The Sword in the Stone Trivia & Goofs
Trivia
Two songs written for the film but scrapped before production began were "The Blue Oak Tree" and "The Magic Key". The latter was to be Merlin's lecture to Arthur about the value of an education. It was replaced with the more amusing "Higitus Figitus".
The first Disney animated feature with songs by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman.
This is the first new animated Disney movie to use the regular version of the Buena Vista Distribution opening logo. When Buena Vista began distributing Disney movies, the new animated Disney films, their first animated release, "Sleeping Beauty", featured a custom-designed Buena Vista logo relating to the movie. "The Sword in the Stone" was only the second new Disney animated film released after Buena Vista began distributing them.
The music that plays when Mim turns into a dragon is the same music from the dragon fight in Sleeping Beauty (1959). Composer George Bruns, who adapted the music from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's score for the Sleeping Beauty ballet, would use the same piece once more in Robin Hood (1973), for the climactic battle between Robin and the Sheriff of Nottingham in the burning castle.
This was the first Disney animated feature made under a single director. Previous features were directed either by three or four directors, or by a team of sequence directors under a supervising director. The man hired for the job was veteran animator Wolfgang Reitherman (one of the fabled Nine Old Men), who would direct all of the Disney features up until the 1980's.
Character designer Bill Peet gave Merlin Walt Disney's nose.
The only animated Disney movie from the 1960s not to have a Platinum DVD, a sequel, a TV show, or a live-action remake.
Goofs
When Wart is climbs the small dead tree behind Kay on his hunting trip, he is wearing red tights. In the next shot he has bare legs, but then he has his red tights again.
When Wart finds the sword in the stone he must jump the fence to get to the sword. Once he has the sword the fence is broken and he runs back through.
When Pelinore enters the castle, he takes the glove off his left hand. When he's passing Wart, however, his right hand is the one that is bare. Immediately afterwards the bare hand switches back to his left.
When the sugar bowl flies to Merlin's bag, it is seen flying under the lid and spoon on the table.
When Merlin is packing his bag by magic to go to the castle, the flow of items stops halfway into the bag as the sugar bowl fights with the teapot. When Merlin says, "Where was I?" there are no items near the bag. The camera cuts to Wart and when it goes back to Merlin, the items are back where they were.
In the scenes where it is raining outside Merlin's room at Sir Ector's castle, whenever Merlin steps in front of the window you can see the matte used to superimpose the live-action rain silhouetted over him
The character Arthur, should have a British accent as he has grown up in England, but does not.