The Sword in the Stone

The Sword in the Stone
Directed by	Wolfgang Reitherman
Produced by	Walt Disney
Written by	Screenplay: Bill Peet Novel: T.H. White
Starring	Rickie Sorensen Karl Swenson Junius Matthews Sebastian Cabot Norman Alden Martha Wentworth
Music by	Songs: Richard M. Sherman Robert B. Sherman Score: George Bruns
Distributed by	Buena Vista Distribution
Release date(s)	December 25, 1963
Running time	79 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Gross revenue	$12,000,000 [1]

The Sword in the Stone is a 1963 animated fantasy comedy film, produced by Walt Disney originally released to theaters on December 25, 1963. The eighteenth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, it was the last Disney animated feature released while Walt Disney was alive.

It is part of the 'English Cycle'^{[clarification needed]} of Disney animated films, which include The Old Man, 3 Sons, The King's Daughter, The King, The Golden Goose, 3 Daughters, 2 Farmers, Pocahontas and Tarzan.

The film is based on the novel of the same name, at first published in 1938 as a single novel. It was then later republished in 1958 as the first book of T. H. White’s tetralogy The Once and Future King. From Merlin’s statement that The Times won't come out for another 1200 years ("They can't wait for the London Times. First edition won't be out for at least, uh... 1,200 years."), it may be extrapolated that the film is set circa A.D. 558.

Plot

This plot summary may be too long or overly detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (September 2009)

The film begins in England with the death of the king, Uther Pendragon. The "Sword in the Stone" appears in London, with an inscription proclaiming that whomever pulls it out is the rightful King of England. None succeed in removing the sword, which is soon forgotten.

Some years later, Arthur (a.k.a. Wart), a 12-year-old orphan training to be a squire, accompanying his older foster brother Kay on a hunting trip, accidentally prevents Kay from shooting a deer. Wart goes to retrieve the arrow, and falls into Merlin's cottage. Merlin announces he will be Wart's tutor, packs up and the two return to Wart's home, a castle run by Sir Ector. Ector does not believe in magic, and refuses to allow Merlin to tutor Wart. Merlin creates a blizzard, which persuades Ector to let Merlin stay. Ector's friend Pellinore arrives with news about a jousting tournament to be held on New Year's Day in London, whose winner would be crowned King of England. Ector proposes that Kay be knighted and compete for the title.

Merlin begins his tutoring by transforming Wart and himself into fish and going into the palace's moat. Wart is chased and attacked by a pike, and is saved by Archimedes, Merlin's owl. Wart is sent to the kitchen as punishment after he tried to relate his lesson to a disbelieving Ector. Merlin arrives magics the dishes to wash themselves. He then takes Wart for another lesson, wherein he transforms Wart and himself into squirrels. Merlin teaches Wart about gravity, and about male-female relationships (as two female squirrels become infatuated with them). When they return, Ector accuses Merlin of using black magic on the dishes. Wart defends Merlin, and Ector punishes Wart by giving Kay a different squire.

For his 3rd lesson, Merlin transforms Wart into a sparrow. Wart is attacked by a hawk and flies down the witch Madam Mim's chimney. Mim 's magic uses trickery, as opposed to Merlin's scientific skill. Mim turns into a cat and chases Wart around her cottage. Merlin arrives and challenges Madame Mim to a Wizard's Duel(in which the combatants try to defeat each other by changing themselves into various non-imaginary animals to destroy one another). Mim immediately breaks the rules by disappearing, and eventually transforms into a dragon, both times breaking her own rules. Merlin defeats her by transforming himself into a germ and infecting her.

At Christmas Kay is knighted, but his squire comes down with the mumps, and so Ector reinstates Arthur as Kay's squire. Merlin is disappointed that Wart still prefers war games to academics. Wart tries to explain that he cannot become a knight (being an orphan), so a squire is the best position he can attain. This aggravates Merlin, who transports himself to 20th-century Bermuda in anger.

Ector, Kay, Pellinore, and Wart (accompanied by Archimedes), travel to London for the tournament. Moments before Kay's match, Wart realizes that he has forgotten Kay's sword at their inn, which is closed because of the tournament. Archimedes notices a sword in a stone in a nearby churchyard, and points it out to Wart. Arthur pulls the sword from the stone, unwittingly fulfilling the Sword in the Stone’s prophecy.

When Arthur returns with the sword, Ector and Sir Bart recognize it as the Sword in the Stone, and the tournament is stopped. Demanding that Arthur prove he pulled it, Ector replaces the sword in its anvil. None of the other men succeed in removing it, but Wart manages to pull it out a second time. Sir Bart asks Ector what the boy's name is; Ector says 'Arthur' (almost saying 'Wart'), and Sir Bart proclaims, "Hail!! King Arthur!!", as the crowd, Sir Ector and Kay kneel to Arthur.

Next the film cuts to Arthur, crowned king, sitting in the throne room with Archimedes, feeling unprepared to take the responsibility of royalty. Overwhelmed by the cheering crowd outside, Arthur calls out to Merlin for help, who arrives (in Bermudan attire) and is elated to find that Arthur is King that he had seen in the future. Merlin tells the boy that he will rise and lead the Knights of the Round Table, while also hinting at the making of the movie itself.

Cast

• Rickie Sorensen, Richard Reitherman and Robert Reitherman as Arthur/Wart
• Karl Swenson as Merlin
• Junius Matthews as Archimedes the Owl
• Sebastian Cabot as Sir Ector
• Norman Alden as Sir Kay
• Martha Wentworth as Madame Mim / Old Lady Squirrel
• Alan Napier as Sir Pellinore
• Thurl Ravenscroft as Black Bart
• Barbara Jo Allen as Scullery Maid
• Ginny Tyler as Little Girl Squirrel

Production

Recycled animation

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009)

There are several scenes with animation recycled from other Disney films, as well as original animation that itself would be recycled in later productions. The deer Kay tries shooting at with his arrow was copied from Bambi's mother from Bambi. When Sir Ector and Kay are in the kitchen fighting against the enchanted dishware, Sir Ector swings his sword backwards and hits Kay on the head. Jasper and Horace in One Hundred and One Dalmatians are animated in the same way during the fight scene with Pongo and Perdita. Also, the footage where Wart is affectionately licked by the two castle dogs is reused in The Jungle Book four years later. The scene where Arthur is a squirrel jumping from one tree to the next was reused in The Fox and the Hound in 1981. When Wart goes into the forest to retrieve Kay's arrow, he pushes aside a branch and weaves in and out of a few small trees. This animation was reused in The Black Cauldron.

Music

• "The Sword in the Stone" (Sung by Fred Darian)
• "Higitus Figitus" (Sung by Merlin)
• "That's What Makes the World Go Round" (Sung mainly by Merlin)
• "A Most Befuddling Thing" (Sung by Merlin)
• "Mad Madame Mim" (Sung by Mim)
• "Blue Oak Tree"

Release

Theatricial releases

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009)

The film was originally released on December 25, 1963. It was then followed with re-issues in the United States in December 22, 1972 and March 25, 1983 with Winnie the Pooh and a Day For Eeyore.^[2][3]

Home media

The film was first released in VHS format in the UK in 1983 and in the US in March 1986, followed by another VHS release in July 1991. Both of these were in the Walt Disney Classics line, The VHS was released again on October 28, 1994 as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection. The VHS was rereleased along with the DVD release of the film March 2001 as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection. The 45th Anniversary Edition of the DVD was released in June 2008. The Deluxe Edition, which included lithographs, a book, a lenticular card, and a certificate of authenticity, was also released in June 2008.

Reception

The film was a financial success at the box office and was the sixth highest grossing film of 1963.^[4] It was better received by British critics than American critics, who thought it had too much humor and a "thin narrative."^[5] As of 2009, Rotten Tomatoes reported that 71% of critics gave positive reviews based on 21 reviews with an average score of 6/10.^[6] In his book The Best of Disney, Neil Sinyard states that, despite being not well-known, the film has excellent animation, a complex structure, and is actually more philosophical than other Disney features. Sinyard suggests that Walt Disney may have seen something of himself in Merlin, and that Mim, who "hates wholesome sunshine", may have represented critics.^[5]

Awards

The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Score—Adaptation or Treatment in 1963, but lost against Irma La Douce.^[7]

Other media

Video games

Merlin appears as a character in the Playstation 2 game Kingdom Hearts, where he helped the characters learn magic, as well as its sequel, Kingdom Hearts II.^[8][9]

See also

• List of films based on Arthurian legend

References

1. ^ "The Sword in the Stone - Box Office Mojo". http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=swordinthestone83.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-01. 
2. ^ "The Sword in the Stone (1963) - Release dates". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057546/releaseinfo. Retrieved 2009-07-01. 
3. ^ "Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (1983) - Trivia". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0170811/trivia. Retrieved 2009-07-01. 
4. ^ "Box Office Report - Revenue Database - 1963". Box Office Report. http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1963.shtml. Retrieved 2009-07-01. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Sinyard, Neil (1988). The Best of Disney. Portland House. pp. 102–105. ISBN 0-517-65346-X. 
6. ^ "The Sword in the Stone Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sword_in_the_stone/. Retrieved 2009-07-01. 
7. ^ "1963 (36th)". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1245755600507. Retrieved 2009-06-24. 
8. ^ Square. Kingdom Hearts. (Square Electronic Arts). PlayStation 2. (2002-11-15)
9. ^ Square. Kingdom Hearts II. (Square Electronic Arts). PlayStation 2. (2005-12-22)

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Sword in the Stone (film)

• Official website for 45th Anniversary Edition DVD
• The Sword in the Stone at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• The Sword in the Stone at Allmovie
• The Sword in the Stone at the Internet Movie Database
• The Sword in the Stone at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Sword in the Stone at Box Office Mojo