Analysis
Leonard Maltin surmised that The Sword and the Rose is historically equivalent to Pinocchio (1940) although it remains primarily a dramatic entertainment featuring costumed actors. However, it was greeted coolly in the UK mainly because of its historical approximations despite reviews from The Times that said that Mary had "remarkably alive moments" and James Robertson Justice's King Henry had "a royal air". On the other side of the Atlantic in the United States the New York Times reviewed the film as "a time consuming tangle of mild satisfaction". Despite these criticisms, the team responsible for the film was reassembled for another film Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue.
Peter Ellenshaw's work on set allowed him to get a "lifetime contract" with the Disney studio. He moved to the United States after the shooting of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954).
Douglas Brode draws a parallel between The Sword and the Rose and Lady and the Tramp (then in production) in which two female characters of noble lineage are enamored of a poor male character, a relationship similar to that of Zorro and Senorita Elena Torres Zorro.
Steven Watts sees The Sword and the Rose and Rob Roy as showing the Disney studio's concern for individual liberty fighting against powerful social structures and governments. He is joined in this opinion by Douglas Brode. Brode sees the film and the ball scene, not as a conservative, but as an incentive to "dance crazes" (as the twist) for the American youth of the 1950s and 1960s. The ballroom dancing bears more resemblance to a dance competition in the 1950s than to a minuet of pre-Elizabethan England. Brode sees a form of rebel involvement. The proximity of the dancers, and rhythms not resemble the flip is introduced to the court by Mary Tudor near the rebellious teenager. Moreover, Henry VIII took advantage of the proximity afforded by this dance to flirt with a young lady of his court. Brode cites the reply of Mary to the older Catherine of Aragon who is shocked by this dance: "Shall I not have what music and dances I like at my own ball?". Brode said that two years later rock and roll would similarly upset the American nation.
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