Darby O'Gill and the Little People

Rating:
Summary: Excellent picture quality; charming special effects.
Review: If you like Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, you will also like Darby O'Gill and the Little People. Unlike the videotape version, which is blurry and almost unwatchable, the DVD version is crystal clear and as sharp any contemporary television program.

The story is excellent for kids. For example, it shows a leprechaun being changed into a rabbit, mountainsides spontaneously opening up where inside can be found dancing leprechauns and treasure chests spilling over with gold coins, and domestic family scenes.

Darby O'Gill and the Little People is set in a small Irish town. Darby O'Gill is an old widower who likes to pass the time telling stories at the pub, to the delight and disbelief of others. As long as town priest Father Murphy isn't around, Darby spins yarns about the little people who he has encountered at a hilltop known as Knocknasheega. Meanwhile, Katie, his daughter, is content to take care of things at home, and insists she doesn't have time or great desire for a love.

One day Lord Fitzpatrick arrives in town and delivers the news that Darby is to be replaced as caretaker of the Lord's estate. Rather than upset his daughter with the word of his retirement, Darby tells her that the caretaker-to-be is merely helping with some house work. That man is Michael MacBride, a polite, young fellow who feels that Darby should let his daughter in on things. (This man is Sean Connery, years before he was transformed into James Bond.)

Darby has another task in mind. He's to ride into the next town and bring back the new church bell for Father Murphy. At night, while he's trying to get his horse, he falls down the well atop Knocknasheega and plummets down the well and into the world of leprechauns.

Here, a wonderland sequence depicts Darby amongst countless leprechauns. Darby encounters the legendary King Brian Connors the 5,000-year-old leprechaun monarch (just under two feet tall). King Brian explains that Darby has been brought to their world as a favor, allowing him to escape the disappointing early retirement he faces in the other world. This scene is accompanied by Irish fiddle music, fiddling with a velocity worthy of Art Arfons, Mickey Thompson, or Craig Breedlove.

The leprechauns can only work their magic when it's dark out, and while a leprechaun will grant you three wishes, making a fourth wish negates the three before. General merriment ensues as Darby plays the fiddle and the leprechauns do hundreds of heel clicks and assorted clogging steps. The music, supplied by fiddles and pipes, is a wonder to behold.

In another scene, Darby tricks the King into staying with him all night, in an episode where Darby and the King exchange dozens of silly rhymes. The exchange of rhymes occurs in a barn, and a nearby horse engages in more amusing expressions than a trained chimpanzee, a feature of the film sure to amuse every kid. Another highlight, is that Darby teases the King by allowing a cat to chase the King about the barn, and the King hides behind the spokes of a wagon wheel to protect himself, the spokes resembling a jail cell. The King and Darby resume their laughing exchange of silly poems, but once the rooster crows at dawn, and the sun comes out, the King has lost his powers (e.g., to jump through doorways) and Darby succeeds in capturing the King and puts him into a bag. Then Darby demands his three wishes.

Darby and King Brian battle wits, respectively trying to make the most and least of the three wishes. Darby decides that his best plan is to make one wish and keeps King Brian captive until he can decide on the last two. (The above partial summary, was inspired from a synopsis found on ultimatedisney.com.)


Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Masterpiece!
Review: This is one of the greatest Walt Disney films ever made! With plenty of humor, adventure, romance and exceitment. This is a timely classic that you will want in your video collection. The characters are all great and the story is superb. I love watching this movie and you can take my word, that it will be nothing less than enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Family Safe and a Fun Entertaining Story!! Plus Sean Connery
Review: This is one of the best, classic movies ever made! Kids will enjoy it (unless incredibly scared of ghosts, there is one appearance in this movie as the Banshee comes to claim Darby) mythical creatures, romance, good guys, bad guys and a good old story. I love this movie and have driven my family crazy over the years watching it over and over again!!

Rating:
Summary: A man of many talents... Sean Connery can also sing!!
Review: This is great if you have any interest in Irish folklore, Disney movies, ghost stories and of course ...Sean Connery. This is one of Connery's earliest roles and highlights him as a field laborer in a small Irish Village. AND HE SINGS!!
My parents and I used to watch this movie all the time ... it is a family movie. Wonderful acting and special effects as only Disney can offer them.
I can't wait until my copy arrives!

Rating:
Summary: Darby, Waking Ned Devine, and Fiddler - the best there is...
Review: Sean Connery at his youngest (and finest), and Janet Munro as a sweet head strong Irish "angel". Then you have the little people, Irish singing, Irish home folk, the "Banshee" and a lot of dear ole Ireland. Disney was at its finest when they made this family movie. If you are Irish - you have to fall in love with this classic movie. If you aren't Irish - welcome aboard.

Also, check out "Waking Ned Devine" and "Fiddler on the Roof". All three compete for my all time favorites; but Janet, Albert (Darby) and Sean steal my heart. Darby is a must see on every Saint Paddie's Day.

Steve Keohane, USN (Ret)
Woburn, Mass.

Rating:
Summary: The New DVD is Outstanding
Review: If you ever want to find out how Disney tried to bridge the gap between their classic animated fantasies and the live action spectaculars of today, DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE is a typical example of the way things shaped up in 1959. Very few of Disney's movies were specifically about the Irish people, and it is noteworthy that, even in the day of MULAN and POCAHONTAS, no animated feature has been released by Disney that concentrates on an Irish story! So this is where you would go if you wanted to look at Irish legend told through Disney's famous factory of observation and fun.

Of course for those who like looking at "stars before they were stars" the movie reveals a Sean Connery whom some will not recognize because he's just so darn young! Connery had filmed a few movies earlier in the UK, and I suppose Disney executives thought that if his name was "Sean," he might be Irish as John Ford (who sometimes said his name was "Sean") and cast him as an Irish woodsman with a huge crush on Janet Munro. Well, both Munro and Connery and Scottish but it didn't seem to make a difference to the youth of America at which this picture was aimed. The DVD transfer is stunning and filled with the creamy, crisp photography typical of Disney product at the time.

It's no QUIET MAN but it has its moments; and it's scary for kids, so turn out all the lights and let the little ones in, one by one.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful film
Review: Anyone who would denigrate this movie in simply a troll. It's absolutely wonderful, certainly the best movie Walt Disney ever made.

I would give it 10 stars if I could.