Darby O'Gill and the Little People

Walt Disney had wanted to make this Oirish fantasy (suggested by HT Kavanagh's stories) for more than 20 years and even visited Ireland to do the research, acknowledging the co-operation of 'King Brian of Knocknasheega', lord of the little people, on the final credits. Forty years on, with M'Lord Fitzpatrick's caretaker Darby O'Gill (Sharpe) falling down a well and landing in the realm of the leprechauns where he's given three wishes, it registers as a pretty hokey entertainment. But Peter Ellenshaw and Eustace Wallace's effects are put together with the studio's customary care - and there's even a banshee sequence with flame throwers to put the wind up the kids, begorrah begob. For those of a sentimental turn, there is the delight of watching young Connery romancing the ineffably wholesome Janet Munro, a couple of years before things turned nasty for Commander Bond at Crab Key with the somewhat more knowing Ursula Andress.