Sid Cassel

Startime, an anthology of drama, comedy and variety, was one of the first American television shows broadcast in color.

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.

A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer.