{"id":83052,"date":"2023-12-29T00:01:47","date_gmt":"2023-12-29T08:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=83052"},"modified":"2023-12-29T09:11:42","modified_gmt":"2023-12-29T17:11:42","slug":"live-like-a-king-the-60th-anniversary-of-the-sword-in-the-stone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/live-like-a-king-the-60th-anniversary-of-the-sword-in-the-stone\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Like a King: The 60th Anniversary of \u201cThe Sword in the Stone\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"\n

\u201cWhen I suggested that we do a feature based on T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone<\/em>, a fanciful version of the boyhood of King Arthur, Walt was all for it. But once again, he insisted I write a screenplay before starting the storyboard work. Walt the wizard never knew that I patterned Merlin the magician after him when I wrote the script.\u201d<\/p>\n

So wrote story artist Bill Peet in his book, aptly titled Bill Peet An Autobiography<\/em>, in a passage that reveals just how unique and full of the Disney spirit the Studio\u2019s 1963 animated feature, The Sword in the Stone, was.<\/p>\n

Based on the first book in author T.H. White\u2019s tetralogy of the Arthurian legend, The Once and Future King<\/em>, the film The Sword in the Stone<\/em> first surfaced as a project at Disney in 1939, when the Studio purchased the rights to White\u2019s books.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

For the next twenty years, as the book went through various attempts to be adapted as a film, The Sword in the Stone<\/em> would emerge as something distinctive for Disney. In his book The Disney Films<\/em>, Leonard Maltin noted, \u201c\u2026 few could resist commenting how different the film seemed from the earlier animated endeavors, not only in drawing style but in the whole atmosphere of the film, which was telling a medieval tale with a bit too much of its head in the 1960s.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, The Sword in the Stone<\/em> tells the tale of King Arthur when he was young and before he was crowned. In Jerry Beck\u2019s book, The Animated Movie Guide<\/em>, contributor Martin Goodman notes how the film was one of two projects in consideration as an animated feature at one time:<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to some accounts, none of the animators really wanted to make this film. Several of the \u2018Nine Old Men\u2019 of Disney’s brain trust wanted to revive the long dormant Chanticleer the Rooster<\/em> project, but storyman\/concept artist Bill Pete was able to convince Walt to go with The Sword and the Stone<\/em> instead. Having greatly enjoyed the 1960 Broadway production of Camelot<\/em>, Walt was easily sold.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sword in the Stone<\/em> opens with a prologue, complete with the traditional Disney storybook opening to the pages within, that explains that the King of England had died and no one could decide who would take over the throne. A miracle happened when a sword appeared in a stone in London. Written on the sword was \u201cWhoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise King born of England.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Many try but are unsuccessful, and England is left without a King, leading into a dark age. And it is during this time that we meet 11-year-old Wart (voiced by Rickie Sorenson, along with Richard and Robert Reitherman, sons of the film\u2019s director, Wolfgang Reitherman).<\/p>\n

Wart is an orphan adopted by Sir Ector (Sebastian Cabot), who lives with his dull hulk of a son, Sir Kay (Norman Alden). Neither treats Wart very well, but the young lad’s life changes when he accidentally meets Merlin the wizard (Karl Swenson) and his talking owl Archimedes (Junius Matthews) while retrieving Kay\u2019s arrow in the woods during a hunting excursion.<\/p>\n

Merlin decides to be Wart\u2019s tutor and mentor, preparing him for life through an education. This is where the creativity of Disney animation comes alive in The Sword in the Stone<\/em>. Merlin is a marvel of character animation, brought to the screen in many scenes with humorous eccentricities thanks to Disney Legend and master artist Milt Kahl, a member of Disney\u2019s \u201cNine Old Men\u201d of animators.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>As Merlin educates, he uses magic to transform Wart into a fish, a bird, and a squirrel to expand the young man\u2019s horizons. While transformed into a bird, Wart runs into the film\u2019s villainous, Mad Madame Mim (Martha Wentworth), a cunning witch trained in black magic, who challenges Merlin to a \u201cWizard\u2019s Duel,\u201d a true tour-de-force of Disney animation, where the two can transform themselves into different creatures \u2013 snake, mouse, rhino, crab, and fire breathing dragon \u2013 as they do battle. Merlin and Mim change into each animal in creative, dizzying ways that happen at a breakneck pace.<\/p>\n

The sequence was storyboarded by Peet, with color model drawings by Kahl. The result is not just a brilliant highlight of The Sword in the Stone<\/em>, but of Disney animation itself.<\/p>\n

When Merlin transforms Wart into a squirrel, he transforms himself, and the two meet two female squirrels. The scene, animated by Disney Legend Frank Thomas, another member of Disney\u2019s \u201cNine Old Men,\u201d teaches Wart and audiences an affecting lesson about the power of love through beautiful personality animation.<\/p>\n

Author John Canemaker, in his book Walt Disney\u2019s Nine Old Men & The Art of Animation<\/em>, says of the sequence: \u201cThomas created a perfectly structured, emotional rollercoaster and made his cast perform brilliantly. In the bargain, he broke our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is Wart, real name Arthur, who inadvertently pulls the sword from the stone on New Year\u2019s Day while searching for a replacement sword for Kay, who is competing in a tournament. This makes Wart King Arthur, to which Merlin says, in the film’s last line, \u201cThey might even make a motion picture about you,\u201d to which Arthur asks, \u201cA motion picture?\u201d And Merlin answers, \u201cWell\u2026 that\u2019s something like television, without commercials.\u201d<\/p>\n\"\"\n

These contemporary nods in The Sword in the Stone<\/em> and others where Merlin references airplanes, newspapers and even wears Bermuda shorts, were part of the film having its \u201chead in the 1960s\u201d that Mr. Maltin referred to.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of the film\u2019s unique aspects, as is the look of The Sword in the Stone<\/em>. The film used the same Xerox process used in Disney\u2019s previous feature, 101 Dalmatians<\/em>, which employed an electronic process for adapting animators’ pencil drawings to cels.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This provided a more contemporary look to the animation, which fit perfectly in 101 Dalmatians<\/em> but provided a more incongruous tone when paired with a traditional fable like The Sword in the Stone<\/em>.<\/p>\n

One aspect of the film that did seem more familiar were the songs, written by Disney Legends Richard and Robert Sherman, in their first animated film collaboration with Disney, after which they would provide songs in Disney movies that would prove to be the soundtrack for generations. For more on the Sherman Brothers and the music of The Sword in the Stone<\/em>, check out Greg Erhbar\u2019s 2022 article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Released on Christmas Day of 1963 in the United States, The Sword in the Stone<\/em> may not have been the hit that previous Disney features had been, but sixty years after its release, with multiple theatrical re-issues, releases on home video, airings on The Disney Channel, and now streaming on Disney+ (in the best film transfer this writer has seen to date), the film continues to connect with warmth and nostalgia for many.<\/p>\n

The reason for this could be best summed up by New York Times critic Bosley Crowther, who, upon the film\u2019s initial release said of The Sword in the Stone<\/em>: \u201cThe humor sparkles with real, knowing sophistication \u2013 meaning for all ages \u2013 and some of the characters of the fifth-century landscape of Old England are Disney pips.\u201d<\/p>\n