50 Fun Facts About The Sword in the Stone
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Take the 50-question quizIn which year was Disney's The Sword in the Stone released?
It was the last animated feature released in Walt Disney's lifetime; he died in December 1966.
The Sword in the Stone is based on a 1938 novel by which author?
White's book later became the first part of his Arthurian tetralogy The Once and Future King.
Who directed The Sword in the Stone?
It made Reitherman the first person to be sole director of a Disney animated feature.
What nickname is young Arthur known by in The Sword in the Stone?
The 12-year-old orphan is serving as a squire in Sir Ector's castle when he meets Merlin.
What is the name of Merlin's talking owl?
The crotchety owl ends up teaching Wart to fly when Merlin turns the boy into a sparrow.
Who is Wart's foster father in The Sword in the Stone?
Sebastian Cabot voiced Ector and also narrated the film.
What is the name of Wart's older foster brother?
Kay is knighted on Christmas Eve, and Wart is reinstated as his squire when Hobbs gets the mumps.
Into which creature does Merlin first transform Wart for a lesson?
They swim the castle moat to learn about physics until an angry pike attacks them.
What lesson are the squirrel transformations meant to teach Wart?
The outing also lands Merlin a persistent elderly admirer, the Granny Squirrel.
Which bird does Merlin turn Wart into for his flying lesson?
The flying lesson ends with Wart landing in the cottage of Madam Mim.
Who is Merlin's nemesis in The Sword in the Stone?
Mim's magic relies on trickery, while Merlin's is framed as scientific skill.
How does Merlin finally defeat Madam Mim in their wizards' duel?
The duel illustrates the film's recurring theme of knowledge over brute strength.
Where does Merlin angrily transport himself after arguing with Wart?
He comes back at the end, in sunglasses and Bermuda shorts, ready to help the new king.
Why does Wart run back toward the inn during the tournament?
The inn is locked for the tournament, so Archimedes points him to the sword in the churchyard anvil.
What is the sword embedded in, atop the stone?
An inscription declares that whoever removes it will be the future king of England.
Which king's death leaves England without an heir at the start of the film?
The sword appears after his death and is soon forgotten, leaving England in the Dark Ages.
On what day is the tournament to decide the new king held?
Sir Pelinore brings news of the tournament to Ector's castle.
Which actor voiced Merlin in The Sword in the Stone?
Swenson originally read for Archimedes; he was later known as Lars Hanson on Little House on the Prairie.
Who voiced Sir Ector and narrated The Sword in the Stone?
Cabot went on to voice Bagheera in The Jungle Book and the narrator of the Winnie the Pooh films.
Who voiced Madam Mim?
Wentworth also voiced the Granny Squirrel who falls for Merlin.
Why was Arthur voiced by three different actors in the film?
Rickie Sorensen's voice broke mid-production, so director Reitherman drafted in his sons Richard and Robert.
Which two replacement voices of Arthur were related to the director?
Reitherman left all three voices in some scenes, so Arthur's voice shifts noticeably.
Roughly how many actors did Reitherman say auditioned for Merlin?
None had the eccentricity he wanted until Karl Swenson, who had read for Archimedes, was tried in the part.
Who wrote both the story and screenplay for The Sword in the Stone?
Peet developed it alone while Anderson and Davis pushed the rival project Chanticleer; he later quit Disney over The Jungle Book.
Which rival project lost out to The Sword in the Stone for Walt Disney's approval?
Walt's verdict on a rooster hero: you don't feel like picking a rooster up and petting it.
Seeing which 1960 Broadway musical prompted Walt Disney to greenlight the film?
Lerner and Loewe's Camelot was drawn from a different part of T. H. White's Arthurian cycle.
In which year did Walt Disney first buy the film rights to The Sword in the Stone?
World War II pushed it aside, and the project was announced as in development for two decades.
Who wrote the songs for The Sword in the Stone?
It was the first Disney animated feature to use their songs; Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book followed.
Who composed the score for The Sword in the Stone?
Bruns had scored Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians, and went on to The Jungle Book, The Aristocats and Robin Hood.
The Sword in the Stone's only Oscar nomination was in which category?
It lost to Irma la Douce.
Which animation technique carried over from 101 Dalmatians to The Sword in the Stone?
A new touch-up step let assistants draw directly on the animators' sketches, to Milt Kahl's assistants' dread.
In which city did The Sword in the Stone hold its premiere on December 12, 1963?
It reached US theaters on Christmas Day that year.
What is The Sword in the Stone's lifetime domestic box-office gross?
Its 1983 re-release alone brought in $12 million in rentals, more than the original run.
The 1983 re-release paired the film with which short?
The 2001 DVD instead bundled the Mickey short Brave Little Tailor.
What was the main criticism of the film's 50th-anniversary Blu-ray?
Reviewers said the 2013 transfer looked scrubbed despite being touted as a new remaster.
Who voiced Merlin in the TV series House of Mouse?
Jeff Bennett voiced him in Kingdom Hearts II.
Merlin hosts the Sword in the Stone ceremony at which Disneyland attraction?
He was long the only character from the film to appear for meet-and-greets at the parks.
Which song from the film did UK health campaign Change4Life use in its adverts?
The 2014 and 2015 spots promoted a Disney-sponsored 10 minute shake up summer program.
In Italian Disney comics, Madam Mim is known by what name?
Merlin is Mago Merlino and Archimedes becomes Anacleto.
In which video game series does Merlin train Sora, Donald and Goofy in magic?
He lives in a shack in Traverse Town and owns the storybook of the Hundred Acre Wood.
Madam Mim appears as the fourth boss of which Sega Genesis game?
She was a surprise inclusion in the Mickey and Donald adventure.
Who was announced in 2018 as director of the live-action Sword in the Stone remake?
The Disney+ project was placed on indefinite hold, Fresnadillo said in 2024.
T. H. White's novel later became the first part of which tetralogy?
The 1958 revision dropped the Madam Mim duel that Disney's film kept.
The 1958 revised novel removed which episode that Disney's film kept?
The revision added the ant and goose episodes instead.
Which retrospective honour did White's book receive in 2014?
Time also placed it on its list of the 100 best young-adult books of all time.
Which actor played Merlyn in the BBC's 1982 radio adaptation of the novel?
Hordern had voiced Gandalf in the BBC's Lord of the Rings a year earlier.
The Sword in the Stone's director belonged to which famous group of Disney animators?
Before Sword he animated Monstro in Pinocchio and the dinosaur fight in Fantasia.
The Sword in the Stone's writer resigned from Disney in 1964 after a row over which film?
He went on to write and illustrate children's books such as The Wump World and The Whingdingdilly.
The voice of Sir Ector went on to play which Disney jungle character?
He is also remembered as Giles French in the sitcom Family Affair.
Where was T. H. White born?
He died in 1964 aboard ship in Piraeus, Greece, weeks after the Disney film opened.
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