The Golden Touch
The Golden Touch
NR | 22 March 1935 (USA)
The Golden Touch Trailers

King Midas is visited by an elf; the elf turns his cat to gold, then claps his hands and it changes back. Midas begs for the golden touch, but the elf warns him it would be a curse to him. Midas insists. He dances about joyfully at first, but discovers the drawbacks when he sits down to dinner. Fearing death by starvation, he summons the elf and agrees to surrender everything he owns to have the curse lifted.

Reviews
Horst in Translation ([email protected])

"The Golden Touch" is an old Disney cartoon and at 10 minutes this one's a bit longer than they usually are. Director is Disney himself and the voice acting is provided by the prolific and successful Billy Bletcher. Here we have the story of King Midas that many know I am sure and really in an animated form, you cannot make it better than it is here. The looks are absolutely amazing for a film that is over 80 years old and there is a great deal of wit in here and a memorable lesson in terms of morale. Maybe you could say that the fun/comedy component is not existent here and you would be right, the somewhat funny onions comment at the very end cannot change that. But it's not a problem at all. The darker skeleton references make obvious anyway that this is not a Disney cartoon for the little ones, but teenagers and everybody above the agee can and should check this one out. We should be thankful for the huge treasure of quality films Disney left us and this is just one coin in the chest. Really loved the ending too because when he has almost nothing except a burger and his underwear is the first time he is really happy and not only tells us this film to not be greedy, but also to appreciate the little things in life, not just food-wise, that we often take for granted. This Silly Simphony is as close to a must-see as I was giving it an even higher rating. Maybe on rewatch. But I sure recommend it very much.

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MartinHafer

If you are looking for this short, try the "Disney Timeless Treasures: Volume 3". It's there along with several other seldom-seen cartoon shorts.This Silly Symphony short is, as is ALWAYS the case with these shorts, brilliantly animated--with terrific backgrounds and ultra-vivid colors. It's the story of King Midas and his Golden Touch. But, unfortunately, the Disney folks decided to insert some sappy music--and the King singing "The Golden Touch, The Golden Touch" was pretty annoying. Once this stopped, however, the story was pretty decent and quite watchable. My only reservation about the story is the ending--as the original story told by the ancient Greeks was much darker (and therefore, cool).

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zetes

This is just a superb retelling of the King Midas story, who asked that everything he touched be turned to stone. The jokes in this one are extremely clever. I especially like the visualization of the skeleton in the mirror and the elf. 10/10.

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Ron Oliver

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.Jolly monarch King Midas is gold mad and nothing seems to satisfy his avarice. Then one day a strange little elf grants him THE GOLDEN TOUCH...An enjoyable retelling of the tale from Greek Mythology, competently animated.The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most interesting of series in the field of animation. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants & animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization & photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO & FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.

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