The Sword in the Stone vs. The Once and Future King

The 1963 Disney film, the Sword in the Stone (2) was the first Disney film to give sole directorial credit to anyone involved in the film process (3). In the case of this movie that credit went to Wolfgang Reitherman. The movie was adapted from T. H. White’s Once and Future King, (1) and was understandably a very large undertaking, necessitating the use of a sole director. The change of medium used to depict this story resulted in …showed first 75 words of 1840 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1840 total…and meaning at the same time. One comes to question whether the changes made had to be done for the sake of movie’s well being, or whether they were done on the whim of those in charge. I wonder if more of the story line could have been preserved, while still being successful. It is doubtful, but possible. Change in a story line is inevitable when the means to depict that story are changed.