Production
At the end of 1948, funds from Walt Disney Pictures stranded in foreign countries, including the United Kingdom, exceeded $ 8.5 million. Walt Disney decided to create a studio in Britain, Walt Disney British Films Ltd. or Walt Disney British Productions Ltd. in association with RKO Pictures and started production of Treasure Island (1950). With the success of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952), Disney wanted to keep the production team to make a second film; he chose The Sword and the Rose inspired by the novel When Knighthood Was in Flower (1898) by Charles Major. This team consisted of the director Ken Annakin, producer Douglas Pierce, writer Lawrence Edward Watkin, and the artistic director Carmen Dillon.
At the beginning of production, Annakin and Dillon went to Burbank, Disney Studios in order to develop the script and set the stage with storyboards, a technique used by Annakin on production of Robin Hood . During this step, each time a batch of storyboards was finished, it was presented to Walt Disney who commented and brought his personal touch. Annakin was granted great freedom with the dialogue.
Walt Disney came to oversee the production of the film in the UK from June to September 1952. The team spent several months researching period details to make the film more realistic. Working in pre-production had helped reduce the need for natural settings in favor of studio sets designed by Peter Ellenshaw. Ellenshaw painted sets for 62 different scenes in total. According to Leonard Maltin, Ellenshaw's work was such that it is sometimes impossible to tell where the painting ends and reality begins.
The film's budget exceeded that of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, but earned only $2.5 million. The film was serialized in the show The Wonderful World of Disney.
Read more about this topic: The Sword And The Rose
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