Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

For nearly sixty years Walt Disney's "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" has entertained and delighted it's audiences and for me, it's still the best of it's kind. And just what is Darby O'Gill's kind? Well "leprechaun movies" of course and this movie seems to be the most authentic and most true to leprechaun lore (if that's possible on such a matter).Disney wisely opted to film Darby O'Gill in Ireland and that one simple, but important fact does much for this film in a countless amount of way's, but most importantly, it gives the film an unfaltering air of honesty and authenticity. Disney perfectly captured the bucolic, picturesque beauty of the Irish countryside and it's many rolling, green hills. In fact it looks SO picturesque that the scenery often looking like a fine oil painting. Besides it's "genuinely Irish" location filming, the films cast is of a near-perfect pedigree, with the elderly Irish actor Albert Sharpe, in the all-important lead role of Darby O'Gill; also starring is the youthful and lovely Janet Munro as Katie O'Gill (Darby's daughter) and a pre-James Bond Sean Connery in the role of Michael McBride. As it happens with those three actors, each country of the UK is covered Sharpe was Irish, Munro was English and Connery is of Scottish descent. Obviously Disney wasn't settling for anything less then a cast, that was entirely from the British Isles and judging by the results, I'd say they got it right, entirely. The films plot revolves primarily around a trio of wishes that the king of the leprechaun's will grant to whoever encounters him, in this case it's the old codger Darby O'Gill. As you'll see, these wishes have a way of complicating his life and all those who are close to him. Also in the mix is: rabbit poaching, romantic rivalries, "poteen's & dundee's", social climbing, a light sprinkling of religious BS, some story-telling (at "the pub" of course), a visually spectacular visit from the banshee - complimented by a "flying death coach" and to end it all a brawl at the pub. One of my few complaints about this movie is, I hate the way the pub brawl was edited, you see more of Albert Sharpe making a series of exaggerated expressions from across the room, then you do of the fight itself - frustrating. Another thing I noticed is that King Brian's size tends to vary a bit from scene to scene, meaning the king's scale is a tad a skewed. Aside from that Darby O'Gill and the Little People has stood the test of time brilliantly and it still stands as one the brightest moments of Disney's live-action films - one that completely lives up to the phrase "Pure Disney Magic".On a purely visual basis Darby O'Gill and the Little People is an amazingly beautiful film, with all it's lush and picturesque exterior photography and just as importantly, the leprechaun's themselves or more rather, the numerous clever effects the Disney crew employed to bring them to life. Some of the effects are just ingenious and all are virtually seamless in how they were merged with there respective master-shots - no more so then the dazzlingly imaginative leprechaun layer sequence, in a cavern, at the bottom of well, on top of "Mount Knocknasheega". Specifically some of the effects used were: puppetry, matte paintings, forced perspective photography and by the looks of it some over-sized sets and props were used - all to GREAT effect. Of which all were probably used to bring the layer of the leprechauns to life, which is easily the most visually striking sequence in the film. A scene in which Darby and a cave full of "chauns" get down, when he starts to fiddle away on a Stradivarius, specifically he play's "The Foxchase" and round and round they go! When all of this has been combined, it makes for some sparkling movie magic.Darby O'Gill and the Little People is almost as much a love story, as it is a leprechaun's tale. Connery and Munro are quite taken with each other and with the exception of one bawdy romantic rival, Connery has a clear field and by movies end, well Connery works his charm on her - if that wasn't predictable. Yet the best scenes of this classic film belong to Darby O'Gill (Albert Sharpe) especially when he's in the company of Brian Conners "The King of the Leperchauns". When these two characters share the screen, there is a near constant contest of guile and wit being exchanged and many of the movies most colorful moments occur when the two of them are riddling and rhyming and plotting against and insulting each other. It's also in these scenes that the movies dialog is at it's most colorful and judging by his hilarious lingo, it would seem that Darby O'Gill knew every single scrap of Irish slang and folklore. I find that the films wildly eccentric use of slang, combined with the casts melodic accents (if you can understand them - worry not, the DVD has sub-titles), often makes for a grandly whimsical experience - often bordering on hysteria.Then there's the typical Disney neglectfulness to speak of..... and as of December of 2016, there is no Blu-ray of Darby O'Gill on the market. I for one would be interested in seeing it get a hi-def make-over and to see it get a glorious new take on life..... also I'm keen to see Albert Sharpe's -gum disease- at a higher level of clarity and with "enhanced fine detail" and life-like realism. This is something that really brings a grin to my face. Just imagine Darby's dirty old gum's (which are often front and center), gloriously rendered in a 1080p hi-def transfer - the type of transfer that takes full advantage of modern hi-definition video's ruthlessly revealing nature - a characteristic that the Blu-ray disc is well known for AND excels at.

I haven't seen this movie in nearly 15 years, and I remembered only the terrifying banshee scaring the hell out of me as a child. So now that I'm 25, I felt like I could overcome my childhood fears and finally give it another go.Watching it now, I realise that this is purely Walt Disney at his best. The special effects wowed me beyond anything I've seen in the last few years (and this came out in 1959). These guys were geniuses. Nowadays when you see effects, you can tell almost immediately they're computer graphics. But with Darby O'Gill, and anything predating the mid 80s, you had to guess how they did these effects. They look brilliant and there's NO computers whatsoever.The story is quite good as are the actors, including Sean Connery in his first movie role ever."Darby O'Gill" is now among my favourite films of all time due to those two things above and the joy that I had watching it all these years later.

Here is a rare film indeed. A kid oriented fantasy movie without any kids in it. How often due you see that? It is a fun movie for many reasons.1. It takes place in Ireland. 2. It has witty and interesting dialog. It is interesting and fun to watch old-man Darby match wits with the King of the Leprechauns. They each continue to try and outwit the other. 3. It has a pre-bond Sean Connery. 4. It has really good extras on the DVD. It has a 'World of Disney' episode with some added adventures of Darby and the Leprechaun king. Walt Disney is searching for the Leprechaun so he can star in his movie. You learn some more of the myth of the Leprechaun which is Christian in origin. 5. It's a good and fun fantasy film.The only drawback is the on screen depiction of the banshee. Its some lights and vapors. Not really convincing. But this little wisp of pre-computer effects doesn't dampen the great special effects that bring the Leprechaun's to life.This magical movie deserves a place in your video library next to Disney's 'The Gnome Mobile.' Maybe you can pick up the book published by Sophia Press and add it to you library and read it to your kids or to yourself. You can then go and search for Leprechauns on your own. I plan on doing that so I can pay off my student loans.

Such movies enhanced imagination, was six then, now 53!!! WOW!!! the name never left me like Walt's Bambi. :) but then, we do have many new ones, latest ones are also very good, they have got better machines to do the graphics and visual effects, however, making in those days when there was so much limitations to production and Fox effects, it enchanted a person with a grand imagination. Treasure Island was one of the wonderful ones, journey to the center of the earth was another which amazed and the list goes on and on, the classics were also made films but without belittling today, excellent cartoons are made today, the colors were amazing. Hope so the art continues to give audience wonderful thoughts. Thanks.