Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959)

Tahp o’ de mahrnin to you! it’s been a while sence we’ve taken a trep to the Britesh isles! even better, we’re goin back to ooehr roots wit magic and wahnder.  So grab yooehr Loehcky Charms and watch ooeht fahr that banshee… ahh, ‘ello, James Bahnd!

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I would like to apologize to the entire country of Ireland for that intro.

Anyway, apparently, this is a really popular one and a beloved St. Patrick’s Day tradition in households across the world.  Yet, it’s one I’ve never seen.  I’m excited!  Last time I had a movie with as much prestige as this one was 20,000 Leagues and we’ve gotten to a point where my head will explode if I don’t talk about 20,000 Leagues.  This is not 20,000 Leagues, but I do love me some stories about fairies and magic.  That’s Disney’s bread and butter, after all!

It’s so in Disney’s wheelhouse that he wanted to work on it as far back as 1947.  That’s when Walt took a trip to Ireland and learned all about their rich folkloric history.  He came up with the idea for a movie about leprechauns that would have been called Three Wishes.  Lawrence Edward Watkin even wrote a script, but the movie ended up being scrapped.  No good idea ever really dies at Disney, though, so in 1958 they dusted off the concept and combined it with a pair of classic books.  The book in question is Herminie Templeton Kavanagh’s Darby O’Gill and the Good People and its sequel, The Ashes of Old Wishes.  Man, I wish I’d found this version of the story because the copy I read was entirely written in an Irish dialect.  It’s so hard for me to wrap my head around dialect when I can’t read it out loud, and I read this stuff on the bus to work.  Anyway.

After three months of research at the Dublin Library and numerous conversations with notable Irish folklorists, work began in earnest. Walt actually refused to give any screen credit to the actors playing the Fair Folk to create the illusion that he’d really captured leprechauns. To further this stupid idea, he and Albert Sharpe filmed a whole episode of The Magical World of Disney that was essentially a “behind the scenes” special about the hunt for the King of the Leprechauns. Walt. Man. This was not a good idea when you did it to Adrianna Casselotti, and it’s not a good idea here.  Stop. Give people credit.  They worked hard. They deserve it.  Oh my God.

This was a labor of love, but it only made a disappointing $2.6 million at the box office.  Even so, it was a critical darling.  They loved the cast, positively gushing about all the performances but Sean Connery who, ironically, they viewed as a weak link.  Joke’s on them, though, because this movie caught the eye of a casting director who asked him to work on James Bond!  They also enjoyed the authentic, energetic Irish music and the impressive special effects.  History has, as previously stated, vindicated this one just like most of the other box office failures.  It’s a St. Patrick’s Day classic that’s frequently shown on television, especially in the U.K., and maintains a coveted 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.  So that’s promising!

STORY

Because Walt is really determined to take this “real leprechauns” thing as far as possible, the movie begins with a thank you to King Brian of Knocknasheega instead of a credit for Jimmy O’Dea. Oh, Walt, you crazy, crazy dude. We zoom in on the rural Irish town of Rathcullen and the quaint provincial people going about their business. An old busybody by the name of Sheelah Sugrue creeps in on lovely Katie O’Gill as she’s churning butter. She says she’s looking to borrow some tea, but she’s really there to try to convince her to marry her son before she becomes an old maid. Katie isn’t having any of that because her son is an arrogant rube and also his name is Pony. Pony. Who names their kid Pony? And old Sheelah isn’t the only visitor to the little gatehouse.

Lord Fitzpatrick, who owns the nearby manor house, rides up to see Katie’s father Darby, who acts as a caretaker for said manor. Her father isn’t there at the moment, so Katie runs down to find him. Lord Fitzpatrick brought along a young man called Michael McBride, and he tells him all about Darby O’Gill and how he’s always out in the pub telling stories. He goes inside the gatehouse to inspect it and finds Sheelah at the butter churn pretending she’s welcome there. She starts signing her son’s praises in an effort to get him the caretaker job, but Fitzpatrick has his mind made up. Michael is getting it because Rathcullen will respect a man more if he’s from out of town. She argues that her son is respected but lady. You named him Pony.

Unsurprisingly, Darby O’Gill is, indeed, at the pub, regaling the patrons with stories about the time he caught the King of the Leprechauns. Our boy Pony and his incredibly weird teeth make fun of him, but the bartender, who is a ride or die for Darby, retaliates by cutting him off. Or, well, making him drink stout instead of whiskey. Same thing. Father Murphy, who is also played by a Treasure Island alumn (Denis O’Dea, aka Dr. Livesy), slinks in unnoticed. Darby continues his story, and this time we get a little flashback so we can see what he’s talking about.

He’s got King Brian Connors of the Leprechauns cornered and gloats that he won’t set him free until he gets three wishes. Leprechauns can’t escape if someone’s looking at them, so King Brian tries to trick him into taking a pinch of snuff that he can throw in his eyes. Darby is wise to that little trick and warns that if he keeps trying to get away he’ll take him to Church. A holy word to a leprechaun is like being cut with a knife, which isn’t really explained here in as many words but it’s in the book, and I really liked it. The leprechauns may be anti-religion, but they’re not evil, just tricksters, and that’s an angle you don’t see very much of. In the book, it’s because they’re being punished for not taking sides in the angels’ battle against Satan. They weren’t evil enough to go to Hell but they couldn’t stay in Heaven, so Gabriel tossed them to Earth and even let them choose Ireland as their home.

Darby thinks carefully about his wishes because he’s not some sap who’s going to blow it on something silly like a pot of gold. That would be stereotypical. So instead, he wishes for good health and a big crop of potatoes, because that’s not stereotypical at all, and then he goes for the pot of gold. King Brian goads him into asking for a fourth wish, so Darby generously asks for gold for all his friends, too… and King Brian bursts out laughing. A leprechaun has to grant three wishes, but wishing for a fourth one will make all three of the others disappear. He laughs and dances a little victory jig like the little punk he is while a horrorstruck Darby watches his gold vanish before his very eyes. The flashback ends and the bar patrons sigh over their lost gold except for the bartender. He warns Darby not to push his luck (get it?) with the leprechauns or he’ll end up their slave but Darby boasts that he’s too smart for that.

Father Murphy comes out of the corner, making Darby jump because he’s been hanging out with the faeries and that’s kind of like blasphemy. It’s okay, though, Father Murphy’s not like a regular priest. He’s a cool priest. He just has a favor to ask of his congregation: the next town over has given them their old church bell, and he needs someone with a horse to go get it. Pony jumps at the chance if it means he’ll make a buck but Father Murphy doesn’t have the money he’s asking for. So Murphy edges over to Darby to say that doing a good deed for the church will cleanse his soul of the faeries’ corruption. Darby agrees for the low, low price of the music of the bell. Just then, Katie rushes in to get her father for his meeting with Lord Fitzpatrick, begging the priest’s pardon all the way.

While they wait, Lord Fitzpatrick and Michael inspect the manor house, which is in quite a state because Darby has been neglecting it. The weeds are taking over, everything is overgrown, and the place is full of dead rabbits from the poachers that have been prowling around. Fitzpatrick even suspects Darby’s doing his share of poaching instead of preventing it. Darby shows up, and Fitzpatrick gives him the news: he’s being retired and Michael is taking over the caretaker job. It’s a pretty sweet retirement package, too: half pay and a new house to live in rent-free for the rest of his life. I’d take it. Darby, however, has objections to leaving the only home his daughter has ever known and having nothing to do with his days. As Fitzpatrick says, we all know he’s going to spend his time hanging out at the pub and talking about leprechauns but he’s still arguing anyway. Michael is happy to let him have the house as long as he wants, but Fitzpatrick is adamant that he move in two weeks. Darby reluctantly agrees with the caveat that he has to be the one to tell Katie.

Michael walks home with Darby and gets ready to find a room at the inn. Darby insists that he stay with them as their guest and leads him in to meet Katie. The second they lay eyes on each other, it’s all fluttering lashes and dreamy smiles and you just know they’re going to hook up. Back at the bar, Sheelah hauls Pony out by his ear so she can show him off to Lord Fitzpatrick in one more fruitless attempt to make him give him the caretaker position. It’s a job of very high esteem that will certainly win him the prettiest girl in the village- Katie- as his wife. Fitzpatrick has no interest in them and he’s already given the job to Michael, so he just leaves. We return to the gatehouse, where Darby is telling Katie that Michael is going to be his assistant, not his replacement. He plays a little fiddle music while she cooks dinner, claiming he heard the song from the leprechauns. He continues his story as they eat, which Michael doesn’t really believe but he’s happy to humor the old man. After dinner, Michael decides he’s going to go back to the inn because he doesn’t approve of the way Darby’s lying to his daughter. Darby promises he’s going to, he’s going to.

Late that night, Darby rides his horse Cleopatra up a hill towards the castle ruins of Knocknasheega. At the top of the hill, they find a glowing well. And Cleopatra flips the heck out. She rears back, bucking and kicking. Oh, yeah, and she’s flashing blue for some reason. Apparently, she’s supposed to be a shapeshifting faerie called a pooka but that’s not really explained so it just looks like the lighting is going berserk for no reason. Her freak out knocks Darby right down the well, in what is undoubtedly the worst special effect in the entire movie. It really sticks out, too, because the effects in this are actually great. Just not this one. Darby lands deep inside the mountain, where he’s found by two leprechauns nonchalantly chatting about whether or not he’s dead. He’s not, as they find out when they jump on his stomach. As you do when you wake up to that after being knocked unconscious by a possessed horse, Darby responds by trying to beat them with his walking stick. The little tricksters use their magic to make the stick beat him instead, then lead him deeper into the caverns to see their king.

The throne room at Knocknasheega is alive with merriment, drinking, dancing, and bagpipe music played so well that it actually sounds like music! Imagine that! This extraordinary musician is none other than King Brian Connors, who is thrilled to see his good friend Darby. The sea of leprechauns parts to let Darby approach, and the music suddenly gets tense even though King Brian is the picture of hospitality. He tells Darby about all the fabulous, priceless treasures in Knocknasheega and how they got there. Darby listens, fascinated, until King Brian lets it slip that he’s never going back to the human world. They’ll think he’s died, and that will be that. Of course, Darby isn’t really thrilled with this plan. After all the work he’s done to make sure that Rathcullen respects and reveres the faeries, this is how they repay him? But that’s not quite how King Brian sees it. He thinks he’s sparing Darby the pain of having to move and break Katie’s heart, and besides, life in Knocknasheega is an endless wild party all of the time.

King Brian asks Darby to play some music with the leprechauns. He thinks this is an out, so he says he’ll be glad to, if they just let him go home to get his fiddle. Yeah, no. King Brian’s lieutenant produces a beautiful Stradivarius violin for him, much finer than his old country fiddle. Now, there are three things a leprechaun find completely irresistible: music, booze, and hunting. Knowing this, Darby plays a lively and very, very long piece called the Fox Hunt. As he plays faster and faster, the leprechauns get more and more riled up. They go from dancing to preparing for a real fox hunt, showing off some truly incredible special effects with Darby standing in the middle of a whole room full of tiny dancing faeries, their tiny white horses, and King Brian’s sick backflips. It’s a really cool scene, even though it goes on for like ten minutes. Seriously, it’s like Portobello Road up in here. When the leprechauns are ready to go, they zap open a huge hole in the mountain. Darby scoops up as much treasure as he can and make a break for it, barely escaping before the door closes. He’s free, but it turns out there was a hole in his pocket and all the jewels have fallen out! Womp womp.

He goes home but there’s no time to rest. He sets to preparing a jug full of whiskey as bait. It works very quickly because Brian shows up literally the second Darby turns back around. He’s not very happy that Darby escaped, but Darby says very innocently that he only went back to get his pipe. He sighs dramatically that he won’t miss a thing in this house, especially not that cheap second-rate whiskey that in no way could ever be worthy of a King, uh-uh, no sir.  King Brian falls for the reverse psychology hook, line, and sinker and decides he has to judge this “second-rate” whiskey for himself. He glugs the whole giant mug, then decides he wants some more. Darby’s like “well, sure we can stay a little while”, and King Brian asks him to sing while they drink because what’s an Irish movie without a good 80-verse drinking song?

The two hang out all night and end up getting completely sloshed. King Brian laughs about what great friends they are… and then the rooster crows. You see, leprechaun magic only works at night. When the sun comes up, they’re helpless. He’s understandably not too thrilled about being tricked like this but Darby isn’t phased at all by his outlandish threats. In fact, he grabs the old barn cat and threatens to let her eat him if he doesn’t grant three more wishes. King Brian begs for him to call the cat off, even promising unlimited wishes, but Darby is wise to that old trick. His first wish is to make sure King Brian can’t up and leave until he’s finished with the other two wishes.  He’s nothing if not practical despite what the leprechaun babble has people believing.  Naturally, King Brian isn’t really happy about being held prisoner for two weeks but he agrees on pain of cat.  Darby promises he’ll take good care of him… by tossing him in a sack!

The next day, Michael comes down for breakfast and notices Darby missing.  Apparently, he hasn’t been home all night, but Katie isn’t particularly worried about her elderly father wandering off.  Michael’s actually more concerned than she is because he hinted he might go chasing leprechauns again which he takes as a sign he’s off to get drunk.  Now, this is an interesting character moment for Darby.  Upon a second viewing, I noticed that he really isn’t drinking much during the pub scenes (though he is in the drinking song).  Katie’s not lying when she says he’s only there to socialize.  Poor guy.  Michael bats his eyes and asks if she’s lonely which… wow, subtle, dude.  By way of an answer, Katie invites him to go with her to the country dance tonight, but he’s too busy working.  The work will keep, my man.

Of course, Darby’s fine, and he comes back in to get ready to fetch Father Murphy’s bell. Remember that plotline? Keeping up the illusion that the newcomer is just an assistant, he tasks him with trimming the grass around the manor while he’s gone. Once he’s gone, Darby flat out lies to his daughter again, saying he’s going to keep Michael on and move them from the gatehouse to the manor itself. Katie sees right through this because they are nowhere near as rich as all that, but Darby mysteriously says he’s found a way. He’s planning to use his other two wishes for just that but Katie is perfectly happy with the life she has. She leaves to bring Michael lunch and walks in on him singing a jaunty little tune while cutting the grass with a giant scythe. The two flirt awkwardly but adorably over the dangers of hot bread and whether or not Michael is a good boy. It’s very cute but very bland, but I guess every movie in those times needed a romance to sell tickets.

If this was made today, Darby’s journey for the bell would be, if not the whole movie, at least a scene, featuring more leprechaun shenanigans and maybe even some other faerie creatures. But it wasn’t, so we cut right to Darby’s triumphant return. The whole town rejoices, but he starts to slink away from the celebrations with the sack on his back. Father Murphy notices his shady behavior and calls him out, so Darby plays the crazy old man card and tells him it’s just the King of the Leprechauns. He dodders into the tavern and starts to raise a toast. Upon realizing a toast is technically a wish, he thinks better of it, which upsets King Brian into rattling around the sack. Everyone is astonished to see the bag moving and asks what’s inside. This time, when he announces that he has that he caught the King of the Leprechauns, he’s full-on boasting, without a care in the world for Pony’s jeer that it’s just a chicken. To prove that King Brian is real, Darby orders a shot and slowly lowers it into the sack.  The astonished crowd hears sounds of gulping, then the empty glass is launched back out.  A hush falls over the crowd.  Darby swaggers out with a wink of his eye, knowing that he finally convinced them.  The barmaid reverently places the glass in a place of honor so everyone will know the King of the Leprechauns drank here.

Katie gets ready for the country dance because she’s excited and she’s going with or without Michael. He’s definitely on her mind, though. She’s singing the same sweet song she heard him singing while he was working. Darby sees his daughter and asks why she’s so happy, and she tells him all about the dance and how she wishes Michael could go but he’s keeping poachers away from the manor. Darby is horrified because, as we’ll remember, he’s been doing his share of poaching, so he runs out to find Michael. Michael tackles him to the ground because a man slinking around private property with a bag in his hand is probably not a great look. There’s movement in the bag, so that’s not a really good look either, and he asks Darby to please set the rabbit free. Darby starts cracking up because it’s not a rabbit, and Michael the skeptic peers inside. Looks like a rabbit to him. He tries again, and he still sees a rabbit, so he writes off the claims of leprechauns as a drunk old man’s ramblings. Darby sighs dramatically and wishes that Michael could see King Brian. The tricky leprechaun counts that as the second wish… but Michael still sees him as a rabbit! As a compromise, he says he’ll visit Michael in his true form in his dreams, and the way he says it is incredibly creepy. Everyone in this movie is terrible and it’s the best thing ever.

The dance ends and Pony insists on taking Katie home in a way only entitled dudebros can. Her date, Sean, says he’s got this, but Pony literally twists his arm hard as a threat and shove Katie into his own wagon. Because he is an entitled dudebro. Darby and King Brian watch her return from the window, and Darby yells at her for riding with the likes of creepy Pony. Katie’s a grown woman though and she can play nice without wanting to marry the creep, thank you very much. But will he see it that way? Signs point to no. She retires. King Brian warns Darby that if he doesn’t hurry up with the wishing there will be hell to pay. His second-in-command will punish all of Ireland with dreadful curses because one human kidnapped their king, and might even take Katie away to Knocknasheega. Obviously, Darby doesn’t want that but the problem is, he doesn’t know what he wants. His greatest desire is Katie’s happiness, but she’s already happy. The good news is, King Brian has an idea: the love of a good man. And he has just the man in mind….

As promised, King Brian pays Michael a little visit while he’s sleeping to plant seeds of romance in his head. And by “planting seeds of romance” I mean straight up telling him to marry Katie. Michael is a little put off by his bluntness, but King Brian isn’t put off at all by his reluctance. He tells him that the ruins of Knocknasheega are the perfect place for a date: grassy hilltops, bright sunshine, a view to die for, all that fun stuff. But if he reeeeaaaaally doesn’t want to, he doesn’t blame him. Pony Sugrue is a very intimidating rival, after all. Well, love didn’t move Michael, but the accusation of cowardice does the trick. After all, fragile masculinity is the only thing more powerful than true love. The next stop is Katie’s room, where he tries the same thing. She’s also reluctant because she’s not really looking for a husband. She wants someone to court her, not just marry her, and she’s not going to just settle because that’s what people tell her to do. You go, girl. King Brian has some choice words for a girl who wants to mess around instead of just becoming a wife but she sticks to her guns because she’s awesome.

Despite their earlier refusal, Michael and Katie spend the next day hanging out on the hilltops in the shadow of Knocknasheega. They’re joking around, reciting poetry, and playing pretend and it’s really cute. Bland, but cute. Katie jokingly asks for a kiss, but when he goes to give it to her, she runs away through the idyllic meadows… right into Pony’s clutches. And it is incredibly uncomfortable. He keeps smiling that creepy, creepy grin even as she beats his chest and screams that she’s going to report him to Lord Fitzpatrick. Michael warns him to lay off but of course, Pony is an entitled dudebro so he just shoves his rival and bars his way. The boys get ready to fistfight but Katie puts a stop to it with a warning not to touch her boyfriend. For some reason that I failed to write down, that’s enough to get Pony to leave but he never stops smiling like a psycho. Michael tells her to stay out of it because it’s the mens’ feud and she’s just the prize to be won, but she is the only person in this movie with a lick of sense and she is having none of that. He asks her if she’d even care if Pony knocked his head off and she pretends not to, all while leaning in and expecting a kiss. Head shippers Darby and King Brian watch from the window singing Kiss the Girl, but Michael pulls back to leave. Once again, Katie is having none of that and plants one on him.

Now that Katie’s happiness is complete Darby can finally make his wish. Just then, the bell chimes and Darby is completely distracted by the beautiful music that is all his own. He’ll make his wish tomorrow. Tomorrow comes, and Darby prepares to make his third wish at the pub in front of everyone. Pony, who delivers mail for a living, drops some postcards off to his mother and another old lady whose name I didn’t catch. They notice a postcard from Lord Fitzpatrick that reveals that Michael is the official new caretaker. Sheelah is not pleased he passed over her Pony, but she shows her son and they come up with a new scheme to get rid of Michael. Once the postcard makes it to the gatehouse, a tearful Katie sets to packing up the only home she’s ever known. She begs to know why Michael didn’t tell her any of this and when they’ll be thrown out of their home. He protests that he doesn’t want her to leave, and he doesn’t even really want the job unless he can have her and Darby. You know, I think when your girl is this angry with you, it might be a really bad time to propose. But what do I know? He confesses his love and asks her to marry him. Shockingly, it goes poorly. She storms out, leaving him heartbroken and dumbfounded.

At the pub, everyone is gathered around making suggestions for what Darby should wish for. King Brian tells him to hurry up so he can go home, but it’s still not going to happen. Katie runs into the pub to tell her father to get ready to move. In her haste, she upsets the bag. King Brian makes a bid for freedom, rushing between the table legs in the form of a rabbit in a wacky chase scene. Katie returns home to hitch up the horse since all the men in her life are utterly useless, ignoring Michael’s pleas and apologies. In fact, she whips him across the face with the bridle! Ouch, man. Dejected, he leaves, and Pony sneaks up to brain him with a very large stick. He sets his unconscious body down on the steps of the manor, pouring whiskey on him and setting the bottle in his arm. Thinking Michael is a drunk will surely make Fitzpatrick reconsider giving him the job. What could possibly go wrong? Well, Darby finding him first could go wrong. The way Michael rubs his head when he comes to tells him all he needs to know about this being a setup. Darby asks where Katie’s gotten to but Michael doesn’t know, she just ran out in anger.

A horrible storm starts kicking up, spooking Cleopatra. Katie has to chase the wayward horse… all the way up to Knocknasheega. Darby follows and hears the bone-chilling wail of the banshee. It’s an omen of death, meaning that someone nearby is going to die, just like Katie’s mother the last time Darby heard that sound. Frantic now, Darby and Michael search the mountain. They find Cleopatra… and then they find Katie. She’s sprawled unconscious on the rocks several feet below and it does not look good. Even worse, a lightning strike summons the truly terrifying banshee herself. I have to give them props for showing her combing her hair like in the original mythos and the Darby O’Gill books. Darby pleads with the spirit to leave his girl alone but she’s got a job to do. And that job is screaming about imminent death. Her non-response infuriates Darby, who throws his lantern to make her go away in a fiery explosion. He pulls Katie’s body into his arms, apologizing profusely for everything. They get her home and call Father Murphy to pray for her. But the banshee is right at their door!  And holy crap, no wonder the Nostalgia Critic named this the scariest nostalgic moment ever.  She’s terrifying.  I mean, I’m watching this as a 27-year-old spooky enthusiast so I thought she was cool, but I do not blame anyone who had nightmares.

Her scream beckons something even more terrifying: the cóiste-bodhar, or death coach, riding through the sky to take Katie to the next world. Darby calls King Brian for help and begs him to get rid of the thing, but he can’t. The cóiste-bodhar cannot leave this world without taking a human soul with it. Darby makes his third wish: to go with the cóiste-bodhar instead of Katie. King Brian reluctantly agrees. The headless coachman orders him to get in the coach in a booming, terrifying voice, so Darby pulls open the door and sits inside. Despite the thunder and lightning, it’s only now that it starts raining because it’s thematically appropriate and that’s how movie weather works. Darby sadly watches the gatehouse disappear into the darkness as the cóiste-bodhar pulls away into the dark clouds.

King Brian reappears inside the coach to keep Darby company in his final moments. Despite their antagonism, they really are friends, and it’s very sweet to see. He has good news: Katie’s just fine, now that the cóiste-bodhar got its soul. Darby makes a final request from his faery friend- not a wish, just a favor: watch over Michael and Katie. King Brian smiles slyly and wishes he could go with Darby to the next life. Darby wishes so too…. and that’s his fourth wish!  All three of the others are negated!  Darby tumbles out of the coach, which vanishes back to the faery realm without its human soul.  But Katie’s still okay despite the plot hole so whatever I guess.  He gets home just in time to see Katie and Michael kiss and make up.  All is well.

Darby recovers from the ordeal quickly enough to tell the whole pub all about that one time he rode in the cóiste-bodhar and lived to talk about it. Pony sneers that he’s clearly insane because Lord Fitzpatrick took him home when he found him rolling around in the mud outside. The bartender tells him to shut up and get going because Pony is getting ready to leave town and no one will miss him. He won’t miss them and their leprechaun talk, either. Before he leaves, though, Michael comes in to laugh at him for not believing in leprechauns when King Brian so clearly told him that Pony knocked him out the other night. He even gave Michael instructions to punch Pony in the face. I’m not sure if Michael’s making it up or if King Brian really did tell him this, but either way, Michael decks him. Pony somehow completely curbstomps Michael because he’s bigger and tougher, but Michael is James Bond so he gets the upper hand. And most of the fight is done through sound and Darby’s truly magical reaction shots. It is glorious. Our conquering hero goes out to Darby’s waiting cart. Michael and Katie are getting married, Darby and Katie can keep living in their house, and everything is glorious. The three of them ride off into the sunlight, singing their jaunty little tune all the way.

Noted film critic Leonard Maltin once called this movie “one of the best fantasies ever put on film”.  As a less noted and decidedly amateur film critic, I wouldn’t go quite that far, but I did thoroughly enjoy this one.  I love fantasy movies and this one featured creatures that often don’t get a whole lot of screentime, like leprechauns and banshees.  It was by turns charming and terrifying, with some great adventure and best of all, a whole lot of witty banter between Darby and King Brian.  I found them so much more compelling than Michael and Katie that the romantic scenes dragged a bit, and I kept waiting for more leprechaun trickery.  We haven’t had a live-action movie this character-driven since my beloved 20,000 Leagues, and while I still liked that one better, this is probably my second favorite of the new-to-me live-action films.

CHARACTERS

Darby O’Gill is a witty, clever old man who has dedicated his life to his belief in leprechauns.  He even insists on making the rest of the town follow his rituals to ensure that the leprechauns get the respect they’re due, because as we learned a few movies ago, angering the Fair Folk is a really bad idea.  He’s a loving father and a fun guy to have around, but his determination to make everyone happy often manifests as comforting lies.  So that’s unfortunate.  It’s always really cool to see a nonconventional protagonist like this.  Most movies would have his plot be secondary to the young ingenues but not here.  Albert Sharpe was actually Walt’s second choice for the role, but Barry Fitzgerald wasn’t available for the then-dual roles of Darby and King Brian.  In his search for a replacement, Walt saw Sharpe as the lead in a production of Finlan’s Rainbow and coaxed him out of retirement to take this role.

King Brian Connors of Knocknasheega is just as witty and snarky.  He’s an absolute troll, the sort of trickster who will honor the letter of his word but not quite the spirit.  However, when he takes a shine to someone like he does Darby, he’s a ride-or-die.  He won’t admit it and he’ll act all reluctant and antagonistic, but he’s got your back.  He’s just totally savage about doing it.  Walt may not have given him screen credit, but he’s played by Jimmy O’Dea.  He’s more of a stage actor than a screen actor, but he did a small handful of films, too.

Katie O’Gill is Darby’s beautiful marriagable daughter who doesn’t want to be married quite yet.  The girl knows what she wants and how she wants to be treated, and she’s not taking anything less.  It’s pretty impressive for 1959.  She reminded me a lot of Princess Jasmine, actually– she’s not a prize to be won!  Anyone who tries to treat her like one will be treated to that famous Irish temper, because we’ve got to shove in every Irish stereotype we can. I did think her scenes felt kind of extraneous and distracted from the leprechaun stuff that was the main draw, but she was very, very cute.  She was played by Janet Munro, who we’ll see again a couple times.

Michael McBride is actually a pretty bland hero-type character.  He’s there to be handsome and nice and an all-around good dude, which is necessary for a love story but not always particularly interesting.  What is interesting is who he’s played by.   This tall, strapping lad is none other than a very, very young Sean Connery in his very first film role!  Before James Bond, before Zardoz, our favorite Schcottish schpy sang in a movie about leprechauns.  This is deeply hilarious to me, even though his character is really just kinda there.

Pony Sugrue is the town’s Gaston, a boorish, brawny brute who thinks he’s entitled to everything because he’s big and buff.  Unlike Gaston, no one really likes him.  Everyone’s too enchanted by Darby’s stories, however crazy they are.  Also, this dude’s face just creeped me right out in every scene he was in.  I don’t think he blinked once through the whole movie.  He’s just… smiling.  And I’m pretty sure he has too many teeth.  It’s not normal.  I do not like it.  He’s played by Kieron Moore, best known for playing Count Vronsky in Anna Karenina.  Hopefully he’s less Uncanny Valley in that one.

MUSIC

The song and score for this one were done by Oliver Wallace, as usual.  There’s some great instrumentation that goes a long way towards informing the Irish setting, featuring a lot of fiddle, flute, and bagpipe tunes.  Special mention has to go to The Fox Hunt, the fiddle showcase where Darby riles up the leprechauns so he can escape.  It’s some really impressive work, though it’s clearly not Albert Sharpe doing it.  It’s a lot of fun to hear the music speed up faster and faster and go from lively to total insanity.

The Wishing Song sounds like an improv exercise, which is, of course, the point.  Like the Fox Hunt, it starts out silly but pretty ordinary and then devolves into total insanity.  It has to, if it’s going to go on in-universe for 80 verses!  It reminds me a lot of the Irish Drinking Song game from Whose Line Is it Anyway, where the players have to come up with limericks based on a specific theme.

Pretty Irish Girl is by far the more memorable of the two songs in this film.  It has the feel of a traditional Irish folk song, and I was pretty surprised to find out that it wasn’t!  There’s some minor controversy over this song and whether or not Sean Connery was really singing.  He’s gone on record saying that he was, and it was the hardest part of the role, but some say it was dubbed with a pair of Irish singers.  Either way, it’s sweet and perky and a major earworm.

ARTISTRY

This movie was filmed in California on a studio lot, but you would never know it by looking at it.  Peter Ellenshaw’s exquisite matte paintings go a long way towards transforming Burbank into the Emerald Isle.  It’s enchanting.  Also enchanting are the absolutely incredible special effects.  There was, of course, no CGI in 1959 so the leprechauns were made to look small with the simple brilliance of forced perspective.  Jimmy O’Dea is standing about twenty feet behind Albert Sharpe in any scene where Darby and King Brian are talking together.  The camera can’t tell, so King Brian ends up looking tiny.  The most incredible scene is again, The Fox Hunt, which combines that with puppetry to make it look like Darby is surrounded by leprechauns.  The Chroma-Key effects on the banshee and the cóiste-bodhar haven’t aged quite as well, but those scenes are still very scary.

THEME PARK INFLUENCE

photo credit

I’m not actually sure if this counts, but my blog, my rules.  Two ships in the Disney Cruise Line’s fleet, the Disney Fantasy and the Disney Magic, feature bars called O’Gills, named after Darby.  Of course, they’re both themed after Irish pubs and are a place to laugh and talk with your fellow voyagers.  Maybe you can even tell stories about catching the King of the Leprechauns!

FINAL THOUGHTS

I loved this one!  I thought it was a fun romp through Irish mythology, and it was really cool to see just how much care went into making sure it was all presented accurately.  I mean, the banshee is combing her hair!  Banshees can only wail if they’re combing their hair!  That’s something no one would even notice but it’s in here!  Darby and his friendly rivalry with King Brian were a riot, and the special effects work is mindblowing for the time.  I felt like the obligatory romance between Katie and Michael was kind of unnecessary and bogged the film down, but I guess that’s what audiences of the 50s wanted.  I, for one, would have liked more leprechauns but what do I know?  All in all, it was a delight to watch and I can certainly see why so many people consider this a classic.

Favorite scene: The cóiste-bodhar.  What a surprise, I liked the spooky scary ghosts that give everybody nightmares.  I regret nothing.

Final rating: 8/10.  Truly delightful and entertaining.  Magic and myth with a touch of terror and a pinch of romance- this is the stuff Disney is all about!