"…if I ever catch you in my kitchen again, I'll…!" yells the Scullery Maid to Merlin, the magician, who just left her kitchen in a complete mess. A short scene with a character, who only has a small part in the film The Sword in the Stone. But leave it up to Milt Kahl to make the most out of this moment. The maid approaches Merlin utterly upset with no fear at all she might become a suspect to the magician's powers.
I love her walk and the way she she moves her shoulders back and forth throughout the scene. She is voiced by actress Martha Wentworth, who isn't even trying to sound differently from Madame Mim who she is also responsible for.
The maid's fantastic design is another example of Milt's line of chinless wonders (The Lackey from Sleeping Beauty and Madame Medusa fall in this category as well).
The photo shows an assistant who is in-betweening the scene for Milt. Perhaps Floyd Norman is able to point out who the gentleman is.
To me 101 Dalmatians and Sword in the Stone represent a modern golden age of Disney character designs.
This indeed is a choice seen among many in that film. Its my favorite scene of the maid and the held cel handling of Merlin is bold as well. And the sound FX when he poofs away is gold.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the designs! I've always appreciated how much thought went into the small extra characters in those movies- dirty Dawson, the 'What's my Crime" cast, of course all the women who look like their dogs, Sir Pellinore..etc etc. - all unique and full of personality. They probably could have cut corners and made them a bit more generic/vaguely similar, but the extra time and thought really brings it up a level.
ReplyDeleteAlso just love the way those designs look with the Xerox process. so inspiring.
Thank you again sharing amazing pictures. What for is that rag used, which is on animator´s desk?
ReplyDelete"To me 101 Dalmatians and Sword in the Stone represent a modern golden age of Disney character designs."
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY! You can hardly find designs like that ever since.
Milt had a kind of design, that he could draw anything with, and characters didn't became clones. The style is constant, but characters, and details are so varied. He's got formulas, but he turns to every character with a new curiosity, even if it is a small, irrelevant thing. And it is fascinating.
Andreas,Another question that has nothing to do with your post.
ReplyDeleteWould you know who did a conceptual drawing (looks like marker and pencil) done for Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. Its a drawing of books on a shelf with the toy Pooh bear. I seen it in the Disney book Winnie the Pooh ,A celebration of the silly old bear. Text by Christopher Finch. Published in 2000.Also would you know what this artist worked with to create this piece. Its Beautiful!
I looked at that page in the book, but I don't know who the artist is.
DeleteThe Sword in the Stone and 101 Dalmatians have always been two of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteThese designs remind me of Sylvain Chomet's work. Especially, The Triplets of Belleville. I wonder if he was influenced by these designs.
The sixties was a long time ago but I still remember. That's assistant animator, Jerry Behar working on a Milt Kahl scene.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for that info, Floyd.
DeleteAmazing animation!
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