The Sword in the Stone
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman
Written by Bill Peet from a novel by T.H. White
1963/USA
Walt Disney Productions
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Archimedes the Owl: Now, boy, flying is not merely some crude, mechanical process. It is a delicate art. Purely aesthetic. Poetry of motion. And the best way to learn it is to do it.[/box]
A pleasant bit of nostalgia.
The great wizard Merlin is expecting company. He just doesn’t know who. His visitor takes the shape of pre-teen Arthur, better known as The Wart, a squire-in-training. Merlin predicts a bright future for the lad and sets about educating him with the help of his owl Archemides. The future begins to take shape when Arthur accompanies his knight to a tournament and grabs a sword from a stone to take the place of a missing weapon.
I remember loving this as a kid. I think we had the soundtrack album. Now it seems to have been a lesser entry in Disney’s catalogue of animated features.
The Sword in the Stone was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment.
Clip
