Darby O'Gill and the Little People

Darby O'Gill and the Little People is a Disney film set in rural Ireland at the beginning of the 19th century. Based on the books of Herminie Templeton Kavanagh, the film describes the adventures of Darby O'Gill, a wily groundskeeper who engages in a battle of wits with leprechauns. The film's title is a slight modification of one of Kavanagh's books, Darby O'Gill and the Good People. Darby O'Gill (Albert Sharpe) is an aging groundskeeper living with his daughter Katie (Janet Munro) in Rathcullen, a small town in rural Ireland. Darby spends more time in the pub telling tall tales of his encounters with leprechauns than looking after the country estate he has been charged with. Nearing retirement, the lord of the manor decides to bring in a younger man, Michael McBride (Sean Connery), to take over. Sympathetic to Darby's plight, King Brian Connors (Jimmy O'Dea) of the leprechauns urges him to leave the human world behind and live in his kingdom. Darby, however, has no wish to leave his daughter so suddenly. A battle of wits ensues between the two, with Darby tricking the diminutive monarch into releasing him back into the mortal world.