Disney first acquired the film rights to the novel in 1939, and there were various attempts at developing the film over the next two decades before production on the film began.Bill Peet wrote both the story and the screenplay for the film. The songs were written by theSherman Brothers andGeorge Bruns composed thescore.
The Sword in the Stone premiered in London on December 12, 1963, and was theatrically released in theUnited States on December 25. The film received mixed reviews from critics and was a box-office success, grossing $22.2 million in the United States andCanada.
After theKing of England,Uther Pendragon, dies without an heir to his throne,a sword magically appears inside an anvil atop a stone, with an inscription proclaiming that whoever removes it will be the future king. Many have unsuccessfully attempted to remove the sword, and the sword becomes forgotten, leaving England in theDark Ages.
Years later, a 12-year-old orphan namedArthur, commonly called the Wart, accidentally scares off a deer his older foster brotherKay was hunting, causing Kay to launch his arrow into the forest. While retrieving the arrow, Arthur meetsMerlin, an elderlywizard who lives with his talking pet owl Archimedes. Merlin declares himself Arthur's tutor and returns with him to his home, a castle run bySir Ector, Arthur's foster father. Ector's friend,Sir Pelinore, arrives to announce that the winner of the upcomingNew Year's Day tournament inLondon will be crowned king. Ector decides Kay will be a contender and appoints Arthur as Kay'ssquire.
To educate Arthur, Merlin transforms them both into fish. They swim in the castle moat to learn aboutphysics, until an angry pike attacks the pair. After the lesson, Arthur is sent to the kitchen as punishment for attempting to relate what happened to Ector and Kay. Merlin enchants the dishes to wash themselves, then takes Arthur out again for another lesson.
For the next lesson, Merlin transforms them both into squirrels to learn about gravity. Arthur almost gets eaten by a wolf, but is saved by a female squirrel who falls in love with him. After they return to human form, Ector accuses Merlin of using black magic on the dishes. Arthur defends Merlin, but Ector punishes Arthur by giving Kay another squire, Hobbs.
Resolving to make amends, Merlin plans on educating Arthur full-time, but Merlin's knowledge of future history confuses Arthur, prompting Merlin to appoint Archimedes as Arthur's teacher. Merlin transforms Arthur into a sparrow and Archimedes teaches him how to fly. Soon after, Arthur encounters Madam Mim, an eccentric, evil witch who is Merlin's nemesis. Merlin arrives to rescue Arthur before Mim can destroy him, and Mim challenges Merlin to a wizards' duel. Despite Mim's cheating, Merlin outsmarts her by transforming into a germ and infecting her, illustrating the importance of knowledge over strength.
On Christmas Eve, Kay is knighted. When Hobbs comes down with themumps, Ector reinstates Arthur as Kay's squire, which spurs him to happily break the news to his teachers. Archimedes congratulates him, but Merlin, thinking Arthur is forsaking education, rebukes him for staying under Kay's thumb. When Arthur retorts that he's lucky, Merlin angrily transports himself to 20th-centuryBermuda.
At the tournament, Arthur realizes he left Kay's sword at the inn. It is closed for the tournament, but Archimedes sees the "Sword in the Stone", which Arthur removes almost effortlessly, unknowingly fulfilling the prophecy. When Arthur returns with the sword, Ector recognizes it and the tournament is halted. Ector places the sword back in its anvil, demanding Arthur prove that he pulled it. Kay suggests that anyone can pull it once it's been pulled, but they soon find out that it is as stuck as ever. Arthur pulls it once again, revealing that he is England's rightful king, earning Ector and Kay's respect and the former's apology.
Later, the newly crownedKing Arthur sits in the throne room with Archimedes, feeling unprepared for the responsibility of ruling a country. Merlin returns from Bermuda and resolves to help Arthur become the great king he has foreseen him to be and ensure his legacy.
Sebastian Cabot asSir Ector,[7] Arthur's foster father and Kay's father. Though he clearly cares for Arthur, he often treats him more like a servant than a son.
Rickie Sorensen, Richard Reitherman, and Robert Reitherman as Arthur (aka Wart), the boy who will grow up to become the legendary British leaderKing Arthur.
Junius Matthews as Archimedes, Merlin's crotchety, yet highly educated, pet owl and servant, who has the ability to speak.
Ginny Tyler as the Little Girl Squirrel[8] who immediately develops an attraction to Arthur upon encountering him as a squirrel.
Martha Wentworth as Madam Mim, ablack magic-proficient witch and Merlin's nemesis. Mim's magic uses trickery, as opposed to Merlin's scientific skill.
Wentworth also voiced the Granny Squirrel, an elderly squirrel who is attracted to Merlin while Merlin is a squirrel.
Norman Alden asSir Kay,[9] Arthur's morose and inept older foster brother and Ector's son. Unlike his father, he has much less regard for Arthur and thinks little good of him.
Thurl Ravenscroft voiced Sir Bart, one of the knights seen at the jousting tournament.Jimmy MacDonald voiced the Wolf who has several encounters with Arthur and attempts to eat him, but is constantly met with misfortune. Martha Wentworth andBarbara Jo Allen voiced the Scullery Maid who works in Ector's castle and believes Merlin to be an evil sorcerer.Tudor Owen voiced one of the knights or nobles in the crowd during the tournament.
In early 1939,Walt Disney purchased the film rights toT. H. White'sThe Sword in the Stone, which he revealed in February.[11] Following the outbreak ofWorld War II, the studio focused instead on producing cartoons for theUnited States government andarmed forces such asDer Fuehrer's Face (1943). In June 1944, following the successful re-release ofSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Disney assigned writers to work onThe Sword in the Stone, along withCinderella (1950) andAlice in Wonderland (1951).[12] It continued to be announced that the project was in active development throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s.[13][14] In June 1960, Disney told theLos Angeles Times that, following the release ofOne Hundred and One Dalmatians, two animated projects were in development, which wereChanticleer andThe Sword in the Stone.[15] Around that same time, Disney's elder brotherRoy O. Disney attempted to persuade him to discontinue their feature animation division, as enough films remained to make successful re-releases. The younger Disney refused, but because of his plans to build another theme park in the United States, he would approve only one animated film to be released every four years.[16]
Chanticleer was developed byKen Anderson andMarc Davis, who aimed to produce a feature animated film in a more contemporary setting. They visited the Disney archives and decided to work on adapting the satirical tale after glancing at earlier conceptions dating back to the 1940s.[17] Anderson, Davis,Milt Kahl, and directorWolfgang Reitherman spent months preparing elaborate storyboards forChanticleer. Following a silent response to onepitch presentation, a voice from the back of the room said, "You can't make a personality out of a chicken!"[18] When the time came to approve eitherChanticleer orThe Sword in the Stone, Disney remarked that the problem with making a rooster a protagonist was, "[you] don't feel like picking a rooster up and petting it."[19]
Meanwhile,The Sword in the Stone was developed solely by veteran story artist Bill Peet. After Disney had seen the 1960 Broadway production ofCamelot, he approved the project to enter production.[20]Ollie Johnston stated that "[Kahl] got furious with Bill for not pushingChanticleer after all the work he had put in on it. He said, 'I can draw a damn fine rooster, you know'. Bill said, 'So can I.'"[21] Peet recalled about "how humiliated they were to accept defeat and give in toThe Sword in the Stone... He allowed them to have their own way, and they let him down. They never understood that I wasn't trying to compete with them, just trying to do what I wanted to work. I was [in] the midst of all this competition, and with Walt to please too."[22]
Writing in his autobiography, Peet said he decided to write a screenplay before producing storyboards, though he found the narrative "complicated, with the Arthurian legend woven into a mixture of other legends and myths" and that finding a direct storyline required "sifting and sorting".[1] After Disney received the first screenplay draft, he told Peet that it should have more substance. Peet lengthened his second draft by elaborating on the more dramatic aspects of the story, which Disney approved of through a phone call fromPalm Springs, Florida.[1]
Rickie Sorensen, who was cast as Arthur, enteredpuberty during the film's production. This forced director Wolfgang Reitherman to cast two of his sons, Richard and Robert, to replace him.[23][24] This resulted in Arthur's voice noticeably changing between scenes, and sometimes within the same scene. The three voices also portray Arthur with an American accent, sharply contrasting with the English setting and the accents spoken by most of the other characters.[25]Mari Ness of the online magazineTor.com suggested, "given that the film is about growing up, this problem might have been overcome" with the three voices being interpreted as symbolizing Arthur's mental and physical development. However, she noted "[Reitherman] inexplicably chose to leave all three voices in for some scenes, drawing attention to the problem that they were not the same actor."[25]
Furthermore, Reitherman estimated that 70 actors read for the part of Merlin, but none of them had eccentricity that he was looking for.Karl Swenson initially read for Archimedes, but he was instead cast as Merlin.[23]
The film continued theXerox method of photocopying drawings ontoanimation cels that had been used inOne Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). An additional animation technique, "touch-up", was created during production to replace theclean-up process. The clean-up process had required assistant animators to transfer the directing animators' sketches onto new sheets of paper, which were then copied onto the animation cels. To do a touch-up, the assistants would instead draw directly on the animators' sketches. This streamlined the process, but it also caused assistants of directing animator Milt Kahl to fear they would ruin his linework.[26]
AnimatorsFrank Thomas andOllie Johnston were proud of their work on the final film and stated on their website that "Some of our best animation is scattered throughout this lively film. "[27]
The Sword in the Stone premiered in London on December 12, 1963. It was released to theaters on December 18 in the United Kingdom and on December 25 in the United States. It was re-released on December 22, 1972. The film was again re-released to theaters on March 25, 1983, as adouble bill with the animated shortWinnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore.
The Sword in the Stone was released on North AmericanVHS,Betamax, andLaserdisc in 1986 as an installment of theWalt Disney Classics collection.[28] It was re-released on VHS in 1989[29] and on VHS and Laserdisc on July 12, 1991.[30] It was first released on VHS in the United Kingdom in 1988, followed by a re-issue the following year. Another re-release on VHS and Laserdisc occurred on October 28, 1994, this time as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection.
The film was released on VHS andDVD on March 20, 2001, as an installment in the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection. The VHS edition included theGoofy shortA Knight for a Day while the DVD contained theMickey Mouse shortBrave Little Tailor, the episode "All About Magic" from theDisneyland television program, and film facts.[31] The DVD of the film was re-released as a 45th-anniversary special edition on June 17, 2008.[32]
For its 50th anniversary, the film was released onBlu-ray on August 6, 2013.[33] Despite being touted as a new remaster of the film, this release was heavily criticized by home media reviewers for the "scrubbed" quality of its digital transfer due to the excessive use ofnoise reduction.[34][35][36][37]
During its initial release,The Sword in the Stone earned an estimated $4.75 million inbox office rentals in the United States and Canada.[38] It garnered $2.5 million in box office rentals during its 1972 re-release[39] and $12 million during its 1983 re-release.[40] The film has had a lifetime domestic gross of $22.2 million in North America.[3]
The Sword in the Stone received mixed reviews from critics, who thought that its humor failed to balance out a "thin narrative".[41] Gene Arneel ofVariety wrote that the film "demonstrates anew the magic of the Disney animators and imagination in character creation... But one might wish for a script which stayed more with the basic story line rather than taking so many twists and turns which have little bearing on the tale about King Arthur as a lad."[42]Bosley Crowther ofThe New York Times praised the film, claiming it is "an eye-filling package of rollicking fun and thoughtful common sense. The humor sparkles with real, knowing sophistication — meaning for all ages — and some of the characters on the fifth-century landscape of Old England are Disney pips."[43] Philip K. Scheuer, reviewing for theLos Angeles Times, described the film as "more intimate than usual with a somewhat smaller cast of characters—animal as well as human. Otherwise, the youngsters should find it par the usual Disney cartoon course. It may not be exactly what T. H. White had in mind when he wrote this third of his sophisticated trilogy about King Arthur, but it's a good [bit] livelier than the stageCamelot derived from another third."[44] William Thomas ofEmpire Magazine gave the film 3 stars out of 5, and said "It feels older than contemporary Disney work due to flat, creaky animation. The story still has resonance for kids, though."[45]
On the review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 68% based on 31 reviews, with an average score of 6/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "A decent take on the legend of King Arthur,The Sword in the Stone suffers from relatively indifferent animation, but its characters are still memorable and appealing."[46]Nell Minow ofCommon Sense Media gave the film four out of five stars, writing that "delightful" classic brings Arthur legend to life.[47] In his bookThe Best of Disney, Neil Sinyard states that, despite not being 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.[41]
Several characters from the film made frequent appearances in theHouse of Mouse television series. Merlin was voiced byHamilton Camp, and appears in the episode "Rent Day". The Wart also made a few appearances in the series, usually seen in crowd shots with Merlin. He also appears with Merlin in the audience in the episode "Mickey vs. Shelby" after the cartoon ends. Sir Kay was seen in the episode "Ask Von Drake", when he tries to pull the sword from the stone with Arthur, Merlin, and Madam Mim. Madam Mim appears as a villain in the spin-off filmMickey's House of Villains. In the past, Merlin frequented the Disney Parks, the only character from the film appearing occasionally for meet-and-greets atDisneyland Resort andWalt Disney World Resort. He appeared in the opening unit ofWalt Disney's Parade of Dreams atDisneyland Park. He also hosts theSword in the Stone ceremony in theKing Arthur Carrousel attraction inFantasyland atDisneyland. In 2014 and 2015, UK health directiveChange4Life incorporated "Higitus Figitus" as the soundtrack for adverts promoting their Disney-sponsored "10 minute shake up" summer program.
Mim appeared in numerous comics produced in the United States by Studio Program in the 1960s and 1970s,[54] often as a sidekick of Magica. Most of the stories were published in Europe and South America. Among the artists are Jim Fletcher,Tony Strobl, Wolfgang Schäfer, and Katja Schäfer. Several new characters were introduced in these stories, including Samson Hex, an apprentice of Mim and Magica.[55]
Merlin (Italian:Mago Merlino), Archimedes (Italian:Anacleto) and Mim (Italian:Maga Magò)'s debut in the prolific Italian Disney comics scene was in a greatly remembered story: "Mago Merlino presenta: Paperino e la 850" (lit.'The Wizard Merlin presents: Donald Duck and the 850'), published in nine parts inTopolino "libretto" #455-#464 (16 August-18 October 1964). In the story,Scrooge McDuck chargedDonald Duck andHuey, Dewey and Louie with delivering a special gas to power theOlympic torch at the1964 Summer Olympics inTokyo, passing through the World's most disparate climates to test its properties. However, Donald's car, the 313, breaks down, but Merlin materializes and magically creates aFiat 850 (Fiat was sponsoring the story). Mim, however, wants to obtain the gas, and has the Beagle Boys chase after them. The 850 (initially put in contrast with the villains' generic,Edsel-like car), thanks to Merlin's magic, displays remarkable characteristics that help the ducks successfully finish their mission.
Madam Mim made a surprise appearance in the video gameWorld of Illusion as the fourth boss of the game.
Merlin is a supporting character in theKingdom Hearts series.[56] InKingdom Hearts, Merlin, who lives in an abandoned shack in Traverse Town withCinderella'sFairy Godmother, is sent byKing Mickey to train Sora, Donald, and Goofy in the art of magic. He owns an old book that features the world of The Hundred Acre Wood, home of Winnie the Pooh. The book's pages, however, have been torn out and scattered across the universe, so Merlin asks Sora to retrieve them for him.
InKingdom Hearts II, Merlin, now voiced byJeff Bennett,[57] has moved to Hollow Bastion to aid Leon's group as part of the town's restoration committee, though he is at odds with Cid, who prefers his own computer expertise over Merlin's magic. Merlin again instructs Sora, Donald, and Goofy in the art of magic, and again requests that they retrieve the stolen parts of the Pooh storybook. At one point in the game, he is summoned to Disney Castle byQueen Minnie to counter the threat ofMaleficent, and he constructs a door leading to Disney Castle's past (Timeless River) for the trio to explore and stop Maleficent and Pete's plans.
In the prequel,Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Merlin encounters Terra, Aqua, and Ventus and grants them each access to the Hundred Acre Wood. The prequel also reveals that it was Terra who gave him the book in the first place after finding it in Radiant Garden. According to series creatorTetsuya Nomura, a world based onThe Sword in the Stone was initially to appear inKingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, but the idea was scrapped. Merlin returns inKingdom Hearts III, where he asks Sora to restore Pooh's storybook once more (though this does not involve finding any missing pages), but has no involvement in the story beyond that, and instead spends his time at Remy's bistro in Twilight Town having tea.
Merlin appears in theworld builder video gameDisney Magic Kingdoms as the guide for the player during the game progress, and as the owner of Merlin's Shop, where the players can buy and sell in-game items, as well as other options that Merlin can perform.[58] In a November 2023 update to that game, Merlin became a fully playable character, while Arthur was also added to the game; both were done in celebration of the film's 60th anniversary.[59] Merlin also appears as one of the villagers inDisney Dreamlight Valley, filling a similar role as a guide who teaches the player new mechanics during the early portions of the game.
^Solomon, Charles (1995).The Disney That Never Was: The Stories and Art of Five Decades of Unproduced Animation.Hyperion Books. p. 87.ISBN978-0-786-86037-1.
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