The Rescuers (1977)

Today we wrap up the Dark Age films, beginning with The Rescuers.

The Movie:

The Rescuers is the 23rd film in the Disney Animated Canon and the last Disney's four films in the 1970s.  The movie was praised by critics and was successful at the box-office, making it the studios biggest hit since the death of Walt Disney.  The Rescuers was also popular in European markets, with its initial run out-grossing Star Wars in France that year and for a time becoming the highest grossing movie in West Germany.  At the time many critics thought this marked a turning point for Disney, though frustration among the staff during the production of this movie, in particular Don Bluth, would contribute to their eventually walkout during the production of The Fox and the Hound, which ultimately set Disney back for most of the 1980s.

The Rescuers is based on the book of the same name and its sequel Miss Bianca, the first two in a series of books by Margery Sharp.  This is another story in which a society of mice live within a human society.  The story begins with a message in a bottle being discovered by the Rescue Aid Society, an international group of mice stationed in New York City.  The bottle contains a message from a little girl named Penny, who has been kidnapped from her orphanage by Madame Medusa and taken to Devil's Bayou.  There she is tasked with entering a cave with a small opening to find the Devil's Eye, a legendary diamond.  Upon reading the cry for help, the Hungarian representative Miss Bianca volunteers to find the girl, choosing Bernard the janitor as her companion.  The two set out to find Penny, getting help along the way from Rufus the cat, Orville the albatross, and Evinrude the dragonfly among others.

Let me start out by saying that I have a soft spot for this movie as well, but for an unusual reason.  This story was on heavy rotation when I was a little kid, but not the movie itself.  Now, I did see the movie as a kid a few times, but I heard the story much more.  When I was little, I would fall asleep each night listening to different children's books on audio cassette.  Disney at that time had a series of books called Disney Read-Along that came with cassettes of the book (originally they used records).  The audio cassette of The Rescuers was one I listened to many times.

But let's talk about the movie.  I understand why the movie got praise from critics.  Since One Hundred and One Dalmatians introduced xerography into the animation process, all of the Disney movies had heavy black lines.  However, by the time The Rescuers came out, the process had developed enough that the lines didn't need to be as thick, meaning this was one of the cleanest looking Disney movies since the middle of the Silver Age.  This movie also had scenes that were much grander visually that what Disney had done in a while with the flight over New York City.  Storywise the plot is fairly straight forward, and the tale, like other Disney films of the Dark Age, was a bit darker than the earlier films.  Like some of the other Disney films of the era the pacing can be slow at times, but it doesn't drag as much as most of the others.  The voice acting is great, especially Bob Newhart as Bernard and Eva Gabor as Miss Bianca.

The Rescuers is rather light on music, with many scenes having no background score at all.  What is scored was done by Artie Butler, who is best known as the music arranger of many hits of the 1970s, which explains why this movie's music has that distinct 70s sound.  This feel carries over into the songs, which, with one notable exception, are all sung over the actions of the movie by Shelby Flint.  That one exception is "Rescue Aid Society," sung by the mice at the beginning of their meeting.  All the songs were written by Sammy Fain, Carol Connors, and Ayn Robbins, with the three earning an Oscar nomination for "Someone's Waiting For You."  All in all, the songs fit the movie, but they aren't your typical Disney showstopping numbers.

Presence in the Parks:

Once again, despite its onetime popularity, The Rescuers is yet another Dark Age film with little love at the parks.  Back when the movie first came out Bernard and Miss Bianca could be found, but they haven't been seen lately.