Disney Era Analysis – The Sword and the Stone
As mentioned in the first blog post in this series, I’ll be writing analysis content on all 60+ Disney animated feature films and their film making eras.
The third era is the Silver Age, which ran from 1950 to 1967 and started with Cinderella. As mentioned in a previous blog post, the Silver Age is also known as the “restoration age,” as the films during this era returned to Disney’s roots of feature-length narratives and adaptations of famous narratives, having high-art animation, being approachable (cartoonish gags, music from contemporary artists, and a lighter approach to storytelling), steering clear of intense scenes, and being heartwarming with happy endings, good morals, and catchy songs.
So how well did The Sword and the Stone measure up to these famous features?
Returning to Disney’s roots of feature-length narratives and adaptation of famous narratives:
The Sword and the Stone is an adaptation of the 1938 T.H. White novel of the same name.
Having high-art animation:
According to the film’s Wikipedia page, Disney continued using xerography for this film and started using an additional technique, “touch up” to replace the clean-up process. This process saved time as it allowed animation assistants to draw directly on the animators’ sketches, as opposed to transferring the animators’ sketches onto new paper and then onto the animation cels.
According to the film’s IMDb page, the battle between Merlin and Mad Madam Mim towards the end of the film is regarded as some of Disney’s best character animation as the characters go through numerous physical transformations but still manage to maintain their identifying features.
Being approachable (cartoonish gags, music from contemporary artists, and a lighter approach to storytelling):
Cartoonish gags:
There were plenty of cartoonish gags throughout the film, which included but were not limited to: Archimedes constantly going in and out of a clock, Arthur falling through Merlin’s roof and landing perfectly at his table, the sugar bowl’s behaviour, the wolf finally reaching the hill out of breath, the female squirrels flirting with Arthur and Merlin when they were turned into squirrels, and Sir Ector and Sir Kay attacking the kitchen assembly line.
Music from contemporary artists:
The music of the film was written by the Sherman Brothers and sung by the cast (with the exception of “The Sword in the Stone” used in the opening credits).
A lighter approach to storytelling:
I believe the scenes involving Merlin turning himself and Arthur into various animals, some of the cartoonish gags, and the running gag of Merlin possessing future knowledge, provided the lighter approach to storytelling for the film.
Steering clear of intense scenes:
This film didn’t steer clear of intense scenes. I personally found the scenes of the piranha chasing Arthur (when he was a fish) in the water, the scenes of the bird chasing Arthur (when he was a bird), and the battle between Merlin and Mad Madam Mim to be intense.
Being heartwarming with happy endings, good morals, and catchy songs:
I don’t know if I’d say that the film as a whole was heartwarming, however I did find the mentor-mentee relationship between Merlin, Arthur and Archimedes heartwarming, with Arthur finally pulling the titular sword in the stone out and becoming the King of England providing the film’s happy ending.
The film did provide many good morals to its audiences through Merlin’s lessons to Arthur, such as: using brains not brawn to solve problems, looking before you leap, and just because you don’t understand something that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
In terms of catchy songs, I personally found “Higitus Figitus” and “That’s What Makes the World Go Round” to be the catchiest of the film’s soundtrack.
My overall thoughts:
Overall, I enjoyed the light-hearted nature of The Sword and the Stone, specifically the humour provided in the lessons between Merlin and Arthur, and the cartoonish and slapstick gags. However, I can see why it’s not as highly regarded as the other Silver Age films, as the narrative is thin and inconsistent, especially with the titular sword only appearing briefly at the start and end of the film, and the meta joke of the story being made into a film at the end of the film was unnecessary. What also bring the film down for me is the obvious recycled animation from past films.
However, I will admit I did enjoy this film surprisingly more than a few others in the Silver Age.
The next part of the Disney Era Analysis series will focus on The Jungle Book.
Fun Facts and Trivia:
- This was the first Disney animated feature film to be made under a single director.
References:
Loveday Writing 