The Story of King Midas

This is an early Ray Harryhausen short film and the great stop-motion animator made several fairy tale stories similar to this one. And, in each of the ones I've seen, the stories have been altered to make them more acceptable for small children. In this case, it means that King Midas gets a happy ending...something not seen in ancient Greek versions of the tale.

The story is simple. King Midas is rich but is so consumed with greed that it's never enough. So, a bluish guy who looks a lot like Nosferatu arrives and offers him the power to turn anything to gold with he touch and the dopey king agrees. Unfortunately, he learns that his food and beloved daughter turn to gold when he touches them...so the bluish dude shows up and offers him a way out.

This is pleasant but had the story been more like the original darks story I think it would have been better. Still, the animation quality is lovely and the film worth your time. I found it on YouTube, by the way.

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."