and death coach at the end, as mentioned, and all the leprechauns dancing under the fairy mountain then riding their little white horses out into the night as Darby plays them a wild tune on his fiddle. Don't be put off by the date on this movie; it's as good now as the day it was made.

I do not know how much I would like this movie if I saw it today for the first time. But, since I grew up on this movie, I have no choice but to absolutely love it. We had this videocassette in our closet for years, it didn't have a cover on it, but it didn't need one. Wow, how I grew up on those colorful special effects. Those leprechauns riding small white horses around an old Irish man playing the fiddle. The horse turning silvery when enchanted by the leprechauns. The Banshee. Oh, that Banshee. You've never seen a scarier Banshee on film and you never will. A fantastic movie. A young Sean Connery is in it, and that old woman with that scary voice is fantastic. And Darby O'Gill...ahh.. one of the best family films and fantasy movies out there. ANd don't forget the scary, black creativity of the Death Cab.

Here's to Darby O'Gill. Clink

My grade: 9/10