The Great Mouse Detective

On the data. One film, and it did a job far bigger than itself. The Black Cauldron had just lost Disney a great deal of money and the animation department was in genuine danger. The Great Mouse Detective was the answer: a small film, made in roughly a year with about a third of the budget, with a tight story and a proper villain. It made its money back, it was reviewed well, and it bought the department the time that led to The Little Mermaid three years later. John Musker and Ron Clements directed it, and they went on to make The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Treasure Planet and Moana. It is also a technical first. The sequence inside the clock tower at the end, with the gears and escapements turning around the characters, was modelled on a computer, printed out and then traced by hand onto cels. It is the first time Disney used computer animation in a feature, and it is the direct ancestor of the ballroom in Beauty and the Beast. Vincent Price said Ratigan was his favourite role of his career, which is a remarkable thing for a man with that filmography to say. The character was reportedly made a rat rather than a mouse partly so Price could play him as deeply offended by the fact. Eve Titus wrote five Basil novels between 1958 and 1982. Disney's title changed during production: it was called Basil of Baker Street for most of its making, renamed The Great Mouse Detective shortly before release, and in Britain it went out as Basil the Great Mouse Detective, which is why the film appears under three names depending on where you look.

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