Among the great villains that Disney has in its catalog, Madame Min, the villain of ‘The Sword in the Era,’ from 1963, is one of those that, unfortunately, ended up being forgotten by the public. The film is based on the novel ‘The Once and Future King’ by TH Whitehaving its first publication in 1958.
Although her participation in the film was brief — and even considered irrelevant to the story — she has an average appearance of approximately one hour and, after that, is forgotten by the public, as she is not seen as a threat.
According to animation historian Jim Korkiswith the script written by Bill Peet, he decides to return with the character that was already known in the comics. On one occasion, the screenwriter even remembered what walt disney said of the character, “Who is this scruffy old lady? Bill, why can’t we have a big tall lady with black hair?”, and then peet he said: “waltz, we always do that. She has to be a Merlin counterpart. He is an eccentric old man, and so must she be. They have to match.”
yet, in addition to waltzanimators like frank thomas It is Andreas Dejacommented on the character.
“Crazy Madame Mim was a contrast of wild actions and restraint with unexpected outbursts accentuating her overall timing. the storyteller Bill Peet gave us the wizard’s duel, a perfect use of animation, maintaining personalities through surprising shapeshifting and exhilarating action.” Frank.
Andreas still commented on the choice of names such as Milt Kahl It is frank thomasmade by walt disneyso that the character who was already known in the comics stood out: “walt disney designated Milt Kahl It is frank thomas for this character, knowing that if you combined your creative forces, nothing but great things would come out.”
He even spoke a little more about the characteristics of the villain, who, as already mentioned, had been questioned by waltz:
“To contrast the design, his body is kept short and plump, his arms and legs are very thin and bony. Both animators loved working on Me and agreed that there should be more of her in the film.”
Madame, who in the first editions of the comics deceives the characters Wart It is Sir Kay and lure them into their hut, with the intention of cooking them, has its memorability in the universe of disney.
From that, Frank comments on some attitudes of the villain: “Mim was seen for the first time cheating in patience, which for her was the most moral and honorable attitude we’ve ever seen her have. She could change into anything, never played fair, was a blatant liar and naturally a poor loser, which is why she had to cheat. On four separate occasions she proclaims that she has won, even though no one is competing with her”, and added speaking of her brief participation in the plot: “She was a great character, alive, vibrant and fun to animate, but the story was not built to use her in more than one cameo.”
Another curious fact is the children’s works that Pett developed after Madame Mim, where the presence of small witches, with messy hair and wearing shorts indicates that the screenwriter was probably inspired by Mim to portray them.
Source: Recreio
