Stepping Stone Mold

Sword-and-Sorcery DVD - 1963's The Sword in the Stone is Disney's animated take on Arthurian legend. In the midst of the Dark Ages, when England has no rightful ruler, a sword imbedded in a stone mysteriously appears in a London churchyard, bearing the inscription "Whoso pulleth out the sword of this stone and anvil is rightwise king born of England." Scores of would-be kings travel to London to attempt the feat and thereby claim the throne. They all fail. Years later, in the English countryside, an 11-year-old squire nicknamed Wart (Rickie Sorensen) is devotedly helping his incompetent foster brother, Kay (Norman Alden), train to become a knight, when he meets the great magician Merlin (Karl Swenson). The well meaning, but absentminded, wizard declares himself Wart's mentor and claims that he will lead the boy to his destiny. Spirited and full of spunk, Wart (whose real name is Arthur) approaches Merlin's lessons with the same determination that he applies to Kay's hopeless training and to the monotonous cho

April 03, 2003: Ms. Davis Randers-Pehrson does for the 5th century what Dorothy Donnett does for the 16th . From artifacts to ceremonies, her descriptions click. She certainly knows how to construct a novel. Bookended by tombs, bridging a millennium: Audax? grandfather dying at the side of Emperor Julian; Audex? burial at the side of King Theodoric. Episodic, sure; better, cinematic. I?m casting it even now. Jim Caviezel, call your agent! It was tough turning...