Movies - The Sword in the Stone

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	Movies - The Sword in the Stone

This article is about the novel. See The Sword in the Stone
for the animated film.

The Sword in the Stone is a novel by T. H. White, published in 1938, initially a stand-alone work but now the first part of a tetralogy The Once and Future King. It was made into a film by Walt Disney Productions, and there was also a BBC radio adaptation.

Plot line

"Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise king born of England."

The novel is about a young boy named Wart who befriends a magician named Merlyn (sic). As we suspect all along, but only find out for sure at the end, Wart is actually the future King Arthur. The title refers to a sword that was magically embedded in a stone (or in an anvil) and which only the future, true-born king of England would be able to remove.

The premise is that Arthur's youth, not dealt with in Malory, was a time when he was tutored by Merlyn, in preparation for the use of power, and his royal life. Merlyn magically turns Wart into various animals at times, and he also has more normal adventures, at one point meeting the outlaw Robin Wood (sic).

The setting is loosely based on mediaeval England, and in places it incorporates White's considerable knowledge of mediaeval culture (as in relation to hunting, falconry and jousting). However it makes no attempt at consistent historical accuracy, and incorporates some obvious anachronisms (aided by the concept that Merlyn lives backwards in time rather than forwards like everyone else).

The revisions

The version appearing in 1959 in the tetralogy was substantially revised, partly to incorporate events and themes that White had originally intended to cover in a fifth volume (which was finally published after his death, as The Book of Merlyn). To this end, the revised version includes several new episodes and leaves out some of the episodes that had appeared in the original (notably Merlyn's battle with Madam Mim which appeared in the Disney film).

However, many critics considered that the revised version was actually inferior to the original. Some publishers carried on using the original version, at least when the book was published independently of the tetralogy.

The reasons why White made these revisions are open to speculation. However The Sword in the Stone is basically a rather whimsical fantasy of Merry England, and its connection with the classical Arthurian legend was actually rather limited, although what it did take from the Arthurian legend was accurate; it was awkward to treat this as the first part of a more serious treatment of the Arthurian legend. It is also possible that White felt in a darker mood after the Second World War.

White is an example, along with Jerome K. Jerome and Compton Mackenzie, of a serious writer who became best remembered for a comical work.

Film versions

Walt Disney Productions made an animated movie version of The Sword in the Stone, first released on December 25, 1963 by Buena Vista Distribution. Like most Disney films, it is based on the general plot of the original story, but much of the substance of the story is considerably changed.

Titles in different languages (movie)

Chinese: 石中剑
Danish: Sværdet I Stenen
Dutch: Merlijn de Tovenaar
Finnish: Miekka Kivessä
French: Merlin l'Enchanteur
German: Die Hexe und der Zauberer (also known as Merlin und Mim)
Italian: La Spada Nella Roccia
Norwegian: Sverdet I Stenen
Portuguese: A Espada Era a Lei
Russian: Меч в камне
Spanish: Merlín el Enchantador
Swedish: Svärdet I Stenen

Radio Version

A BBC radio adaptation in 1982 starred Michael Hordern as Merlyn. Hordern had already starred as another great literary wizard, Tolkien's Gandalf, in the BBC's 1981 radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.

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