Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)

Director:

Robert Stevenson

Writers:

Lawrence Edward Watkin (written by)
H.T. Kavanagh ("Darby O'Gill" stories)

Release Date:

26 June 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Fantasy | Romance

Tagline:

More than a wee bit of magical shenanigans!

Plot:

In the enchanted Emerald Isle, Darby O'Gill spins tall tales of leprechauns and banshees. Unfortunately...

Plot Keywords:

Leprechaun | Banshee | Father Daughter Relationship | Irish Mythology | Wish

Cast

Albert Sharpe	...	Darby O'Gill
Janet Munro	...	Katie O'Gill
Sean Connery	...	Michael McBride
Jimmy O'Dea	...	King Brian
Kieron Moore	...	Pony Sugrue
Estelle Winwood	...	Sheelah Sugrue
Walter Fitzgerald	...	Lord Fitzpatrick
Denis O'Dea	...	Father Murphy
J.G. Devlin	...	Tom Kerrigan
Jack MacGowran	...	Phadrig Oge
Farrell Pelly	...	Paddy Scanlon
Nora O'Mahoney	...	Molly Malloy (as Nora O'Mahony)

Also Known As:

The Little People (USA)
The Wishes of Darby O'Gill (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Irish Gaelic

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | Iceland:L | USA:Approved (certificate #19015) (original rating) | Canada:G (video rating) | USA:G (re-rating) (1969) | Argentina:Atp | UK:U | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Albertson Ranch, Triunfo, California, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

The lighting used to make sure the actors were kept in proper perspective without seeming false used up so much electricity it apparently blew out a substation in Burbank when the lights were turned on without warning.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Michael and Katie escape from the the bully in the field, Michael's neck-scarf has fallen down his shirt and is no longer visible. After Katie mentions that she didn't care if Michael got hurt, his scarf suddenly is tied prominently around his neck and plumped under his chin.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Katie O'Gill: Come in, Mrs. Sugrue!
Sheelah Sugrue: Katie, darlin'! Can you lend me the loan of a small pinch o' tea; I'll pay ye back Thursday.
Katie O'Gill: Ye can have it an' welcome.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Legend of the Bog (2009)

Soundtrack:

The Wishing Song

Those Tricky Little People

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.