Darby O’Gill and the Little People, 1959. by Dave Lee

When I was eight, my dad took me to the pictures to see this film. It was the earliest representation of magic I can remember. So I re-watched it on YouTube recently. It’s not a great film. Even allowing for the sourness of age, I wasn’t charmed by its ‘charm’. These days you couldn’t get away with that degree of, as an Irish friend called an Irish theme pub – ‘diddly-I.’ We are launched into a misty postcard happy rural Ireland. Smiling singing poor people. A heartless landlord (who really is a Lord). The prying priest, who nonetheless smiles indulgently on human frailty. And Janet Munro and Sean Connery providing the looks and the romance interest.