A dramatization about a nine-year-old girl Missy who is persuaded by her peers to throw a stone at an old lady. She later discovers that the old lady is dying and a personal awareness of having done an unloving act weighs heavily upon her. Her mother’s loving response to her torment and instinctive gestures of consolation even as she lets Missy know the seriousness of her action, frees Missy and she finds her own special way to express her sorrow. The dramatic tension traces the dynamics of the sacrament of Penance, as Missy experiences sorrow, guilt and the peace that comes with forgiveness.
In New York City, bright but naive New Englander Anne Welles becomes a secretary at a theatrical law firm, where she falls in love with attorney Lyon Burke. Anne befriends up-and-coming singer Neely O'Hara, whose dynamic talent threatens aging star Helen Lawson and beautiful but talentless actress Jennifer North. The women experience success and failure in love and work, leading to heartbreak, addiction and tragedy.
When the first manned flight to Venus returns to Earth, the rocket crash-lands in the Mediterranean near a small Italian fishing village. The locals manage to save one of the astronauts Colonel Calder, the mission commander. A young boy also recovers what turns out to be a specimen of an alien creature. Growing at a fantastic rate, it manages to escape and eventually threatens the city of Rome.
Change comes slowly to a small New Hampshire town in the early 20th century. People grow up, get married, live, and die. Milk and the newspaper get delivered every morning, and nobody locks their front doors. This musicalization of Thornton Wilder's classic play stars Frank Sinatra who introduces the song, "Love and Marriage," which would go on to be immortalized as the theme song to the sitcom Married with Children.
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.
This is one of four fairy tales master animator Ray Harryhausen made between 1949 and 1953 by hand, using stop-motion photography perfected as an apprentice under mentor Willis H. O'Brien of "King Kong" fame.
