The Journey: The Rescuers 45th Anniversary
In 1962, two children’s books by Margery Sharp called The Rescuers and Miss Bianca caught Walt Disney’s attention. For the next few years, Walt tried to adapt them into an animated film.
Unfortunately, it was initially shelved because Walt was not pleased that the stories dealt with politics. But in 1970, the idea was revived.
At first, the story team thought of having the characters, Bernard and Miss Bianca, rescuing an animal in captivity. But this proved to be far too complex. What Woolie Reitherman wanted was a simple story.
The story they settled on was the mice saving an orphan girl from an evil woman. This idea was based on the second book.
Animation
During the animation production of The Rescuers, things would change. In 1974, veteran animators, Eric Larson and Joun Lounsberry started to train new animators to continue work on the studio’s films.
While the film had the classic animators, Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, and Ollie Johnston, it was also the debut of current animation talents. After looking for new artists to come to Disney, Eric found sixty animators. This included Glen Keane and Ron Clements.
At first, the movie was supposed to be animated by the new animators. But the crew decided to have help from the veteran animators in a joint production.
Release
After seven years of work, The Rescuers had it’s premiere on June 19th, 1977. Not only was the movie another success, but it was also a significant picture for Disney. While the last two animated films, The Aristocats and Robin Hood were successful, they still weren’t as appreciated as Walt Disney’s films. But The Rescuers proved that Disney could still make amazing work without Walt.
Another significant aspect of this film was that it would the first to have a continuation, which would be The Rescuers Down Under in 1990. But that’s a different story for a different time.