The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold (1981)

People are voting emotionally.

Best movie of this year hands down!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

A young Irish sailor sees a fir tree growing on an island and goes ashore to retrieve it and use it as a Christmas tree. When he digs it up, he frees a banshee that was trapped under it. He meets some leprechauns who explain to him that banshees need to get gold before Christmas or they die. The leprechauns give him the gold to hide, but like a complete moron, he's tricked by the banshee into giving her the gold. The later, less well-known Rankin/Bass specials tend to be obscure for good reason. This one features a bunch of leprechauns hording piles of gold for themselves for no good reason. They need to keep it from a banshee who needs it to survive because ... because banshee? Factor in the fact that the hero is a complete moron, and it's hard to get on board with this uncomfortably weird blend of Irish folklore and Christmas.

Cute, lesser known Rankin/Bass animated Christmas special has Art Carney narrating the tale of a sailor sent to fetch a pine tree from an Irish island which broke apart from its native country thanks to an earthquake. It has a leprechaun named Blarney Kilakilarney (voiced also by Carney) who has been away from his wife for far too long due to his insistence on keeping his gold stash from the clutches of a hideous witch (called a banshee) that shrieks and always cries tears. She must get her hands on the gold before Christmas day or turn into tears and through whatever tricks or spells she can muster will attempt to do so. Dinty Doyle, the boy sailor (voiced by Ken Jennings), is told he is in possession of all the gold when Blarney is able to outsmart Old Mag, the Hag's (Christine Mitchell) enchantment (a "generosity spell" she calls it)…she intended for him to give it all to her but Dinty thankfully was in the same vicinity. So Mag sets her sights on tricking Dinty and might just get the gold she has so coveted…like she did against Faye (Peggy Cass), the wife of Blarney (causing their estrangement), through the transformation into an angel, Mag will turn into a shipwrecked girl in the hopes of fooling Dinty into granting her his gold for a special Christmas island celebration. Good natured and sweet, The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold should be a perfect addition to the many Christmas animated specials that makes the cut during the holiday season. A few songs, the typically fine stop motion you are accustomed to for a Bass/Rankin production, and some memorable voiceovers provide a nice little short to enjoy each December. Dinty was responsible for accidentally releasing Mag from a trap concocted by Blarney and a wizard using the aforementioned pine tree, noticed by Dinty's captain on board their ship, adding a bit of irony to the entire short. Will Dinty be able to help stop her from seizing upon the gold?

Did you know the leprechauns celebrate the Christmas season too? No? Well, laddy, do pull up a shamrock and open your ears as Blarney Kilakilarney tells us the tale of how they brought Christmas gold back to the Emerald Isle. It was all thanks to a man named Dinty Doyle, a good-natured young cabin boy on the good ship Belle of Erin. Before they set sail home to Dublin on this fine Christmas Eve day, the captain wanted a Christmas tree on the ship, so he sends Doyle to a nearby uncharted island, on which he spots a pine tree, and tells him to dig it up. Unfortunately, Doyle discovers the hard way that one cannot pull up a tree with his bare hands. However, he was determined to prove that theory wrong. From nearby, a group of leprechauns spot him, knowing the dangers that await should he unearth that tree. Tis true, for when Doyle finally pulls out the tree, he unleashes an unholy banshee who casts a violent storm over the land. Suddenly, a rainbow appears in the sky. Doyle follows it to the end, to reveal a treasure in gold hidden beneath a patch of clovers. Begorrah, it be the leprechauns' gold! Guarding it was ol' Blarney himself, but when he sees Doyle didn't mean him any harm, he tells him a tale about his clan, the Kilakilarneys and how he hasn't spoken to them in over a century. So, our story within a story commences.Blarney and the missus were a happy couple, living amongst the other wee people who spent their time mining gold, buildin' shoes and growin' potatoes. There was one big problem, however, as their gold attracted rainbows, and where there rainbows, there were evil banshees, such as Old Mag. These were deceitful creatures who could change their appearances at a whim, but could always be spotted by the tears that were always flowing down their cheeks. Apparently, Old Mag has to get gold every Christmas Eve or...she melts away, or something. She can't steal it, as it only counts if it's given freely. So, Mag gets to Blarney's wife and convinces her to tell Blarney to give away his gold. He tells her she was bamboozled by the banshee, but she doesn't listen. They have a great big fight, and both declare their marriage kaput. Blarney next found himself to be the only gold miner left, as the others had become shoemakers. Oh...no? Mag corners him and demands the gold, when suddenly there was a violent earthquake that shook their patch of land right off of Ireland, thus making it its own little island. What to do about that pesky banshee? The Lord of the Leprechauns saves the day by convincing the banshee to show him how she can turn into tears. Yes, apparently banshees are made of tears and if they don't get gold on Christmas, they turn back into tears. What you be smokin' there in that pipe there, Blarney? However, the ruse worked. Rookie mistake, Old Mag. She turns to water and sinks in a hole, into which Blarney plants a pine cone, and from that pine cone, a pine tree did grow. So now all was well...until some bumbler dug up the tree and freed the banshee! Old Mag spikes Blarney's tea to make him turn over his gold to her, but she underestimated the wee man's intelligence, and so he gives the gold to Doyle. Old Mag vows vengeance. Well, Doyle may be rich, but he's up to his haunches in bad luck, for his rowboat was missing, stranding him on the island, and he meets a shipwrecked lass, all alone on the beach. She convinces him to give the gold to her so she can have the leprechauns build them a ship. He falls for it like a ton of bricks, for this is no lass. It's the banshee! As a way of thanking the stalwart lad, she puts him to sleep for 100 years. What happens next is nothing short of a miracle: Blarney and his wife make amends and love each other again, thus casting a magic rainbow in the sky that awakens Doyle, and just as Old Mag tries to claim her ill-gotten gains, the sun rises. She turns back to tears and is washed away by the tide. What's more, the Belle of Erin is right there on the shore! So Doyle and all of his new friends, all their gold and all their shoes set sail for Ireland. I wonder how he convinced the captain to bring on all that extra cargo? Probably just had to say "gold" and he was sold. This was one of the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials I hadn't seen before, so I decided to sit down and watch it all the way through for the first time, and I thought it was pretty good. Not as memorable as Rudolph or Frosty or the Miser Brothers, but it's still pretty decent. A few good songs and a good story. Art Carney is our storyteller and he was very good as Blarney Kilakilarney. So, again, not one of RB's best, and it came out in the era where they were really winding down. The following special, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus in 1985 was their last. I guess they figured they'd told all the good Christmas stories by then and decided to stop while they were ahead. This Christmas, I suggest you check out The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold, it be an entertaining ride for all people, wee and big alike.

This is a cute movie about friendship and loyalty.One does have to understand the myth and history about the Banshee to understand that the leprechaun can not give her the gold. It takes a brave man to stand alone while others turn their backs on you. This movie has a great moral to never give up on ones self and ideals just because the crowd is telling you to doing so. My family and I enjoyed the songs and made a night out of watching claymation Christmas movies. This was a great one to laugh at and enjoy. Other movies that a person may enjoy are Rudolh the red nose reindeer, Santa Claus is coming to town. The year Santa Missed.