The secret of the haunted cave

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Movie
German title The secret of the haunted cave
Original title Darby O'Gill and the Little People;
also: The Little People
Country of production United States
original language English , Gaelic
Publishing year 1959
length 87 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Robert Stevenson
script Lawrence Edward Watkin
production Walt Disney
music Oliver Wallace
camera Winton C. High
cut Stanley Johnson
occupation

The secret of the haunted cave (original title: Darby O'Gill and the Little People ) is an American fantasy film from 1959 with Albert Sharpe in the title role of Darby O'Gill . The story set in rural southern Ireland in the 19th century is based on the "Darby O'Gill" tales by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh . With this, producer Walt Disney created a cinematic monument to the leprechauns of Irish legends and fairy tales. Directed by Robert Stevenson .

action

Darby O'Gill loves nothing more than telling the public about his experiences with the leprechauns he wants to see in the inn and elsewhere. He is particularly proud of his acquaintance with Brian Connors, the 5000 year old king of the "little people". In addition, he increasingly neglects his work as a land manager for the wealthy Lord Fitzpatrick. He reacts to this and wants to retire the aging Darby. The Lord has designated young Michael McBride from Dublin as his successor .

Because Darby is very worried about the future of his unmarried daughter Katie and does not want to lose his social status in the village community, he initially withholds the Lord's decision from everyone. Since he would also like to see Michael by his daughter's side, he acts cautiously as a marriage broker. But he is biting Katie's granite with it. The only one who can help him is his old friend Brian Connors. Darby manages to track down the dwarf people, to capture King Brian with a trick and to extort the fulfillment of three wishes from him.

King Brian almost finally got Katie and Michael together when the jealous pony Sugrue tells Katie about Michael's appointment as the new estate manager. Foaming with anger, she then breaks away from Michael. While chasing a runaway horse, she falls and hits her head, injuring herself so badly that she is soon to die. A banshee is already complaining in front of Darby's house and the "Costa Bower" (Gaelic cóiste-bodhar ), the dark death carriage , rolls down from the sky. In a wild panic, Darby makes his third and last wish come true: instead of Katie's, he wants to get into the death carriage, which, once sent out, cannot return empty. In the carriage, Darby then uses a trick to steal a fourth wish from King Brian - and one of these, as is well known, undoes the previous three. So the clever Darby comes back to earth, can continue to tell his stories about his friends, the "little people", Michael and Katie get married and King Brian has his peace again.

Production history

When Walt Disney discovered the stories about Darby O'Gill by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh in the mid-1940s, he immediately began planning a film adaptation. In 1946 he sent a number of his artists to Ireland for preliminary studies and in 1947 commissioned the writer and screenwriter Lawrence Edward Watkin to develop a script from the template. When Disney himself visited Ireland - the land of his ancestors - in December 1948, he publicly announced the film project under the working title The Little People . Even back then, he had the Irish actor Albert Sharpe in mind, who he had seen in a stage production of the musical Finian's Rainbow in the 1940s, to play the title role . When the film finally went into production a decade later, Disney remembered Sharpe. Although he was already retired at the time, he didn't want to miss this chance for a leading role and said yes.

For Sean Connery in the role of "Michael McBride", The Secret of the Enchanted Cave was the first Hollywood film ever - and also one of the few films in which he was heard on the screen as a singer. While Connery received no further film offers from Disney after filming was completed, Janet Munro , the actress of "Katie O'Gill", was then seen in three other films by the studio. In addition to Sharpe, the rest of the cast that Disney selected consisted almost entirely of Irish actors, as the producer specifically wanted the actors to have a clear Irish accent . Jack MacGowran , who played King Brian's right-hand man “Phadrig Oge”, even spoke only Gaelic in all of his scenes in the film .

However, it was not shot on location in Ireland, but entirely in California . The special effects expert Peter Ellenshaw made a large number of matte painting recordings to create the impression of a typical southern Irish landscape. The biggest challenge, however, was to create a credible interaction between normal-sized people and the half-meter tall leprechauns, the "little people". Since no matte lenses should damage these illusions, Ellenshaw and Eustace Lycett, who is also responsible for the special effects, definitely wanted to avoid copying different film strips from separately filmed actors on top of each other.

Therefore, they developed a recording technique, the so-called "forced perspective" ("enforced perspective"). This makes use of the fact that, due to the two-dimensionality of the film image, the human eye cannot see how far things or people are really apart as long as the camera or the objects being filmed do not move towards one another. In order to create the impression that a normal-sized person is interacting with a leprechaun in brownie format, the person (Darby O'Gill) was draped with part of the equipment in the foreground of the scenery, while the leprechaun (King Brian) was draped in four Distance with a picture-exactly "fitting", four times enlarged equipment in the background. Corresponding marker points helped the actors to play together while maintaining the correct line of sight despite the distance. For these scenes, Ub Iwerks, together with the engineer Bob Otto, constructed a camera with a nodal-point perspective camera. This special camera created a seamlessly combined overall picture from the two different sets.

The “Forced Perspective” technique not only required a very large film set for the required distance between people, but this distance also had to be illuminated accordingly in order to obtain a consistently sharp film image . This required an enormous amount of light. The Disney technicians built a new soundstage on the studio premises and equipped it with 649 film spotlights in order to be equipped with appropriate lighting for the recordings. When these lights were all turned on at the same time, it caused a blackout in Burbank . The city then directed an electricity substation to provide enough power for the lamps. Because of the great heat development, numerous air conditioning systems were installed to cool the set. The city's fire department was also on alert in the event that there were any problems with the electrical system, but this did not happen.

Ellenshaw and Lycett did not rely solely on the "Forced Perspective" effects, which allowed almost no camera movements and would probably have been transparent to the audience in the long term, but varied the trick scenes by using the Schüfftan process - for example in the Scene in which Darby enters the cave and walks through between the leprechauns - back projections and the inclusion of dolls as well as matt paintings. This is how amazing scenes emerged, for example when the leprechauns dance around Darby playing the violin and later gallop around his feet on the back of their little horses. The shimmering effects in the banshee sequence used solarization tricks, and the death carriage descending from the sky with a headless coachman were animation sequences for which Joshua Meador was responsible. In order to process the complicated recordings correctly, both technically and logistically, the Disney film people used, as usual, a precisely defined storyboard .

Disney went to great lengths to ensure that the finished film was as realistic as possible and that viewers believed they had actually seen leprechauns. Even in a television special about the shooting, I Captured the King of the Leprechauns , which aired on May 29, 1959 , nothing about the trick effects was revealed, but the forced perspective technique was used again to convey that Walt Disney actually met Darby O'Gill and King Brian while visiting Ireland and invited them to California to film. In the show, these passages were preceded by a visit to Disney's Irish-born actor Pat O'Brien , who taught Disney about Irish folklore and traditions. And in the opening credits of the finished film, a special thanks from Disney to the "little people" was included:

"My thanks to King Brian of Knocknasheega and his Leprechauns, whose gracious co-operation made this picture possible. (My thanks go to King Brian von Knocknasheega and his leprechauns, whose benevolent contribution made this film possible.) "

- Walt Disney

Scriptwriter Lawrence Edward Watkin and composer Oliver Wallace also wrote two songs for the film, The Wishing Song , sung by Albert Sharpe and Jimmy O'Dea in the film, and Pretty Irish Girl , sung by Sean Connery and Janet Munro. This is one of the few times that Connery can be seen singing on screen.

During filming, not all actors got along equally well with the way director Stevenson worked, who had a habit of filing scenes in different versions up to twenty times and then choosing the best one. For actors like Sharpe this was a good opportunity to bring in original improvisation, while for other actors it was very tiring. Kieron Moore even said of Stevenson: "You really can't say that he was bursting with ideas. "

Walt Disney, on the other hand, was very satisfied with Stevenson's performance - it was his first big film for the studio - and in the years that followed entrusted him to direct almost all of the major feature films, especially those with fantastic influences.

Premieres

The world premiere was on June 24, 1959 in Ireland's capital Dublin , the US release on June 26, 1959. In Japan , the film was shown on March 26, 1960. In Germany, on the other hand, it never came into cinemas. It was not until June 1987 that a German dubbed version was released on video for the first time , in which Manfred Lichtenfeld dubbed Albert Sharpe and Gudo Hoegel spoke for Sean Connery. The German television premiere of the film was on December 18, 1994 on RTL .

reception

When Darby O'Gill and the Little People came to the cinemas in the summer of 1959, not only did the specialist critics not react very enthusiastically (see under “Criticism”), but the audience also fell far short of the approval that the Disney- Studios had hoped for. The fact that the film contains one of the scariest moments ever to be seen in a Disney film, like decades before with the witch scenes in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , caused considerable irritation. The scenes with the wailing banshee and the eerie death carriage frightened many children so much that they even left the cinema at this point. Another reason for the failure at the box office was the Irish fairy tale world, which was perceived as overly exotic, but above all the heavy Irish accents and Gaelic passages. The suggestion arose immediately in the studio to re-synchronize the “incomprehensible” scenes and thus to smooth out the all too Irish. However, Disney expressly prohibited such changes. After his death, the film was dubbed in places to make it more "understandable" for the re-releases in 1969 and 1977 (the original sound was restored for the later DVD versions). But even such changes did not make the film more popular; the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) gives total box office earnings for the US at $ 8.336 million.

Disney was very disappointed by the reaction of the audience, especially in the same year, The Sleeping Beauty ( Sleeping Beauty ), Disney until then aufwendigster Cartoons, far fell short of expectations. By contrast, the fantasy comedy film Der eheimliche Zotti ( The Shaggy Dog ), which was simple in relation to The Secret of the Haunted Cave and filmed for less than a million dollars in black and white, immediately grossed more than eight million dollars. With the latter film in particular, the Disney studios had found a formula that was not only varied or repeated regularly in the films of the 1960s , but also led to a remake of such films every decade . Demanding fantasy films on par with The Secret of the Enchanted Cave , however, were only tackled sporadically by the studio. This then usually staged by Robert Stevenson, such as Mary Poppins ( Mary Poppins , 1964). In 1967 the Disney studios brought a very similar film into the cinemas with Adventurous Journey into the Dwarf Land ( The Gnome-Mobile ), but this time it was set in the local California redwood forests. The film, again directed by Stevenson, was about a dwarf people whose forest is threatened by deforestation.

While The Secret of the Enchanted Cave is still not a big hit with the public at Disney Studios, directors - especially of the fantastic cinema - and special effects experts such as Richard Edlund have given it high recognition and recognized the technical pioneering achievement. Steven Spielberg, for example, once described it as the "most perfect perspective game in film history." . And especially in his first “The Lord of the Rings” film, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Peter Jackson also used the “forced perspective” technique in the scenes in Shire to determine the size difference between the magician Gandalf and to make the hobbits believable. Perhaps not entirely by chance, many scenes from the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, in which the heroes ride their horses over gentle green hills, resemble a setting in The Secret of the Enchanted Cave , in which the leprechauns on their miniature horses over moonlit ones Riding away hill.

Even if the “Forced Perspective” technique was only used in a few other films due to its complexity and its implementation, which always involved a lot of effort, others of the film tricks soon found imitators in Darby O'Gills . So the solar effects of the banshee / death carriage sequence were imitated in a very similar form for the demon scenes in the 1960 fantasy film The Ruler of Cornwall ( Jack the Giant Killer ).

Reviews

  • “'The Secret of the Enchanted Cave' is not only one of Disney's best films, but certainly one of the best fantasies ever put on film. […] Like many of Disney's best films, this production appeals more to an older audience than children, especially very young children, with its visual beauty, its great depictions, its cheerfully warbling music (which drives the storyline so much), and real humor . "[" 'Darby O'Gill and the Little People' is not only one of Disney's best films, but is certainly one of the best fantasies ever put on film. [...] As with many of Disney's best films, this production, with its visual beauty, great performances, lilting music (which propels so much of the film's action), and genuine wit, has more appeal to older audiences than it has for children , especially very young children. "] - Leonard Maltin , The Disney Films
  • “With fascinating tricks for the time, a charming entertainment film based on themes from Irish fairy tales; relaxing and amusing entertainment. ” - Lexicon of international film
  • "Darby O'Gill is one of the ten best fantasy films ever made." ("Darby O'Gill is one of the ten best fantasy films ever made.") - Roy Frumkes , Films in Review
  • “Sharpe's performance is a brilliant role. He benefits from the combination of being lovable, but at the same time weak and susceptible to greed and arrogance [...] but he equips the role with a beneficial individual expression that should make him popular. "[" Sharpe's performance is a gem. He benefits from the combination of being lovable, yet humanly frail and prone to greed and pride […] but embellishes the role with a refreshingly individual manner of expression that should endear him. "] - Variety
  • "Pleasantly barmy Irish fantasy with brilliant trick work but some tedium in between."] (Rating: 1 out of 4 possible stars) - Halliwell's Film and Video Guide 2000
  • "Outstanding Disney fantasy [...] An absolute pleasure, with shiny special effects - and some truly terrifying moments in addition to the quirks." ["Outstanding Disney fantasy [...] An utter delight, with dazzling special effects - and some truly terrifying moments along with the whimsy. “] (Rating: 3½ out of 4 possible stars) - Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide 1999
  • “[...] These dramaturgically cleverly prepared and effectively staged final minutes as well as the coherent local color whitewash many weak points in the plot, which essentially stem from the grafted love story [...]. Less spectacular than the death carriage, but all the more amazing was the interaction between humans and dwarfs. [...] Ellenshaw was not supposed to receive the Oscar for this 'most perfect perspective game in film history' (Steven Spielberg), but only for the far less perfect Mary Poppins . ” - Norbert Stresau , The Fantasy Film
  • "Mr. Disney, Lawrence E. Watkin, its screenwriter, and Robert Stevenson, its director, gave us more fairy folk, legends, and Irish accents in 'Darby' than we could on a mild summer night at the Abbey Theater or a drawing room on Third Avenue are heard. [...] Jimmy O'Dea, with a red goatee, an ermine fur cloak and crown, and his 'little people' are, thanks to the trick photography, a sufficiently cute sight to make a man renounce legends and whiskey. "(" Mr. Disney, Lawrence E. Watkin, his scenarist, and Robert Stevenson, his director, have given us in 'Darby' more fairy folk, legends and brogue than are heard on any soft summer's night at the Abbey Theater or a Third Avenue saloon . [...] Jimmy O'Dea, in red chin whiskers, ermine cape and crown, and his 'little people' are, thanks to trick photography, a cute enough sight to make a man swear off legends and whiskey. ") - AH Hamlet , New York Times , New York, July 1, 1959
  • “This is a wonderful, tricky fantasy film from the Disney workshop, based on the motifs of an Irish fairy tale.” - Prisma-Online
  • "The appearance of the banshee and the terrifying Death Coach create genuine moments of horror and underscore Disney's ability to frighten the audience as well as to entertain them." underline Disney's ability to scare audiences as well as entertain them. ") - Richard Holliss and Brian Sibley : The Disney Studio Story

Awards

For the role of "Katie" Janet Munro won the Golden Globe Award for Best Young Actress .

media

DVD release

  • The secret of the haunted cave . Buena Vista Home Entertainment 2004 (the US DVD edition also includes a review of the filming of Sean Connery, the original TV special I Captured the King of the Leprechauns and the documentary "Little People, Big Effects" about the special effects used)
  • The secret of the haunted cave . Walt Disney Home Entertainment 2012

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Leslie Iwerks, John Kenworthy: The Hand Behind the Mouse. An Intimate Biography of Ub Iwerks, the Man Walt Disney Called "The Greatest Animator in the World" . Disney Editions, New York 2001, ISBN 0-7868-5320-4 , p. 197
  2. ↑ Little People, Big Effects , US DVD documentary 2004
  3. ↑ Michael Feeney Callan: Sean Connery. His films - his life (OT: Sean Connery - His Life and Films ). 2nd Edition. Heyne Film Library , Volume 47. Heyne, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-453-86076-4 , p. 104
  4. ↑ a b Roy Frumkes in Tricks & Treats: Halloween DVDS 2004 on www.filmsinreview.com
  5. ^ Leonard Maltin: The Disney Films . 3. Edition. Hyperion, New York 1995, ISBN 0-7868-8137-2 , p. 162
  6. ↑ http://german.imdb.com/title/tt0052722/business
  7. ↑ quoted by Norbert Stresau: The Fantasy Film . Heyne-Filmbibliothek, volume 68. Heyne, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-453-86068-3 , p. 105
  8. ^ Leonard Maltin: The Disney Films . 3. Edition. Hyperion, New York 1995, ISBN 0-7868-8137-2 , pp. 159-162
  9. ^ "Lexicon of International Films" (CD-ROM edition), Systhema, Munich 1997
  10. ↑ quoted in Leonard Maltin: The Disney Films . 3. Edition. Hyperion, New York 1995, ISBN 0-7868-8137-2 , p. 161
  11. ↑ Leslie Halliwell (conception), John Walker (ed.): Halliwell's Film and Video Guide 2000 . HarperCollins, London 1999, ISBN 0-00-653165-2 , p. 201
  12. ↑ Leonard Maltin (Ed.) Et al .: Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide 1999 . Signet (Penguin), New York 1998, ISBN 0-451-19582-5 , p. 309
  13. ↑ Norbert Stresau: The Fantasy Film . Heyne-Filmbibliothek, Volume 68. Heyne, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-453-86068-3 , pp. 104-105
  14. ^ A film review by AH Weiler in the New York Times, July 1, 1959
  15. ↑ The secret of the haunted cave on Prisma-Online
  16. ↑ Richard Holliss, Brian Sibley: The Disney Studio Story . Octopus, London 1988, ISBN 0-7064-3040-9 , pp. 184-185