The Sword in the Stone is a 1963 animated feature film produced by Walt Disney and it was the last Disney animated feature released while Walt Disney was still alive.

The film is loosely based on the novel The Sword in the Stone, the first book of T.H. White’s tetralogy The Once and Future King. From Merlin’s statement that The Times won’t come out for another 1200 years, it may be extrapolated that the film is set circa A.D. 600.

The Sword in the Stone follows the future King Arthur’s life during his adolescence and education by the wizard Merlin. The film starts with the introduction of the sword in an anvil. On it, it says, “Who so Pulleth Out This Sword of this Stone and Anvil, is Rightwise King Born of All England.”

Unfortunately, nobody could pull the sword out of the stone, and the miracle had not worked. It was soon forgotten, and England was left without a King. With no law and order, this was a Dark Age in which men lived in fear of each other.

     Wart (Arthur) pulling the sword from the stone

Some years later, Merlin, a wizard, has made a prediction that someone would drop through the declared spot of the roof, onto a chair in Merlin’s cottage. He predicted that Arthur would be that person. Arthur, called “Wart” by his family, is a 12-year-old orphan who lives with Sir Hector, his foster father, and Kay, his older foster brother. One day, as Wart searches the woods for a lost arrow, he meets the wizard Merlin and his talking pet owl Archimedes. Merlin sees great potential in the boy and commits himself to Arthur’s education, which is to consist of reading, science, and magical transformations. Sir Hector, on the other hand, plans to teach Wart about fighting and chivalry to prepare him to be Kay’s squire. When the two return to the castle, Arthur is immediately set upon by the two castle dogs, which lick his face happily with their long, red tongues.

For his first transformation lesson, Merlin turns Wart into a perch. In fish form, Wart is chased and attacked by a huge pike. He works to outsmart the beast but is nearly caught. Archimedes flies down and plucks Wart from the pike’s jaws, saving him, but the owl later denies any altruism, claiming instead, “I intended to eat him! Young perch is my favorite dish! You know that!”

For his second lesson, Merlin transforms Wart to a squirrel. Though Wart begins by learning about the principle of gravity, he ends up learning about the birds and the bees and male-female relationships when he runs into a female squirrel that becomes infatuated with him. Merlin is amused until another female squirrel finds him attractive as well, and the student and teacher are forced to fend off the amorous attentions of both females. After a wolf nearly eats Wart, Merlin transforms both of them back into humans. While Merlin’s squirrel companion is merely horrified and then angry with the wizard, Wart’s companion is visibly heartbroken. He then learns that romantic love is stronger than gravity.

For his last lesson, Merlin transforms Wart into a bird. Merlin doesn’t join him; instead, Archimedes teaches Wart the principles of flight. Wart’s skill and enjoyment rapidly become apparent to Archimedes, but his daring forces him to flee from the pursuit of a hawk. During his escape, Wart is taken hostage by “The Marvelous Mad Madam Mim,” a witch in competition with Merlin. She claims that her magic, which is based on selfishness and trickery, is more useful than Merlin’s magic, which is “for educational purposes.” After Merlin locates his hostage student, Merlin and Mim engage in a wizards’ duel in which each seeks to defeat the other. As they transform into a series of creatures, it seems that Mim’s dragon form will win. However, Merlin transforms himself into a germ and infects her. She is defeated, bedridden and furious.

Later, Wart begins his service as squire to Kay. Merlin, disappointed that Wart still prefers war games to academics, transports himself to 20th-century Bermuda (unwittingly, through his exclamation of “Blow me to Bermuda!”).

Hector, Kay, and Wart travel to London for a New Year’s tournament which will decide who will be the next King of England. As Kay’s turn to fight approaches, Wart realizes that he has forgotten Kay’s sword at their inn. He tries to retrieve it, but the door is locked, and he frantically searches the town for another sword for Kay. He sees a sword protruding from an anvil on a stone in a churchyard, and pulls the sword from the stone, unwittingly fulfilling the sword’s prophecy and making himself king.

Though Sir Hector, Kay, and the other knights initially don’t believe Wart is the foreordained king, they are forced to accept him when it becomes clear after repeated tries by others that he alone can pull the sword from the stone. Arthur, feeling unprepared and apprehensive of his failure, calls to Merlin for help. After the wizard appears and the facts become apparent, Merlin is elated to find that Wart will be the King Arthur that he has seen in the future. Merlin tells Arthur that he will raise and lead an order of heroes, and reveals other anachronistic information.