Happy St Patrick’s Day 2020 from Mondo Movies!

Feck! Arse! Girls! The national day of all that is Paddy has been cancelled! In which case all there’s left is … Drink! And leprechauns…

Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959)

Here at Mondo Movies we like nothing better than a national holiday. And our favourite is St Patrick’s Day. So after a breakfast of boiled bacon and cabbage and a green shamrock slushie picked up at our local yellow-arched emporium, this is the film that goes on the player, The Greatest Oirish Fillum Ever Made. Disney’s wonderful interpretation of H.T. Kavanagh’s stories benefits from great design, wonderful colour and a deep understanding of the sly brutalising mendacity of the locals and the hypocrisy of Catholic priests. There are incredible special effects that work almost as well on me now as when first I saw this on TV aged 6, and Sean Connery singing with Janet Munro. What’s not to love? Classic! Directed by Disney stalwart Robert Stevenson with a screenplay by Lawrence Edward (Treasure Island) Watkin. Happy St Patrick’s Day! Top o’ the mornin’ to ya! Jump around!

Finian’s Rainbow (1968)

This adaptation by a young Francis Ford Coppola of the Broadway musical works mainly because of the songs. Why wouldn’t we all want to uproot from Glocca Morra like Finian and Sharon and Look to the Rainbow in Missitucky USA? Underrated and a lot of fun, especially if you like leprechauns. Definitely the end of an era.