One of the worst movies I've ever seen

One of my all time favorites.

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Ah, yes! - The luck of the Irish, their curios superstitions, their wee, magical leprechauns, and (get this!) a Scottish Sean Connery being passed off as an Irishman (all rolled up into one movie).Though this 1959 Fantasy/Romance/Comedy film from Disney Studios was far from being top-notch entertainment - It was certainly notable for starring a young and very virile-looking Sean Connery (3 years before he first starred as James Bond in 1962's "Dr. No").Anyway - Besides Connery's appearance in this decidedly quirky picture - I also thought that the "little people" pre-CG effects were actually quite impressive, considering that this film is now 60 years old.All-in-all - I'd say that "Darby O'Gill" (and all of its merry, Irish shenanigans) was definitely well-worth a view, in the long run.

Glad to see so many people here who love 'Darby'. i've grown up with this incredible film and it always seemed like nobody else had ever heard of it. it certainly requires more attention than it's got in the past because it's just great.when i was a little kid i saw this film in the theater back in 1970 or so, and it scared the hell out of me. the shock cut of the banshee coming through the door still makes me jump if i'm not alert. this is by far Disney's scariest movie. probably the only film that Walt himself made that could be called a horror film. it's definitely as scary as any of the 'Hammer' horror flicks of the 50's and 60's.film critic Leonard Maltin called this one of the finest fantasy films ever made. he couldn't be more right. and yes, that is obviously Connery and Munro doing their own singing.

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.

When we think of a film about Ireland and its people, culture and the masterful use of the English language, which is so widely displayed there; we most often think of mostly the same list of films. Starting off with John Ford's THE QUIET MAN (Argosy Productions/Republic, 1952); with John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Victor McLaglen. Barry Fitzgerald and an All-Star cast. It's a film which always seems to head everyone's lists; but, we progress into some much grimmer and far more serious of a fare.AND by grimmer and more serious we mean the Irish Revolution, the April Rising and the I.R.A. or Irish Republican Army (no Schultz, not Individual Retirement Account).The first film that comes to mind is another John Ford Masterpiece in THE INFORMER (RKO Radio Pictures, 1935). This was the second adaptation of the novel by Liam O'Flaherty and it starred Victor McLaglen, who garnered Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor for his interpretation of dimwitted giant, Gypo Nolan.Other pictures featuring stories of the Irish Struggle include: ODD MAN OUT (Two Cities Films/General Film Distributions (UK) & Universal Pictures (USA), 1947) with James Mason; SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL (Pennebaker Prod./ Troy Films/United Artists, 1959) with Mr. Jimmy Cagney (Himself!); and the more recent MICHAEL COLLINS (Geffen Pictures/Warner Brothers, 1996) with Liam Neeson and Julia Roberts.(FLASH!! NEWS BULLETIN: We have just got ourselves educated into knowing there are tons more titles involving the Irish Revolt and the I.R.A.; but that's another story, Schultz!) In a real change of moods and genre, we have Walt Disney's DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE (Walt Disney Prod./Buena Vista, 1959). It is a whimsical fantasy based on a series of stories one H.T. Kavanaugh about an old braggart, Darby O'Gill (Albert Sharpe), who claims to have been in contact with the Leprechauns; including having been abducted by them and had audience with their King Brian (Jimmy O'Dea). These fantastic encounters are very well staged and, considering that this was 1959, the Special Effects are outstanding. This was long, long before computer imagery; and at this time a Univac Computer would be probably be as big as half of your house and require enough Air Conditioning for you and all the neighbors on your block! The cast was excellent and featured a lot of Irish Actors from the Abbey Theatre Players in Dublin and one young Scotsman Actor and former Mr. Universe Physique Competitor named Sean Connery in a Pre-007 role. The fine Irish players included: Denis O'Dea, Kieron Moore, J.G. Devlin and Jack McGowran*. Brits Janet Munro, Estelle Winwood, Walter Fitzgerald and Reginald Newell.The story, which alternates some serious day-to-day life in rural Ireland and the struggles of widower, father of the fairest Colleen in the whole County (Miss Janet Munro) and game keeper (I think) for some Lord's Huge Estate; with the excellent depictions of Darby's outlandish, tall tales. And those episodes featuring the Leprechauns and Darby are skillfully constructed so as to always to be at a time when Mr. O'Gill was by himself. Hence, the viewer is left to decide if all of this dealing with "the Little People" was real, or did it occur within the bounds of Darby's highly fertile imagination. It could work well either way.MUCH like all other Disney Pictures' Features, be they Animated or Live Action, DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE had some very scary, even terrifying scenes to contrast to the peaceful, humorous and idyllic storyline that is established throughout the rest of the film.** In this case the spooky sequences are provided with those scenes featuring an animated, yet most effectively disturbing Banshee and the use of that traditional Irish black shrouded Carriage that is said to take the Deceased off to Eternity and his Reward or whatever.NOTE: * Irish Actor, Jack McGowran was trained on the Stage of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and came to international recognition and renown with his role of "Red" Will Danaher's (Victor McLaglen) stooge, Feeney, in THE QUIET MAN.NOTE: ** This use of some brief scaring of the audiences is virtually a Disney hallmark. Just look up and down any list of Disney Films to see; for example BAMBI (his Mother killed by Hunters), SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (the wicked Witches transformation), DUMBO (his Mother's being shackled and caged), LADY AND THE TRAMP (Trusty run down by Horse Drawn Wagon), THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW (that Headless Horseman sequence) and many others. Check 'em out! That's your assignment for our next session.