Original Production Cel - THE RESCUERS - 1977
THE RESCUERS is a 1977 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Productions and first released on June 22, 1977.
Orphan Penny throws a message in a bottle from an abandoned luxury river boat. The bottle washes up in New York and is taken to the Rescue Aid Society. The Hungarian representative, Miss Bianca, volunteers to take the case and chooses the janitor Bernard as her partner. The two set out to the orphanage where Penny lived and there meet an old cat named Rufus, who tells them that Penny had been worrying about not being adopted by any family; he had attempted to re-assure her, but that she is assumed to have fled of her own accord despite her upbeat attitude at the end of the conversation. He then mentions that an ill-meaning woman named Madame Medusa had tried to lure Penny in to her car earlier that week, and this may be the woman responsible for Penny's disappearance.
The mice travel to Medusa's pawnshop and search for clues. They overhear Medusa talking via telephone to her assistant, Mr. Snoops, whom she reprimands for being unable to find the "Devil's Eye" diamond and for failing to prevent Penny from sending her message in a bottle. Angrily, she tells Snoops that she will take the next flight to Devil's Bayou, where Penny is being held against her will, and leaves in her car.
With the help of an albatross named Orville, the mice fly to the Bayou, and meet a dragonfly named Evinrude, who speeds them in a leaf to the ship where Penny is held. Eavesdropping on Madame Medusa and Snoops, they learn that Penny was captured to enter a hole that leads down into the pirates' cave where the "Devil's Eye" Diamond is located.
Soon Miss Bianca and Bernard attract the attention of Medusa's pet alligators, Brutus and Nero. Bernard and Miss Bianca escape, and find Penny. The arrival of the two mice raises her morale. Together, the three devise a plan, which is put into action on the following day.
The next morning, Madame Medusa sends Penny down into the cave to find the gem, not knowing that Miss Bianca and Bernard are hiding in her skirt pocket. The three soon find the stone within a pirate skull; as Penny pries the mouth open with a sword, the mice push it out from within, but soon the oceanic tide rises and floods the cave. Miss Bianca, Penny, and Bernard barely manage to retrieve the diamond and escape.
Medusa, taken over by greed, takes possession of the diamond, rather than share it with Snoops as she had evidently promised. She then hides it in Penny's teddy bear. As she is backing away from Penny and Mr. Snoops, Bernard and Miss Bianca trip her and she loses her grip on the bear. Before she can recover it, Penny grabs the bear and runs away. Medusa retaliates with gunfire, causing the mice to flee until they are met by Brutus and Nero. Bernard and Miss Bianca trick them into entering a cage-like elevator, trapping them.
Snoops' flares and fireworks are set off into the riverboat's living quarters, while Penny and the mice commandeer Medusa's "swampmobile," a motor-boat used by Medusa to travel in the swamp. Medusa attempts pursuit, but is thwarted. By the flares and firecrackers, the ship is caused to explode and sink. Medusa is left clinging to one of its smokestacks while Brutus and Nero attack her from below.
The Devil's Eye is given to the Smithsonian Institution (a possible reference to the Hope Diamond), and Penny is adopted by a new father and mother. Bernard and Miss Bianca remain partners in the Rescue Aid Society's missions and soon after depart on Orville, accompanied by Evinrude, to a new rescue mission.
The film was based on Margery Sharp's "The Rescuers" children's novels, most notably, The Rescuers (1959) and Miss Bianca (1962). The film was four years in the making with the combined talents of 250 people, including 40 animators who produced approximately 330,000 drawings; there were 14 sequences with 1,039 separate scenes and 750 backgrounds. {from Wikipedia}
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