The death of Walt Disney had shaken the company throughout. He was such an integral part of the team, the planning and the magic, that his absence is still missed. At the time of his passing, plans for future live action films, animated classic and a certain theme park were all set up, but what happens when they all run dry. The animation studios was left with two options, dig deeper into the archives or come up with their own ideas.
The Rescuers and The Aristrocats both looked back into the archives. Whereas The Aristrocats was overseen by Walt in a previous life as a live action project, The Rescuers was something that stayed in the background. Eventually like a number of projects The Rescuers was shelved, Walt felt it was too political and into the archives it went, joining The Snow Queen, The Little Mermaid and The Gremlins. Both the Snow Queen (Released as Frozen) and The Little Mermaid were eventually made, they were never produced using the original plans. The Rescuers did reuse elements from the original plans. Reinstated as an active project, the film was solely worked on by up-and-coming artists, when it began to take shape it gathered momentum and interest. It was at this point where was taken from the little leaguers and handed to the big artists of the day.
The Plot
A bottle carrying a message drifts across the ocean. It is found by a group that deals in helping those in need, The Rescue Aid Society. A conference is called, attended by members of the organisation from around the world. A simple janitor helps to retrieve the message from the bottle and begins to read it. It is a message from a girl called Penny who states she has been kidnapped.
Miss Bianca is chosen to lead the mission and is given the option to choose her companion. Despite all of the interest of the other male members, she chooses the Janitor, Bernard.
Their mission starts by finding the orphanage where Penny lived; there they meet an old cat called Rufus. Rufus tells then that a woman tried to lure Penny into her car, Penny had refused. The woman was called Madame Medusa.
The next stop in the mission is the pawn shop owned by Medusa, it is there that they discover that she and her companion, Mr Snoops, are after the Devils Eye; the world’s largest diamond.
They try to hitch a ride in Medusa’s car when she heads to the airport, they miss their opportunity. It is here where they meet Orville, a member of Albatross Air Ways who will take them to Devils Bayou where medusa is heading. It is a bumpy take off and landing but they finally arrive.
At the Bayou they meet further members of the Rescue Aid Society, including a dragonfly named Evinrude.
They track Madame Medusa and Mr Snoops to an abandoned riverboat. Bianca and Bernard learn that Madame Medusa and Mr Snoops are sending Penny down a hole to retrieve the diamond.
It is unfortunate that Miss Bianca’s perfume attracts the attention of Brutus and Nero, Medusa’s two crocodiles. After a chase the two mice manage to hide.
The following morning, Penny is dragged to the cave once again to hunt for the diamond. Medusa and Snoops are unaware that the mice are hiding in Penny’s skirt. The young girl and the mice try to find the diamond so Medusa will let Penny go. They find it hidden in a skull and the three try to prise the bones apart with a sword to get at it. As they try, the tide starts to come in and the cave quickly fills with sea water.
Thankfully they all escape, however they are not out of danger. Madame Medusa double crosses Mr Snoops, she hides the diamond in Penny’s Teddy. She holds Penny and Snoops at gunpoint but trips over a wire set by Bianca and Bernard. The Teddy is then taken by Penny who runs away with it.
The Mice manage to trap the crocodiles in an elevator similar to a cage after bumping into them when Medusa uses gunfire.
As the escape continues, two swamp critters befriended by the mice set off the fireworks on the boat and chaos develops. The boat begins to sink but this frees Brutus and Nero from the elevator.
Penny, Bianca and Bernard manage to steal Medusa’s swamp mobile but are pursued by the mad woman riding her two crocodiles. She whips them madly which ends up being her downfall. When she crashes, she is flung onto the smoke stake of the sinking ship. The two crocodiles turn on their master and begin to snap at Madam Medusa. Penny and the mice make their escape.
Back in New York, news travels to the Rescue Aid Society that Medusa and Snoops are arrested on charge of kidnap, the diamond has been donated to the Smithsonian and, most heart-warmingly, Penny has been adopted. On television, Penny thanks Miss Bianca and Bernard, even stating that mice can talk.
When Evinrude arrives with a new note, Bianca and Bernard once again travel on Orville for a brand new adventure on a new rescue mission.
Origins
The film is based on a mixture of books mainly The Rescuers and Miss Bianca. Whereas Bianca’s role as a main character is a direct take from the stories, Bernard only appeared as a smaller role. The differences are many although the concept remains the same. The organisation is called The Rescue Aid society in the film; the book states it as The Prisoner’s Aid Society. Mr Chairman was originally a female and no matter how close the two main characters get in the film, Miss Bianca states that there could never be a romantic element between them in the book. Although the film mentions the Aesop Fable ‘The Lion and the Mouse’, this is surprisingly one story that Disney never made.
An earlier draft of the film had a captured polar bear that was made to perform tricks send a message in a bottle, the idea was dropped as the arctic backgrounds wouldn’t have helped the animators. Instead, the story of the Diamond Duchess was integrated. Many characters were tweaked from the books, Nero and Brutus were originally dogs, Penny was called Patience and Mr Snoops was originally a character called Mandrake.
Not in the Book
Originally the team considered Miss Bianca and Bernard to be a married couple but they considered the romantic aspect of two single mice more appealing. Orville originally was a pigeon, but there was a True Life Adventures episode showed the poor landings of an albatross, and Orville, as we know him now, was born.
Evinrude was created as a comedic way of getting the mice their own water-ski, however once the comedic value was worked out the character went from a supporting minor character to one of the most memorable from the film. His fellow band of swampies also changed appearance throughout the production of the film. A regimented Home Guard gang was originally planned. They would take part in marches and the like, but it was deemed more fun to have them as they finally appeared. A Bullfrog, voiced by Phil ‘Baloo’ Harris, was then dropped.
Cast
Eva Gabor was a Hungarian-American Actress and younger sister of Zsa Zsa Gabor. She had been known for bit parts in films, but her main success came from the television sitcom Green Acres. She had also been given her own television show, The Eva Gabor Show. Her first role for Disney was that of Duchess in The Aristocats. She returned later in the 1970s to play Miss Bianca in The Rescuers, a role she would reprise in the sequel The Rescuers Down Under. Gabor wasn’t just an actress; she also owned her own fashion business.
In her personal life, Gabor was married five times but had no children. She died in 1995, two years before her mother and elder sister. Her eldest sister, Zsa Zsa, died over two decades later.
Bob Newhart is a known Actor and comedian from America. His deadpan delivery was his most noted attribute. Before The Rescuers, his most recent success came in The Bob Newhart Show; it was a hit success and continued for many years, it is to the later years of its run that he appeared as Bernard in The Rescuers. The Comedian reprised the role in the sequel. In his later years, he is mainly known for his cameos in The Big Bang Theory and as Papa Elf in Elf, starring Will Farrell. He also starred in ABC’s Desperate Housewives.
On the opposite side of the cast, the villainous Madam Medusa was voiced by Geraldine Page. Page had been a noticeable actress on stage and had a few television roles too. After appearing alongside Uta Hagen she was blacklisted by Hollywood due to her association. She didn’t work for nearly a decade. Hagen had a strong association with Soviet Union Sympathiser Paul Robeson. Page earned many nominations and awards such as Tony, Golden Globes and Academy Awards. By the time she worked on The Rescuers she had many accolades to her name. She had also worked for Disney previously in The Happiest Millionaire. After not attending two performances, it was discovered that Page had died at her home of a heart attack in 1987.
Joe Flynn’s last role was that of Mr Snoops. He had worked for Disney in the live action films, The Love Bug and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes. By the time The Rescuers was released, Flynn had died. He was found dead in his swimming pool from a suspected heart attack whilst swimming. It had caused the 49 year old to drown.
Jim Jordan was the eldest of the voice artists to play a main role in the film, playing Orville. He had a career in comedic roles, noticeably as Fibber McGee in Fibber McGee and Molly. Molly was played by his wife. Born in 1896, he was 91 when he passed away. He died around the time that contracts were being made to make The Rescuers Down Under. As a mark of respect, Roy E Disney wrote the Character out of the script, replacing Orville with his brother. Jordan is buried next to his first wife, and Sharon Tate.
John McIntyre played the voice of Rufus the orphanage cat. He is better known as Ward Bond’s replacement in Wagon Train after Bond’s sudden death. However for Disney fans, he can be seen in Herbie Rides Again as Mr Judson and heard in The Fox and the Hound as Mr Digger. He died in 1991 but as there was no need for Rufus to return in the sequel, he wouldn’t have been offered a contract to return.
Jimmy Macdonald was not a famous voice artist or actor, however his contributions to Walt Disney Animations is one of the greatest. Outside of the Animated Classics, he provided the sound effects for the Bee that harasses Donald Duck in some of his shorts, Dolores the Elephant, Ajax the Gorilla, Chip (as in Chip and Dale) and, most importantly, he was the voice of Mickey Mouse from 1947 to 1977. His work within the Animated Classics includes Sound effects and voices for The Wolf in Make Mine Music, Gus and Jaq in Cinderella, The Wolf in The Sword in the Stone, The Dormouse in Alice In Wonderland, Lumpjaw in Fun and Fancy Free, The Bees from Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Casey Jnr in Dumbo, The Tick Tock sound of the Crocodile in Peter Pan and the Dragon Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty. He also created sound effects for the Haunted Mansion ride, and the Hiccupping and burping of Dopey in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He also tried to provide the Yodelling of the Dwarfs from the same film but was replaced by professional yodellers. In the Rescuers, he plays the voice effects for Evinrude, Brutus and Nero. Other than voices effects in Pete’s Dragon and The Fox and the Hound, these would be some of his last contributions to Disney Animations. He died in 1991.
Behind the scenes
The 9 old men had been with the Studio since the early days and this film marks the end of their time making animated classics. It is fitting that many of the team members who will become great influences in the future would also be working on this film.
Originally there were two production groups within the Animation Department, Group A were working on Robin Hood whilst Group B worked on a shelved project ‘The Rescuers’. When Robin Hood finished and released, the team started on a new project. This film fell through and they decided to pick up The Rescuers, adapting many of the aspects Don Bluth and the team had worked on already.
Bluth started in the Disney Company as John Lounsbury’s assistant in 1955 on the production of Sleeping Beauty. After two years he left Disney but returned in 1971, it is in this period that he contributed to Robin Hood, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too, The Rescuer and Pete’s Dragon. In 1979 he left the company to create his own. His first feature length animated film, The Secret of Nimh, became the first of many cult animated films associated with him, including An American Tail, The Land Before Time, and, Anastasia. He also would start work on collaboration with Michael Jackson, working on an animated film using songs by The Beatles. The film was planned to be made in CGI, 8 years before Toy Story.
Ron Clements worked on some of the most famous Disney Animated films; his debut was as a Character Animator on The Rescuers. He worked on The Fox and The Hound, The Black Cauldron and Basil the Great Mouse Detective before pitching The Little Mermaid. Further work for Walt Disney Animation includes Aladdin, Hercules and Treasure Planet. He later left the company but returned for The Princess and the Frog, Big Hero 6, Zootopia and Moana.
Glen Keane also started his huge impact for Disney Animation in The Rescuers. His contributions would later include Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, Tarzan and Tangled. In 2013 he became a Disney Legend.
Sequels and legacy
The film is often credited as being the first Disney Animated film to have a sequel, however, Saludos Amigos and The Three Calleberos are often noted as pair. The Rescuers Down Under sat at the beginning of the Disney Renaissance of the 1990s but didn’t reach the popularity of the films surrounding it, nor the original. The premise of the Rescue Aid Society could result in multiple stories and there was a consideration of a Disney Channel series. This idea was abandoned in favour of the sequel, Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers took the place of the abandoned show.
The book was released in the 1950s and shortly after Walt Disney acquired the film rights. A story line and concepts were conceived soon after.
Walt was worried that the initial concept of the film would be too political. Disney studios were a company that produced wholesome, family entertainment. They were not in to huge shocks and the only progression they wanted to make was in the art and process of film making and animation. In The Rescuers, the Xerox process developed in the late 1950s had been improved and the jagged outlines could be smoothed over. They could also be different coloured; Miss Bianca’s line colouring is a prime example. It was another progression into the home video market that resulted in a shock much bigger than any political controversy. The original VHS release of the film eventually was recalled as there was a fleeting moment in the background of a topless woman. The moment was so quick that the chance of this being found on a low quality VHS picture was almost nil, but it was. The VHS was rereleased with the offending moment omitted.
Links with Other Films
Other than the sequel, the film does have links with other Disney Animated classics. Cruella De Vil was planned to make a comeback as the villain. Disney was not interested in doing a sequel to 101 Dalmatians at the time and the idea was shelved.
Looking to the future, Penny was nearly destined to make another appearance. The orphaned child, Jenny in Oliver and Company was originally meant to be an older Penny. The similar features and sounding name are remnants of this idea.
New Era?
The strength of plot, drama and characterisation had slowly been disappearing over the last few films. The Disney Dark ages is a term used a lot and technically the Rescuers sits right in the middle of this era. However, the film doesn’t fit with the others in the era. For a start it is popular and did well both financially and critically. It also focuses on drama, moving away from the lighter or more comedic stories like The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh or Robin Hood.
Where this film does seem to warrant a mini era of its own is the advancements that are made in the technology used to make it. The Xerox process is defined and extended; this adds a quality to the picture not seen for over 15 years. The opening titles are not just credits rolled over a single or multiple backgrounds. Instead the camera moves and the credits are stationary.
The contemporary setting takes the film away from the usual settings of a Disney Animated classic. The spy/ rescue theme of the film may have run its course a little by the late 1970s but by introducing it into an animated feature film, it almost seems like a progressive step.
The Rescuers may sit in the middle of the Dark ages but its success suggests that it should have a mini era all of its own.
Numbers
The 77 minute film was released on June 17th 1977. At the time, the film held the record for the most money made on opening weekend for an animated film. 250 people worked on the film, including 40 animators. 330,000 drawings were made. 14 sequences with 1039 separate scenes over 750 backgrounds. There are 110,000 frames, 2 of which featured the controversial topless woman. A calendar in Madam Medusa’s backroom wall states the date as Thursday 12th, this means the finding of the diamond and the rescue all took place on Friday 13th.
Releases
The film was released in 1977 and became one of the biggest hits for Disney Animation from around this time. It was double billed with a nature documentary, Tale of Two Critters. Unusually for a Disney animated film, two were released in 1977; the other being The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The Rescuers may have been a hit at the time, but it loses out in the long run again Winnie the Pooh. This being said, The Rescuers was so popular in France that it gained more revenue upon first release than Star Wars. It was rereleased in the early 1980s, this time coupled with A Christmas Carol. The short saw the return of Mickey Mouse to the big screen in over 30 years.
The Rescuers returned to the big screen prior to The Rescuers Down Under’s release.
The film won a special citation award for “restoring and upgrading the art of animation” from the national board of review in the United States.
The Music
The songs may not be the most recognisable Disney tunes, but they are fondly remembered by fans. It also resurrected the format from Bambi, where the songs are not sung by the Characters but as background songs. Shelby Flint sang most of the songs; Someone’s Waiting for You was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1977.
Carol Connors and Aye Robbins wrote the songs. It was the first and only time they wrote for Disney Animation
s. They did compose a song for Rocky, however. Connors testified at the OJ Simpson trial as she had seen Simpson at a charity event the night before the murders took place.
The score was done by Sammy Fain, who was a regarded composer, previously working for Disney on Alice in Wonderland. A further link with this film comes in the flashback scene between Rufus and Penny. They quote the poem, Faith is a Bluebird. The bird in question is taken from Alice in Wonderland.
Madame Medusa
Milt Kahl was one of Disney’s Nine Old Men. His contributions to animation include work on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Bambi, Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Song of the South, Fun and Fancy Free, Melody Time, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Lady and The Tramp, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, Sword in the Stone, Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, Bedknobs and Broom Sticks, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and The Rescuers. It is highly likely that you have seen many examples of his works in your life. When it came to animating The Rescuers, he was given the character of Madam Medusa. He knew it would be his last piece and wanted to make this character the best he had done and for her to be well remembered. It is due to this need that he almost animated every section with the character. He based the design on his second wife, Phyllis Bounds Detiege. The two were divorced in 1978 and at this point he wasn’t fond on her. She was also the niece, on Lillian’s side, of Walt Disney. The Character is often forgotten about when lining up some of the most popular Disney Villains. She definitely deserves to be more regarded as she is. Her manipulation of Penny is really unsettling, especially when she tells the young girl that no one will want to adopt her. She is also cruel to animals, often hitting Brutus and Nero. Medusa also states to Penny that she will live in the riverboat, which suggests that once she has the diamond she will leave Penny behind. In the climatic end, she also pulls out a gun on the child. In her shop she also has a NRA badge.
Incidentally, Mr Snoop’s features were based on Disney historian John Culhane. He reportedly stated that he was honoured and pleased to be the bases of a Disney character. He even posed for shots.
Rufus the Cat is a caricature of Disney Animator Ollie Johnson. Johnson would later become a Disney Legend.
The Legacy
The 1970s wasn’t a peak time for Disney Animations. Winnie the Pooh may be the biggest success from the decade, although the film is made up of some previously released segments. Out of the other films released in this period of Disney Animation it sits in its own little bubble, it is too much of a financial success to be classed as a failure but doesn’t live up to the standards of those in the earlier silver age of the 1950s or the later renaissance of the 1990s. The songs are not featured on many compilation CDs or playlists and the mice rarely feature in any merchandise. The parks don’t honour the film with only rare appearances and no recognition of the villain.
With the film’s release, things could have been seen as being on the up for animation. It is a shame that things will get worse before they got better. The 1970s ended on a high but with the loss of the nine old men, the new wave of animators had a lot to prove.
The Rescuers will never be on Disney’s top radar like films such as Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King or Frozen, but it must not be forgotten. The emotion of the Orphan Penny, the laughter of Orville and Evinrude and the adventure of the story are worth every second.