[3] It was directed by Robert Taylor from a screenplay by Taylor, Joseph Barbera and Jameson Brewer, and stars Margery Gray as the title character, alongside the voices of Lorne Greene and Sammy Davis Jr.[4] It is one of only four films Hanna-Barbera ever made that did not feature their trademark characters (along with Charlotte's Web, C.H.O.M.P.S., and Once Upon a Forest).

[5] Its box office receipts were disappointing, attributed by Joseph Barbera to incompetent distribution; it was released the same week as two other animated features.

[6] An orphaned girl named Heidi is sent to live with her paternal grandfather by her maternal Aunt Dete, who has been looking after her since she was a baby.

Heidi meets the local goatherd, a boy named Peter, and often goes with him and the village's goats on their daily grazing trips higher up the Swiss Alps.

She arrives at the house in Frankfurt, where she learns she's supposed to become the companion of a wealthy but invalid girl named Klara.

Her governess and guardian, Fräulein Rottenmeier, disapproves of Heidi's simple country ways, but Klara likes her and insists that she stay.