The Story of King Midas (1953)
A greedy King Midas is visited one day by a mysterious visitor who grants him the ability to turn all things he touches to gold. He learns his lesson when the food he tries to eat and his own daughter are turned to gold as well. The visitor reappears and offers him the opportunity to return to his old self, which he gladly does.
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Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Captivating movie !
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
While Ray Harryhausen is best known for his excellent work in live-action movies like "Jason and the Argonauts" and the original "Clash of the Titans", I think that his early animated shorts deserve recognition too."The Story of King Midas" is a very charming and well made animation which makes a great work adapting an old fable. Like the Walt Disney Silly Symphony cartoon from 1935, "The Golden Touch" this short changes the setting of the story, making it happen in Medieval Europe, but the result is effective anyway.Unlike in other adaptations of the story, the entity who grants King Midas wish to turn everything what he touches into gold seems to be a dark and even malevolent, but at the end, the plot is resolved in the same way than the original fable.This is a cute animation, appropriate for viewers of all ages, which I recommend to anyone.8.5/10
Ray Harryhausen would later go on to work on special effects in some of the most famous monster movies of all time (Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans, and many more). This short retelling of the Greek myth of the greedy King Midas is different from such work, because it is entirely animated with stop-motion techniques - no real actors appear. Because of this, some of the facial expressions can be quite primitive, especially when transitions between expressions are necessary. But despite some of its flaws, this is quite an enjoyable little movie, with heart and wit. If you don't know the story of King Midas (which is quite famous) he gains the Golden Touch, which (as the name implies) turns everything he touches to gold - and he finds out that it's not all that it's cracked up to be.I'm not sure if this short is available on the DVD "Ray Harryhausen: The Early Years". I saw it on the GoodTimes DVD, "The Greatest Sci-fi Cartoons of all Time."