Disney Archives: Relive Disney's Remarkable and Memorable Past
Article written by Dave Smith
© Disney Online, 2005

THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE
Release Date:  July 2, 1986
Characters:  Basil, Dr. Dawson, Ratigan, Olivia

The animated adventures of a mouse, Basil of Baker Street, called upon to search for a toymaker, Flaversham, who has been kidnapped to make a robot replica of the queen for the evil Ratigan.  Basil, aided by the intrepid Dr. Dawson, helps the toymaker's daughter, Olivia, search for her father.  They foil Ratigan's plot and eventually save the queen.

After a four-year period of story development, animation took just over one year to complete.  This remarkably short production span was possible due to new efficiencies in the production process (such as video tests and computer-assisted layouts and graphics), and an increased emphasis on story development prior to the start of production.  125 artists were involved in making the film.  An innovative application of computer technology can be seen in the climactic scene where Basil faces Ratigan in a final confrontation inside the turning and thrashing gear-works of Big Ben.  The 54 moving gears, winches, ratchets, beams, and pulleys were literally drawn by the computer, and created a unique background for the characters, which had been animated in the usual way.  The film was re-released in theatres in 1992 under the title The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective.  Released on video in 1992.

Directed by John Musker, Ron Clements, Dave Mitchner, and Burny Mattinson.  Based on Eve Titus' book, Basil of Baker Street.  Starring the voices of Vincent Price (Ratigan), Barrie Ingham (Basil), Val Bettin (Dawson), Candy Candido (Fidget), Diana Chesney (Mrs. Judson), Alan Young (Flaversham), and Susanne Pollatschek (Olivia).  74 minutes.  The score was written by composer Henry Mancini, who also collaborated on two of the three featured songs with lyricists Larry Grossman and Ellen Fitzhugh; the third song, "Let Me Be Good to You," was written and performed by Melissa Manchester.

BASIL OF BAKER STREET
Personality:  Clever, intelligent, logical
Friends:  Dr. Dawson, Olivia
Film:  The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
Voice Artist:  Barrie Ingham

The world's greatest detective has a mind that can swing from the height of triumph to the depths of despair in the blink of an eye.  Triumph when he thinks he's close to catching his evil nemesis, Ratigan; despair when the cad slips through his fingers once again.  For comfort, he turns to his trusty violin.  Basil has amazing powers of deduction:  "Offhand I can deduce only little, only that the list is written with a broad-pointed pen...the paper is of native Mongolian manufacture...and has been gummed, unless I'm very much mistaken, by a bat that has been drinking Rodent's Delight!"  And uses them to help his clients in trouble.  When a mere tiny slip of a girl and a bespectacled doctor arrive on his doorstep, the Great Basil cannot be bothered — until he deduces that the simple "Case of the Missing Toymaker" may actually be a hellishly fiendish plot that leads straight to his nemesis!  Ah-ha!  The game is afoot!

Basil of Baker Street is, of course, based on that famous creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes.  Basil shares with his predecessor (aside from the obvious detective abilities) his sometimes irascible temperament and the love of the violin.  The Great Mouse Detective is based on the book, Basil of Baker Street, by author Eve Titus.

RATIGAN
Personality:  Flamboyant evil genius
Nemesis:  Basil
Film:  The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
Voice Artist:  Vincent Price

Professor Ratigan croons, "I love it when I'm nasty!" as he prepares to embark on the greatest criminal enterprise of all time: the dastardly plot to be crowned supreme ruler of all Mousedom.  Not that he's doing badly as it is.  This mad genius already dwells in splendour beneath the streets of London, with a gaggle of cowering lackeys to sing his praises, light his cigarettes, and cater to his every evil whim.  Life is good.  He's only got one problem:  "That miserable second-rate detective, Basil of Baker Street," his oh-so-clever nemesis.  It's the greatest rivalry between criminal and detective that ever was but, demented genius that he is, Ratigan's about to tip the balance.  The master criminal has already set his evil plan into motion and Basil won't be able to do a thing about it.  It's just a matter of time before Mousedom cowers at Ratigan's feet.  Oh, yes — he just loves it when he's nasty.

Vincent Price is a legend on the horror movie circuit, having played a host of evil characters in his long career, but his only other role for Disney was in the 1982 film Vincent, a stop-motion animated short directed by Tim Burton.  It's the rhyming tale of a young boy who imagines himself to be Vincent Price.  It was narrated by the horror-film star, and it foreshadowed by many years Burton's return to Disney with Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in 1993.