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Saturday, October 17, 2015

Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)

A Walt Disney fantasy directed by Robert Stevenson, starring Sean Connery.
The village idiot in an Irish town has adventures with characters from Irish folklore. The king of the little people ends up owing him wishes that he always ends up wasting.
This was suggested by my professor at college as an example of forced perspective. After learning a little about this technique, I was unable to figure out how some of the shots in the film were made. They involved depicting the main character normal size, with other full size actors depicted as being very small in comparison. I figured out a few of the instances of this, but the dancing scene at the bottom of the well (picture) blew my mind. The plot and characters held my interest and the production value was pretty decent for the date. I think that it being a Disney film led to good equipment and use of it to make clear audio and video recordings. The style was very much of the time, with that Disney fantasy element included. Pacing was pretty regular and kept at a decent clip throughout the duration. I'm rating this good because of the special effects techniques involved in making it. Knowing about video production helps when watching this.