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Darby O'Gill DVD Shows Off Ellenshaw's Effects

Aside from being a charming Irish fairy tale about leprechauns and banshees and co-starring Sean Connery, the soon-to-be James Bond, DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE (1959) was also one of Walt Disney's personal favorites. Released on DVD on Aug. 3, 2004 DARBY O'GILL (Walt Disney Home Ent., $19.99) is particularly noteworthy for its wonderful work by the legendary Peter Ellenshaw (special photographic effects, special art styling), who collaborated with Eustace Lycett (special photographic effects) and Joshua Meador (animation effects). The lavish matte shots sure came in handy, since the movie was filmed in California.

It should be noted that Ellenshaw was also a matte artist on another mythological gem and fan favorite, THE GNOME MOBILE (1967), released earlier in the year by Disney ($19.99). Forest gnomes are searching for the rest of their tribe with the help of an eccentric millionaire played by Walter Brennan.

DARBY O' GILL DVD features include:

* "Little People, Big Effects"A glimpse of the special effects, especially the 5,000-year-old, 21-inch Gaelic wonders.

* "I Captured the King of the Leprechauns"A look at the WALT DISNEY PRESENTS TV episode involving Disney's handling of the Leprechaun myth.

Bill Desowitz's picture

Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.

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