The Sword in the Stone
Merlin the Magician teaches a young boy who is destined to be King Arthur.
- Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
- Genre:Animation / Family / Fantasy / Musical
- Runtime:80 minutes
Cast
Rickie Sorensen : Wart (voice)
Karl Swenson : Merlin (voice)
Junius Matthews : Archimedes (voice)
Sebastian Cabot : Sir Ector (voice)
Norman Alden : Sir Kay (voice)
Official Site:-
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, one of Uther’s knights. 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, albeit in a decrepit old tower with countless leaks. Ector’s friend and fellow knight, Sir Pellinore, arrives with news about the annual jousting tournament to be held on New Year’s Day in London, only this time whose winner would be crowned King of England. Ector proposes that Kay be knighted and compete for the title, despite Kay’s obvious ineptitude in both jousting and sword fighting.
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 setting him with a mountain of chores, grounding him and 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. Merlin returns the favour by transforming himself into a germ and infecting her, effectively defeating her. Read more
