Disney History - The Black Cauldron (Down to Disness)

Thanks for watching Down to Disness - a Disney history series where I'll be examining Disney animated feature films and exploring their impact on pop culture. Hope you enjoyed it. Be sure to let me know what movie or era you'd like to see me do next!
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Thanks for watching!!

[@islaythejabberwokky]

The Black Cauldron and I have an interesting relationship... when I was around preschool/kindergarten age, I regularly went to a daycare. I was one of the three "older kids", so we got to watch movies instead of nap time (aw ye)! And since we were the tough big kids, we always went for the scariest movie they had, which was Black Cauldron. I remember so very little of the movie itself, but I do very clearly remember it being labeled as my favorite just because "HA I'm the big kid, they let me watch the scary movie, I'm cool because the scary movie is my fave"

[@deadaccount1616]

It sounds like this movie was an animated Game Of Thrones in the uncut version, lol! XD

[@hpboy13]

I loved Black Cauldron as a kid! It was scary, but really cool. I also loved the book series, which I promptly got and read after seeing the movie. Both are really underappreciated IMO

[@Sophie-nz9fz]

I have always loved this film and I never understood the hate people have for it. I used to watch it all the time when I was a kid.

[@treelamp95]

please do mary poppins, i know its not fully animated but there is some in there that is super fun :D

[@TheGiulianomarcelino]

I just remembered this movie existed and, wow, I LOVED this movie when I was a kid! Makes me want to rewatch it tbh...

[@Beccascreations]

The princess and the frog plz next :)

[@johngoin707]

I can truly understand the complaints people like you are giving about this movie as well as it's dark and graphic tone. But to argue that they were intentionally trying to alienate children and family audiences is being a little unfair. You can even watch this movie today and you can clearly see that the people who were working on this movie at the time were intending to make a movie that would appeal more to young adults and I just don't think the other people at Disney, including then-appointed chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, understood that. Doing what they did to this movie would be like taking a R-rated horror film today and fixing that up to make it more family-friendly. That's just NOT how it works. You know, we can pretty much argue about this all we want until the very end of time if we like but I'm only giving you my opinion based on what I've read and heard about the controversy surrounding this movie.

[@anthonymarkham7459]

Thank you for highlighting this underrated film. I didn’t know Disney had reacquired the rights to this property. I think this book series would be a great serial for the upcoming Disney streaming service (envisioning a teenage led fantasy series) I’d love to see a holiday themed DtoD next month! It’s not animated but The Muppet Christmas Carol turns 25 this year...?

[@mysterion3182]

The Black Cauldron... a movie where you can escape into: A world of darkness A world of excitement A world... of dreams

[@saracarter683]

The book series is really, really great. We are reading it with my son who is in the 3rd grade. It’s pretty intense. Too bad this movie didn’t turn out better!

[@JudiWhitacre]

The Black Cauldron wasn't really a conglomoration of the Prydain Chronicles. It is pretty much just a renaming of The Book of Three which was the first of the books in the series.

[@karahjoyxo]

You should do a series about all of the Nine Old Man! Like who they were, what contributions they made to the company, their relationship with Walt. I love all things Disney history, and a summary of things that I think you would be perfect for!

[@sarahbeeee]

I didn't really watch Black Cauldron a ton growing up, but I do remember liking it when I would watch it :) It's not one of my favorites, but I do appreciate it and think it's a good film!

[@carrie_griffin]

I really enjoyed this movie so much when I was a kid. I haven't seen it since though.

[@DisneyFan16672]

Fun fact: The only other Disney Park to feature "The Black Cauldron" was the Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour at Tokyo Disneyland. In the walkthrough attraction, guests took a tour into the basement of Cinderella Castle hosted by the Magic Mirror from "Snow White" which featured a great variety of Disney villains including the Wicked Queen's dungeon, Chernabog from the Night on Bald Mountain segment of "Fantasia", the Maleficent dragon from "Sleeping Beauty", and a grand finale in which a child from the audience was chosen to face off against the Horned King and the Cauldron Born using the Enchanted Sword from the film. The tour concluded with the child receiving a medal honoring them as the "Hero of the Realm". Sadly this attraction no longer exists, and I wish it would find its way to Walt Disney World's Cinderella Castle which even though it has a restaurant, a lovely mosaic, and a hidden apartment for special guests from "The Year of A Million Dreams", I believe it more than deserves its own attraction. :)

[@alskndlaskndal]

The 70s to early 80s were a big time for fantasy and horror. The popularity of LOTR and many other novel series, Dungeons and Dragons, classic horror movies, and even heavy metal bands with fantasy/horror themes. Disney was definitely trying to keep up with current trends! Too bad they couldn't make it work with Black Cauldron.

[@c.w.r.794]

For your next Disness I recommend: Winnie the Pooh (1977)

[@mmarston332]

"The Hunchback Of Notre Dame" should've been rated PG too, or so I'm guessing.

[@beatricehelenabenbowthehig9809]

LILO and stitch is rated pg, I think

[@andrewshearsby8125]

Forgotten classic. This inspired me too get the books

[@buzz4205]

The great mouse detective and the black cauldron were 2 movies that scarred me.

[@SamanthaRoot528]

I love the black cauldron and am shocked that most people don't even know it exists

[@Mariselamaria]

Oh man I so hope they are going to do a live action black caldron!!!!!

[@shahad11111]

That will be so scary I don’t think that parents will let their kids watch it 😂💔

[@beatricehelenabenbowthehig9809]

That will have too much violence it won’t be happening

[@ZombieRamone]

Love this-- what a great job you did-- tons of stuff I had no idea about. BC is my all time favorite Disney film.

[@JonasAlmostFamous]

This movie scared me so bad when I was little

[@ImEmmaRossTv]

As someone who lives off of the books by Lloyd Alexander, I sincerely hope that Disney will do an accurate representation of the books to film. The books how so much wisdom and character growth throughout the 5 books (especially with Taran in Taran Wanderer) that the novels coming to life would just be absolute magic. Also Eilonwy is just an amazing female protagonist from the 60s that needs more love and recognition.

[@mpk1731]

YES. I saw the Black Cauldron when I was little and remembered liking though I didn't remember much. Then I read the books when I was older and decided to watch the movie again and Eilonwy just gets the shaft. She's so funny and weird in the books and in the movie she's just not.

[@Haleyangelo]

Do you recommend the books?

[@mpk1731]

Definitely! I love them and want to reread them and some point!

[@anonimoalfin]

Oh man, this video does bring back wonderful memories: I've loved this film since I was a child, and still love it today! Such a GREAT PITY about deleted scenes ( 4:30 ). I wish they would have included everything, EVERYTHING! It's such a god movie still, and for those of us who already loved The Lord of The Rings, Dungeons&Dragons, high-Fantasy and RPG videogames (such a wonderful time this was, also for video-game development), The Black Claudron was a cult classic. It's absolutely gory, thrilling and marvelous! I also adored the characters, the general tone was unique and terrifying, yet inspiring and exciting! Super interesting about Miyamoto and Zelda, it does make perfect sense! But this was such a creative, wonderful time for the videogame and movies industry with everything Sword&Sorcery related. Golden days! I didn't know that there might be plans to renew the story! I TRULY HOPE SO!! Bravo, Disney! But I do hope if they do this, this time they do it right, with a more accurate representation of the books, and ESPECIALLY without the utterly stupid, prude, prig, puritan, goody-goody editing, taking away the so-called 'scary' scenes which were AWESOME and so necessary to the story-line!

[@ObiWanBillKenobi]

Amen to that!

[@willekec4437]

I love that you picked this movie! I really like the movie, but you almost never hear about it. Thanks, Sarah!

[@skylersandoval5504]

Great video! I love your makeup! You always do terrific makeup. ❤❤

[@sawyermade5469]

The Great Mouse Detective is one of the most underrated Disney Animation movies besides this one. Also, Miyamoto is a well known Disney fan so it isnt a far stretch.

[@jessicageranio1490]

You should do a down to disness on rides! I just read a cool history of the (RIP) tower of terror and it was so interesting, I'd love to see more history like that on attractions.

[@Pyrolonn]

I want to like it, it has everything I like: Disney, gritty fantasy, decent animation. It just didn't draw me in.

[@samgallagher1238]

Can you PLEASE do Princess and the Frog? It's my favorite!

[@genhp]

This was one of my all-time favorite movies as a child, and looking back I'm not sure what that says about me xD

[@karinasesin9786]

Even if it’s a bit scary, I just love this movie!

[@breaht9321]

princess and the frog!!!! i wish these were more than once a month because ive been asking for this for years now omg 😂 jk not years but you know

[@coreynmarie]

Breah Trigg I mean first African American princess! Come on!! It's made history in the Disney company

[@breaht9321]

Coreyn Marie YES YES YES!

[@bitchass7198]

Coreyn Marie Was she really the first? My girl Tiana is over here setting the standards straight

[@JowlOfFruit]

Since next month is November and Thanksgiving is about family, can you do Meet the Robinsons????

[@rosannatufts855]

I've never actually seen this, but I read the books and loved them. Eilonwy looks like a younger version of Aurora. A forgotten Disney Princess! Possibly long overdue to be recognized as official? Given Disney's "identity crisis" at the time, it's no surprise they had trouble with themes like this, which puts Black Cauldron in a league with The Black Hole and the original Tron. If they were to revamp it now, they'd have a much better chance to get it right.

[@KeriJo12]

The Sword in the Stone! I love the music, it's so catchy and funny, but the story always felt a bit incomplete to me. It just....ends.

[@sandrixhozart7838]

Yes I too want that as well

[@DaveLH]

Because it's basically only the first "Act" of T.H. White's much longer book, "The Once and Future King", on which the musical "Camelot" was based. Actually, I never thought about it before, but maybe it would work (for grownups, anyway) to watch Disney's "Sword" and the movie of "Camelot" back to back...

[@SunriseFireberry]

Do u feel that Eilonwy shd be considered 1 of the Dis princesses? X amount of times she gets left out of the pantheon.

[@SarahSterling]

Not really. There are many other non-Princesses I'd rather see included in the line up first and I also fully recognize that the lineup is about marketing and literally no one has seen Black Cauldron haha.

[@SunriseFireberry]

Who would u want to see included? There are some who have seen BC. Not many though.

[@beatricehelenabenbowthehig9809]

It’s Almost Christmas 2020 thank goodness!

[@leoangeloart]

Pretty cool, I hope I can find an unedited movie somewhere.

[@wyndimay]

Hahaha I wish Gurgi's Munchies and Crunchies still existed! I love that little furball

[@VanessaLynn1990]

Fox and the Hound PLEASE. It's my very favorite Disney movie and November is my birthday month 💁🏻

[@JordanS-ww4eu]

Yes please Vanessa you’re my new BFF for this comment

[@andrealewis2501]

Oooh Tangled please! 😊😊😊

[@phdprincess]

Black Cauldron terrified me as a child. I vote for Lion King and Lion King 2!

[@bethmorgan7024]

Thank you so much for discussing The Black Cauldron - having grown up in the 80's, it is a favorite of mine.

[@glambert169507]

Funny enough I actually watched Black Cauldron more growing up than I watched Beauty and the Beast I just enjoyed it a lot as a kid, would love to see Sword in the Stone or Brother Bear next :)

[@ethanrosta9628]

THANK YOU! You are my new favorite person lol

[@londoncoco2617]

Please do the Princess and the Frog!

[@123ashleycool]

Ahhh! I've been waiting for this ever since you started this series! So jazzed 😎

[@MsDreavus]

I'm sooo excited you finally did Black Cauldron!!! ❤❤❤❤❤

[@crystalfairy912]

I wish there could be an uncut rerelease of this! Doubt it will ever happen, but one can dream. For the next Down to Disness, how about a package film from the 1940s? I recommend The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad :)

[@UpsideDownBooks]

I honestly love your Down to Disness videos so much!! Every one of them has been fantastic!

[@Siamese25]

How can you make a video on The Black Cauldron and not mention Gurgi!? For shame. Shame. Maybe I was weird but I saw the Black Cauldron several times when I was a kid/teen and even read the Lloyd Alexander books when I was a teenager. I was born in the late 80s. I can't believe you had never seen it. This movie was one of my favorites as a kid.

[@SarahSterling]

I mentioned Gurgi's Munchies and Crunchies, dude!

[@Siamese25]

Whoops... I missed that. My bad. In any case I'm glad you finally saw it. I loved it as a kid/teen.

[@neverlandtribe235]

Oh man, I've loved this film since I was a little kid! It's absolutely gory and marvelous! I adored the characters and the general tone was so unique and terrifying! I didn't know that there might be plans to renew the story! Bravo, Disney! x

[@beyondtheradio]

Your eyebrows are so expressive!

[@leonlee6832]

My favorite Disney movies are 1. The Little Mermaid 2. The Black Cauldron 3. The Rescuers 4. Snow White 5. Hunchback of the Notre Dam

[@cheneethompson5756]

Great list! Mine are 1. Beauty and the Beast 2. Aladdin 3. The little mermaid 4. The lion king 5. Meet the Robinsons

[@whattodowithnathan7576]

Yasss, the Black Cauldron a childhood 'classic' more like a nightmare. The Horned King literally scared me into my preteens and I still get chills when he appears on screen, and why does he walk so slowly like I know he is dead but MAGIC is a thing. I loved this Down to disness and just recently I watched the drunk Disney black cauldron episode so funny. I am princess Alonwi haha

[@grangerdisney4290]

The under appreciated gem of Disney Animation. I love this movie and wish more people would watch it

[@Metroid4ever]

Yeah, I'm sure as a kid, I'd have disliked it, but as an adult, gosh, it looks amazing! Animated films don't have to be for kids, they could re-release this for older audiences.

[@mpk1731]

If they adapt the Prydain Chronicles I hope they do several movies! The books are SO GOOD and while I enjoy the Black Cauldron movie it just pales so much in comparison. Eilonwy's character is so much more interesting in the books. (Also I remember studying Joseph Campbell and the hero journey way back in high school, and I swear that my teacher said that George Lucas was inspired in part by the Prydain Chronicles for Star Wars. Obviously Luke's story has all the elements of the hero's journey but I can't find reference to Star Wars and the Prydain Chronicles specifically anywhere so I'm not sure where my teacher read this.)

[@sddrawings]

Princess and the frog

[@AmandaaRose]

OMG I'M SO EARLY TO THIS SERIES AHH

[@madisonbutler3874]

Winnie the Pooh (1977) or Princess and the Frog!

[@ambirdie6241]

My parents bought me this movie when I was like 6 and I'd watch it every day. It's still my favorite ❤

[@bitOluck85]

I'd love to see The Lion King...

[@kieranpiles6845]

I'd just like to say that Prydain is pronounced Pre - Dine :)

[@Njbudesa]

Super interesting about Miyamoto and Zelda. It makes perfect sense!

[@theRealtensigh]

At Tokyo Disneyland in the 80s they had a tour inside Cinderella's castle that included the calduron scene at the end with an animatronic Horned King. The tour guide chose a kid from the crowd to wield a glowing sword and the HK screamed and everything went back to normal. Sadly, they removed this ride and replaced it with a Cinderella story (which was nice with my 3 year old daughter). But the old Horned King ending of that tour was just WAY cool!

[@johnmccluskey2779]

The lucky Kid who defeated the Horned King received a cool bronze looking medal the Says "Hero" on the front and had Tokyo Disneyland Enchanted Mystery Tour on the back along with Cinderella's Castle.

[@LunchableSandwich]

I absolutely loved the movie as a kid. I see everyone to this day saying it was horribly scary, which I just didn't see in my development. Creepy? Yes, no question there. Though that's what made it fun and intriguing for me. As far as the books are concerned I would highly recommend reading the series if you haven't. That goes for anyone at any age. They differ a ton from the movie obviously, but still are some of my personal favorites. As far as Miyamoto is concerned, I can only hope that story is true about him. It would only give me one more reason to love him even more. Nice video.

[@jessv7259]

Please do The Fox and the Hound

[@brandon.mcpherson]

JesseVilla love this movie!

[@DessMelissa]

This was so awesome!!! I love love love The Black Cauldron!!! (Similarly to Pete's Dragon)

[@miriamcq]

Loved it!!!! This is my favourite youtube series!!! I have a question Sarah, are you still working in the Jim Henson Company?? I would love a video like typical work day with Sarah on your channel!!

[@123ashleycool]

This was my favorite movie when I was a kid. The first Disney movie I ever saw was the Black Cauldron when I was 3! This, and the Last Unicorn were my ENTIRE LIFE when I was a kid. Love this 💕

[@anonimoalfin]

Oh man, this video does bring back wonderful memories: I've loved this film since I was a child, and still love it today! Such a GREAT PITY about deleted scenes ( 4:30 ). I wish they would have included everything, EVERYTHING! It's such a god movie still, and for those of us who already loved The Lord of The Rings, Dungeons&Dragons, high-Fantasy and RPG videogames (such a wonderful time this was, also for video-game development), The Black Claudron was a cult classic. It's absolutely gory, thrilling and marvelous! I also adored the characters, the general tone was unique and terrifying, yet inspiring and exciting! Super interesting about Miyamoto and Zelda, it does make perfect sense! But this was such a creative, wonderful time for the videogame and movies industry with everything Sword&Sorcery related. Golden days! I didn't know that there might be plans to renew the story! I TRULY HOPE SO!! Bravo, Disney! But I do hope if they do this, this time they do it right, with a more accurate representation of the books, and ESPECIALLY without the utterly stupid, prude, prig, puritan, goody-goody editing, taking away the so-called 'scary' scenes which were AWESOME and so necessary to the story-line!

[@Jayagebee]

Loved this episode of your 'Down to Disness'! I really like the horned king! He is so goddamn scary! At some points I think Black Cauldron deserves more credit despite being one of the weakest Disney animated movies considereing character development. The Fox and The Hound or The Princess and The Frog next time, plz :)

[@alexandermackay9636]

I'm so surprised that you hadn't seen this movie before! I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for covering this movie- you definitely taught me things about the movie I didn't know. Gosh- this is the only movie that I've been asking for since you started Down to Disness. Now I don't know what to ask for. How about Fantasia?

[@shannonkahermanes6080]

I remember seeing a video of an attraction in one of the international Disney Parks with the Horned King from black Cauldron in it... it was weird and scary and honestly- I have no idea how it was at a Disney Park! Lol. Next Down To Disness: Monster's Inc! It's anniversary is in November and its honestly my favorite!

[@ashleybryant4560]

I was such a weird, dark child and this was always one of my favorite Disney movies. So funny to rewatch as an adult and wonder why I liked it so much as a kid since it’s so scary 😂

[@rainstrife1558]

Meet the Robindons! That movie was such a big part of my childhood; I was in love with the message keep moving forward and Wilbur and Lewis. Lol even named my car Wilbur because it looks like the time machine

[@bartsimpson83]

I love this movie. As a kid, the Prydain Chronicles were my favorite books and they still rank pretty high. While this isn't a very good adaptation of the books' story, it is a fantastic film that does a great job of capturing the books' spirit. It's one of my top ten favorite Disney movies and I'm hoping that the second time around, they'll actually adapt the books properly, doing one film for each book for a total of five.

[@Firebird5410]

So happy you finally did the Black Cauldron! I was obssesed with the movie and the books when I was little haha. Even though the movie has no singing, I have always loved the soundtrack too

[@annaetantillo2646]

The Three Caballeros!! (lol because I'm currently writing a research paper about it)

[@rleyva40]

Just came across your channel. So informative and easy to follow!

[@Gabriela-zp1kj]

It's so interesting to learn all of this about a film that I actually really loved growing up. Granted, younger me had no idea it was a Disney movie, but I watched the heck out of that VHS tape.

[@passaggioalivello]

I love this movie, it's an underrated masterpiece. And furthermore Eilonwy is the first princess (or scullery maid) who saved the male hero.

[@lizzfizzle92]

I watched the Black Cauldron a lot as a kid because during the summer we would go to a small video store and that was the only Disney movie they had haha. it's a very interesting movie! I would love to see Fantasia or Tangled next!

[@ashleyalcaino5413]

I watched this movie for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I honestly thought it was weird and a little scary but I liked it. I also thought that Eilonwy's dress reminded me of Aurora's dress when she is living with the fairies in the forest. :)

[@LeahTackles]

Ohhhh! I need to go watch this now! Munchies & Crunchies 🤣

[@CrazyHetaPotterLock]

This is still my favourite Disney movie of all time 😄 I watched it all the time as a kid! And I want so badly for there to be a live-action movie!!! It would be great!

[@Pokemonashgreen2]

My first I saw this was on Tv when I was a little kid. Never creep me out, I would rewatch this film over and over again

[@desireederringer6063]

The Black Cauldron was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid! I had no idea about the Gurgi themed restaurant though haha

[@nadineschulze8914]

The black cauldron was the First Movie i ever saw in a Movie Theater...i was 8 and i still think its pretty scary... interesting facts... Why is the princess Not part of the princess Line-Up????

[@brademge6638]

How about another obscure 1985 Disney movie that scared a bunch of kids. I am, of course, referring to Return to Oz.

[@TheAmazingTara2]

This was one of my favorite movies as a kid, Gurgi was so cute haha

[@camillewalker2962]

I loved this movie growing up. Thanks for talking about it 😁

[@ashleyrenae4782]

This movie scared me as a child but I always loved it! My 4 year old loves it as well and she's not scared of it. This movie is so underrated!

[@zainhartono7193]

People should watch this but I was a fan of the books. I think this series should definitely be made into live action. The animated movie tried to fit Book of Three and Black Cauldron together which was a bad idea, reminds me of Last Airbender buy more successful, at least this one has a cult following.

[@jenniferlewis7994]

Yooooo isn't this the first movie to have the classic Disney castle opening??!

[@hannahscamera9709]

I LOVE these videos Sarah! Thank you !

[@candydemure]

Is it just me who wishes they would make a PG-13 edition with the deleted scenes just for us adults?

[@CharmedIreland]

Saw this movie as a kid, and for years no one knew what I was talking about.I was so glad when it came out on dvd.