Nowadays, The Sword in the Stone is often considered by fans to be one of the underrated Disney classics, especially considering that it had pretty tough competition back in the 1960s in the form of 101 Dalmatians, Mary Poppins, and The Jungle Book.
What makes The Sword in the Stone stand out, however, is not its mixed critical reception but its interesting creation story which facts that not many fans or casual viewers may be aware of even to this day.
10 Arthur Was Voiced By Three Different Actors
Interestingly, the title character of Arthur was voiced by three different actors— Rickie Sorensen, Richard Reitherman, and Robert Reitherman. Obviously, the differences in their voices could be heard, but another issue was that they were all American while the story was set in England.
Sorensen, who initially voiced Arthur, hit puberty during the production which changed his voice. Consequently, director Wolfgang Reitherman cast his two brothers to complete the voiceover for the character.
9 It Features An Interesting Voice Cast
Speaking of the cast, the movie has some pretty interesting actors involved. For instance, Junius Matthews, who voiced Merlin's owl Archimedes, also acted as the original voice of Rabbit in the Winnie the Pooh franchise from 1966 to 1977.
Lord Ector was voiced by Sebastian Cabot who would go on to voice Bagheera in The Jungle Book and narrate many installments in the Winnie the Pooh franchise. Other notable cast members include Norman Alden and Martha Wentworth.
8 The Rights For The Book Were Purchased Back In 1939
Though The Sword in the Stone has its roots in Arthurian legends, it is actually adapted from a single book that is based on those legends. This book was T.H. White's 1938 The Sword in the Stone which would later on lead to a series of books.
However, due to WWII, the studio was unable to work on the project. Then, during the late 1940s and early 1950s, the movie seemed to be in development, but it wouldn't be released until 1963.
7 It Was The First Time The Sherman Brothers Worked On A Disney Animated Movie
The Sherman Brothers are a duo known for being the songwriting team that wrote more feature musical song scores than anyone else in history. And The Sword in the Stone happened to be their first time working on a Disney animated movie.
They would go on to work on such Disney classics as Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh franchise installments, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, and others.
6 It Received An Academy Award Nomination
Speaking of the movie's soundtrack, it got nominated at the Academy Awards in the category Best Score - Adaptation or Treatment which would later evolve into the current Best Original Score category.
Unfortunately, The Sword in the Stone lost to Irma la Douce which also got two other nominations at the Oscars.
5 It Reuses Some Elements From Previous Works
It's no secret that animation— especially traditional cel animation— is not the easiest medium and clearly not the cheapest one. That's why the studio would sometimes recycle or reuse pieces from previous works.
The Sword in the Stone is no exception to this. Some elements from Sleeping Beauty were recycled for it and among such elements are the opening credit backgrounds and separation animation sequences. Even character designs were inspired by characters from Sleeping Beauty: Archimedes looks like the owl from that movie while Madam Mim resembles Maleficent in dragon form.
4 It Features Excellent Character Animation
That being said, the movie still features excellent original character animation of its own. Some experts have cited the battle between Merlin and Madam Mim as being one of the best of its kind to that date.
The two characters go through physical transformations during the fight yet retain their distinct features which, allegedly, is something not many animated works could boast at the time.
3 Merlin's Design Was Based On Walt Disney
Allegedly, character designer Bill Peet based Merlin's design on none other than Walt Disney himself. This can be seen both in the similarities in their personalities (such as their intelligence) and in Merlin's nose which bears some similarity to Disney's.
Moreover, Merlin was not the first character based on Walt Disney. Fantasia's wizard Yensid was also designed after him— not to mention that Yensid is literally "Disney" spelled backwards. Additionally, The Sword in the Stone would be the final animated film released during Walt Disney's lifetime.
2 There Are Comics Featuring Madam Mim
The antagonist of the story, Madam Mim was later featured in various comics where she interacted with other notable Disney characters such as Captain Hook and Magica De Spell, among others.
Though she mostly retained her evilness, she was actually a somewhat different character in some European Disney comics where she was portrayed as less evil and rather polite.
1 There Is A Live-Action Adaptation Currently In Development
As a part of the ongoing line of Disney live-action adaptations, The Sword in the Stone has been added to the list of upcoming additions though it is still currently in the development stage.
In summer 2015, it was announced that the movie entered development. Attached were screenwriter Bryan Cogman (who wrote some Game of Thrones episodes) and producer Brigham Taylor (who co-produced 2016's The Jungle Book and Christopher Robin). Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (who directed 28 Weeks Later) was later announced as director. Additional information, including projected release date, has yet to be revealed.