O Toque Dourado

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).

King Midas cares for nothing but gold. One day, he's visited by the diminutive magical Goldie. Despite Goldie's warning, Midas demands and is granted the golden touch. At first, he is overjoyed but eventually, he discovers that it is really a curse. He turns everything including his food into gold. In the end, he pleads to Goldie to have a hamburger sandwich in exchange for his entire kingdom.

This is a Walt Disney Silly Symphony cartoon. There are none of the iconic Disney characters. It's strictly the classic tale told in a silly cartoon form. The tale still works and it works well in this short bite size. Goldie is a little creepy but Midas is a fun looking design. It's all very good.

This cartoon is based on the tale of King Midas, the greedy king who turns anything he touches into gold.

This cartoon short wasn't bad, following along with the tale well. The animation was pretty good and the story was a little exciting; makes you want to see how the king would get himself out of his gold fever.

The elf, who granted Midas the golden touch, didn't really give the king strong advice about the touch, only saying it would be a curse. The king, though, was a little too sappy.

The cartoon does give off a good moral, telling you not to be greedy but be grateful of what you have, and be careful in what you wish for.

Grade B-

This 1935 short was Walt Disney's first time directing in 5 years (he wasn't entirely satisfied with his cartoon directors during this stage) and was his last effort at directing ever. He also hated this cartoon for undisclosed reasons.

It features King Midas, the greedy ruler of legend who craved gold and wishes for everything he touches to turn shiny and priceless. An elf called Goldie (gee, that's imaginative) appears and offers to make that wish come true. Midas enjoys it at first but soon comes to realize that the best things are life are those that you can touch and hold close to you. Or at least he would if the cartoon didn't just have him grow frustrated at not being able to eat dinner.

There is some nice animation in here, but overall it's forgettable. Respect Walt's wishes and skip it.

A nice version of the story of King Midas and his wish-turned-curse. I chuckled when I noticed the 18K that appeared on the cat when it was turned to gold. I also loved his giddy little dance for joy upon using his new talent for the first time. His first realization for the curse of the golden touch occurs with him being squirted in the eye with gold coins by his grapefruit, which continues with a series of problems resulting in his whining about the possibility of the richest king starving to death. The fact that he is deemed wise because he asked for a hamburger (with onions) is one of those details laced with a little bit of absurdity that you don't notice at first but make you crack up later during a little afterthought. The song at the beginning is nice; my favorite verse would have to be: "I've never cared for women / I've never cared for wine / But when I count / A large amount / Of money - Ha Ha / It's Divine!" It has something for everyone and is short enough so that the gags don't go stale. Enjoy.