Darby O’gill And The Little People October 26, 2008

THE ART DIRECTORS GUILD FILM SOCIETY AND AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE HONOR ART DIRECTOR CARROLL CLARK AND
SPECIAL EFFECTS TEAM, PETER ELLENSHAW AND EUSTACE LYCETT WITH A SCREENING OF ‘DARBY O’GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE’
OCTOBER 26 AT THE AERO THEATER

LOS ANGELES – October 7 The Art Directors Guild (ADG) Film Society and American Cinematheque honor Art Director Carroll Clark and Special Effects team, Peter Ellenshaw and Eustace Lycett with a screening of Disney’s Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959). The screening will spotlight the special collaboration between art direction, visual effects and special effects that made films such as Darby O’Gill possible. This is the final film of this year’s ADG/American Cinematheque monthly series heralding the work of Art Directors Guild legends. Darby O’Gill and the Little People will be screened on Sunday, October 26, at 5:30 pm at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. Following the film, visual effects supervisors Michael Fink (Constantine, Oscar winner for The Golden Compass,) and Harrison Ellenshaw (Dick Tracy, Oscar nominee for The Black Hole), son of Peter Ellenshaw, will be present for a discussion, to be moderated by John Muto, production designer, screenwriter and AFI Instructor.

Darby O’Gill and the Little People, directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Lawrence Edward Watkin and H.T. Kavanagh, stars Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro and Sean Connery, in one of his earliest leading roles. He even sings a number with Miss Munro that went on to become a hit song! The story concerns an eccentric Irishman named Darby O'Gill, desperately seeking the proverbial pot of gold. In order to acquire the treasure, he has to match wits with 21-inch tall King Brian and his hordes of mischievous leprechauns. Scenes of Darby mingling with the dancing leprechauns in their cavern set a benchmark in the use of realistic forced perspective that has never been surpassed.

Clark has been nominated for seven Academy Awards including The Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935), A Damsel in Distress (1937), Flight for Freedom (1943), Step Lively (1944), The Absent Minded Professor (1961), and Mary Poppins (1964). He won the Scientific and Engineering Academy Award in 1943, sharing it with F. Thomas Thompson for the design and construction of a moving cloud and horizon machine. Clark also worked with the great Production Designer Van Nest Polglase on King Kong (1933) and created some of the most memorable and elegant sets of the era with some of the great Fred Astaire movies.

Ellenshaw won an Academy Award in 1964 for his special effects work on Mary Poppins (shared with Eustace Lycett and Hamilton Luske) and was nominated for his work on Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Island at the Top of the World and The Black Hole. Like his son Harrison, Peter Ellenshaw followed his stepfather Percy Day, who is considered one of the greatest of all British matte artists, into the business. He was handpicked by Walt Disney to be a part of the studio’s creative team and painted the first map of Disneyland that was featured on all the early postcards and souvenir booklets. Ellenshaw began working for Disney in 1947 where he worked on the studio’s first live-action film, Treasure Island and continued there until his retirement in 1979.

Lycett won an Academy Award for Best Effects for his work on Bedknobs and Broomsticks in 1971 and was nominated for The Absent Minded Professor and The Black Hole (along with Peter and Harrison Ellenshaw). His other credits include The Love Bug (1968), Pete’s Dragon (1977), Hot Lead and Cold Feet (1978) and The Last Flight of Noah’s Ark (1980). Lycett originally joined Disney in 1937 to modify and design camera equipment and retired in 1979 as the head of the Photographic Effects Department.

All screenings start at 5:30 p.m. General Admission: $10; American Cinematheque members: $7; Seniors/students: $8. For 24-Hour ticket information call 323.466.FILM.

Official Website: http://www.americancinematheque.com/Aero/aeromastercalendar.htm