The Great Mouse Detective

The Great Mouse Detective tends to be an underrated Disney film but it is well-known for it’s innovative use of CGI. In particular, the scene near the end of the film that takes place inside of Big Ben. This was the first time that hand-drawn characters were put in a CGI background and the result turned out to be a cinematography masterpiece as Basil tries to escape the crushing gears of the famous clock tower.

Premiered on: July 2, 1986

Directed by:

Ron Clements
John Musker
Burny Mattinson
Dave Michener

Produced by: Burny Mattinson

Based on: Basil of Baker Street written by Eve Titus

Sequels: none

Cast:

Barrie Ingham – Basil / Bartholomew
Val Bettin – Dr. David Q. Dawson / Henchman
Vincent Price – Professor Ratigan
Susanne Pollatschek – Olivia Flaversham
Alan Young – Hiram Flaversham
Candy Candio – Fidget
Diana Chesney – Mrs. Judson
Eve Brenner – Queen Mousetoria
Frank Welker – Felicia

Supervising Animators:

Mark Henn
Glen Keane
Robert Minkoff
Hendel Butoy

Music by:

Henry Mancini
Larry Grossman
EllenFitzhugh
Melissa Manchester

Songs:

“The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind”
“Let Me be Good to You”
“Goodbye, so Soon”

Academy Awards: none

The Story:

The Great Mouse Detective begins with a scene of a foggy night and a caption that reads “London, 1897.” The scene shows horse drawn carriages riding through the streets of London and then the scene focuses on a mouse-sized toy shop called Flaversham’s. Hiram Flaversham and his daughter Olivia are inside and are talking about her birthday. He tells her that he has made her the best present yet and to close her eyes. He brings out a windup ballerina toy and gives it to Olivia.

Outside, sneaking up to the toy shop is a one legged bat. The bat tries to break in through the door, but the door is locked so the sound gives Flaversham some warning and he hides Olivia in a cupboard. The bat then bursts through the window. Olivia hears the bat and her father scuffling and after the fight, she comes out of her hiding spot to find a destroyed toy shop and her father missing. She calls out for him but there is no answer.

The title card then appears followed by opening credits.

After the credits, scenes of London’s streets are shown. A narrator starts to speak and says that it was the eve of Her Majesty’s diamond jubilee and that it was the year that her entire government came to the brink of disaster. But then the narrator says that he is getting ahead of himself and the scene zooms in on the bottom of a carriage where the mouse narrator is sitting and reading a newspaper. He introduces himself as Dr. David Q. Dawson. They come to his stop and he says that he has just arrived back in London after serving in Afghanistan and that he is anxious to find a new place. He admits that little did he know that his life was about to change forever.

Dr. Dawson is walking through the pouring rain when he hears a child crying. He finds Olivia and gives her a handkerchief as he asks what is wrong. Olivia says that she is lost and that she is trying to find Basil of Baker Street. She hands Dawson a newspaper clipping and he reads out loud “Famous Detective Solves Baffling Disappearance!” Dawson asks Olivia where her mother and father are and Olivia starts to cry even harder and says that is why she must find Basil. Dawson says that he does not know any Basil but he does know where Baker Street is and this gives Olivia hope. They take off, huddled under Dawson’s umbrella.

The next scene is of Baker Street and there is a silhouette of a man playing the violin in an upstairs window of a home. This man is Sherlock Holmes and underneath his home is a little mouse house where Basil lives. Dawson and Olivia are at that door and knock. Mrs. Judson answers and Dawson asks if this is the residence of Basil. She says that she is afraid it is but that he is not there at the moment. She invites them inside to wait. Olivia quickly goes inside and starts to play with a magnifying glass. Mrs. Judson runs in to take care of the cold and wet girl. She runs off to fetch a pot of tea and some cheese crumpets.

Olivia and Dawson look around the room at all of the different science experiments happening. Suddenly a strange mouse appears in the doorway. He runs in yelling for them to get out of his way! Dawson asks who this new mouse is and he stops, takes off his disguise, and says that he is Basil of Baker Street! Basil then continues to run around his home, checking on his experiments, and ignoring Olivia and Dawson. The two are trying to get the attention of Basil. Basil then calls Dawson a doctor and Dawson is confused as to how Basil knows that. The detective says that he knows Dawson is a surgeon to be precise and that he has just returned from military duty in Afghanistan. And he knows all of this from a stitch Dawson did to sew up a rip in his coat. Basil then shoots a bunch of pillows which causes feathers to fly everywhere. Mrs. Judson comes in and is very upset with Basil, but he just butters her up and sends her on her way to get the cheese crumpets.

Basil then looks around for the bullet and finds Olivia to be holding it. She introduces herself and tries again to get Basil to listen to her problem. But Basil shushes her as he is too busy comparing the bullet to another bullet under a microscope. But the bullets do not match in pattern and so Basil is extremely upset at another dead end. Basil sinks down into a chair and starts to play the violin. Dawson encourages Olivia to ask Basil again and she does, but Basil still does not want to help. He says that surely her mother must know where her father is and Olivia says that she does not have a mother. This causes Basil to stop playing immediately. But Basil still says that he has no time for lost fathers. Olivia says that her father is not lost but that he was taken by a bat. This gets Basil’s attention. Olivia says that the bat had a peg leg and Basil immediately knows who the bat is. He says that the bat works for a villain who was the target of his very experiment, Professor Ratigan! Basil has tried to capture Ratigan a number of times but has failed each time. He thinks that London is not safe while Ratigan is at large!

The next scene then zooms in on Ratigan’s hideout by the docks. Inside is a glitching robot trying to pour some tea. Flaversham is working on the robot with Ratigan watching. Ratigan says that his scheme is genius but Flaversham says that it is monstrous! Ratigan reminds Flaversham that the robot must be ready by tomorrow evening or Flaversham will know what will happen. Flaversham says that he does not care and makes the robot pour the tea on itself, causing it to short circuit. So Ratigan threatens to have Olivia brought there and he breaks the windup ballerina toy that he somehow got possession of. He yells at Flaversham to finish the robot! Ratigan then leaves the toymaker and goes outside. He finds Fidget the peg legged bat and gives him a list. The list reads:

“Get Following
Tools
Gears
Girl
Uniforms”

Fidget takes off through a drainpipe.

Inside a barrel is Ratigan’s extravagant lair. His henchmen are all there and are clapping for Ratigan. He gives a speech about his most evil and diabolical scheme that they are about to pull off. The Queen is going to celebrate her diamond jubilee tomorrow and he says that it is going to be a night she will never forget! As he says this, he burns her face on a newspaper with his cigarette. Ratigan continues to say that it will be her last night and his first night as supreme ruler of all Mousedom! Everyone cheers and Ratigan starts to sing “The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind” and his gang joins in. During the song, Ratigan starts to complain about his foe Basil. The henchmen all boo at Basil’s name but Ratigan is convinced that this time, not even Basil will stand in his way. At the end of the song, a very drunk mouse named Bartholomew accidently calls Ratigan a rat and Ratigan is very upset about this. Everyone gasps and Ratigan throws Bartholomew outside. All of the henchmen reassure Ratigan that he is a mouse and not a rat but Ratigan still rings a little bell and out of the shadows appears Felicia, his very fat cat. Felicia eats Bartholomew in front of everyone and Ratigan says that he trusts that there will be no more interruptions. He gets everyone to continue to sing “The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind” but even louder!

Back at Basil’s home, he is going over the story again with Olivia. Suddenly in a lightning strike, Fidget appears in the window. Olivia screams and Basil and Dawson run outside to find the bat. But he is gone by the time they get there. Basil does find Fidget’s unusual footprints and his hat though.

Basil runs inside and puts on his coat to take on the case! He wants Dawson to come and Olivia invites herself along so she grabs her coat off of a chair and knocks Basil’s violin off in the process. Basil catches the violin right before it hits the ground and is very annoyed with Olivia. He tries to explain that it will be too dangerous for her to come. As he is talking to the girl, he ends up sitting on his violin and breaks it. He blames Olivia and is adamant that she is not going with them.

But in the next scene, Basil and Dawson are sneaking upstairs and Olivia has joined them. They wait for Sherlock and Watson to finish their conversation and to leave the room before going in. Basil calls for Toby the basset hound and the dog comes running in and starts to growl at Dawson. Basil explains that the dog has a great sense of smell and he will be very useful. Olivia loves Toby and feeds him a cheese crumpet. Basil offers Toby Fidget’s hat to smell and the dog picks up the scent. Toby takes off and leads the hunt.

In a closed toy shop, Fidget is stealing toy parts. He checks off his list and remembers that he still has not captured the girl. Suddenly he hears Toby howling outside and the bat runs to hide, losing his list along the way. Basil, Dawson, and Olivia enter through the window and take a look around. Basil notices that all of the royal guard dolls have been stripped of their uniforms and that the clockwork mechanisms have been removed from some nearby toys. Olivia finds Fidget’s peg legged footprints and Dawson then finds Fidget’s list. Suddenly all of the toys start moving and Olivia is fascinated with them. She finds a cradle which she thinks has a doll in it but it turns out to be Fidget and he grabs her. Basil and Dawson try to help her but they are attacked by the different windup toys that Fidget has turned on. Fidget tries to leave out the window but is stopped by Toby so the bat runs back into the toy shop. Fidget takes off through the skylight and he runs across the rooftops, ecstatic that he has completed his list.

Back at the toy shop, Dawson finds Basil tangled up in the pull string of a doll. Basil blames Dawson for the girl getting kidnapped and Dawson feels very badly about it. Basil then feels bad for yelling at Dawson and he assures the doctor that they will get Olivia back. Basil lights a pipe and starts to think up a new plan. Dawson reads over the list again and Basil gets an idea. He tells Dawson that it is back to Baker Street!

In the next scene, Ratigan is presenting that they have kidnapped Olivia to Flaversham. She gets away from Fidget and runs to her father. Ratigan then pulls the girl away and Fidget drags her out of the room. Ratigan tells Flaversham that now there should be no more delays.

Fidget locks Olivia up in an empty glass bottle. Ratigan is taking a look at the royal guard uniforms and asks Fidget if he has gotten everything on the list. Fidget enthusiastically says yes! But then the bat remembers that he has lost the actual list. He says that it was because Basil chased him and Ratigan is furious that Basil is on the case. He tries to feed Fidget to Felicia but then Ratigan gets an idea and tells Felicia to release Fidget from her mouth.

Back at Baker Street, Basil is taking a close look at the list and is getting clues from the writing, ink, and paper. He looks at the paper under a microscope and sees coal dust, the kind used in sewer lamps. Basil continues to conduct experiments on the piece of paper. His experiments concluded that the paper came from a seedy pub where the sewer connects to the riverfront.

The scene the zooms in on the misty docks on the riverfront where Toby is watching Basil and Dawson head into the Rat Trap pub. They are dressed as sailors. Inside an octopus is juggling on a stage for entertainment. Basil tells Dawson to stay close and do as he does, though Dawson still has a hard time acting like a lowlife ruffian. As if to prove his point, Dawson is the only one who claps at the end of the octopus’ act as everyone else boos.  Basil asks the waitress about Ratigan and she, along with everyone else, gasps. The waitress then says that she has never heard of a Ratigan. Meanwhile, everyone is booing the next act off of the stage. Then a very pretty mouse starts to sing “Let Me be Good to You.” During the song, the waitress whispers something to the bartender who then pours something out of a vial in Basil and Dawson’s drinks. The waitress brings the drinks over and tells the pair that the drinks are on the house. This makes Basil suspicious that they have been drugged but he is too late in warning Dawson, whom has already drank most of it. Basil then spies Fidget and tries to get Dawson’s attention but the doctor is up on the stage with the dancers. Dawson then falls off of the stage and onto the piano, which is the start of a chaotic fight in the pub.

Dawson and Basil run out of the pub during the fight and they follow Fidget through the sewers. They come to Ratigan’s lair and they find Olivia in the bottle. They try to help her out but it turns out to be Fidget dressed in Olivia’s coat and hat. All of Ratigan’s gang shout surprise! Balloons fall and everyone cheers and claps and there is evern a large banner that reads “Welcome Basil!” Ratigan says that he expected them 15 minutes earlier and Basil tries to trash talk the villain but Ratigan will not have any of it. He says that it should be clear to Basil that the superior mind has won and everyone laughs at Basil. Basil slumps his shoulders and feels defeated.

In the next scene, Ratigan is setting up a mouse trap with Basil and Dawson tied to the trap. Ratigan says that he had so many ideas on how to kill Basil that he did not know which one to use, so he used them all! The room is filled with different traps and weapons. Ratigan then goes on to explain how his system works. A song will play on a phonograph; when the song ends, the needle moves and will cause a string to tighten. This will pull a cork out from under a glass that has a ball inside. The ball will be released and will roll down onto the trap, snapping it. This shoots off a gun and an arrow and will release an axe and an anvil. Some of his henchmen, dressed as royal guards, bring in a wrapped present. Ratigan peeks inside and is very happy with the result. He thanks Flaversham and tells the toy maker that he just needed the proper motivation and Ratigan knocks on the glass bottle where Olivia is in again. The henchmen climb onto Felicia and Ratigan says that he must take off as well because he has an engagement at Buckingham Palace. But he does ask Basil and Dawson to smile for the camera and points out a camera that will take a picture of their demise. Then Ratigan sets the phonograph which plays his song “Goodbye so Soon.” Fidget flies by and picks Ratigan up in a flying machine and they leave with the wrapped present. After Ratigan leaves, Dawson asks Basil if he knows what Ratigan meant by going to Buckingham Palace. Basil says that the Queen must be in danger, but he does not seem to care at all because he feels defeated. Dawson is very upset though at the thought of the Queen being in danger.

At Buckingham Palace, which is all decorated for the diamond jubilee, the mice guests are going inside through a small mouse entrance. Queen Mousetoria is getting ready in her rooms. Her guards are captured and replaced with Ratigan’s henchmen. They knock on her door and she invites them in. They say that a present just arrived for her. Fidget hands her a note which says “To our beloved Queen this gift we send, as her 60 year reign comes to an end.” She opens up the present, which is the same one that Ratigan had, and inside is a robot that looks exactly like her. It is being controlled by Flaversham and Ratigan appears in the doorway. The Queen recognises him and she tells the guards to seize him. Ratigan just copies what she is saying into a voice-changing tube but to seize her and the queen robot points at the real Queen and says what Ratigan said. The guards seize the real Queen and take her away.

Back at Ratigan’s hideout, the song is still playing and Olivia is trying to push the cork out of the bottle. Basil has given up because he thinks that he was so blind to fall for Ratigan’s tricks. Dawson is begging the detective to pull himself together and then he notices that the song is skipping so this might be their chance. But by the time he has Basil’s attention, the song is back to normal. He tells Basil to quit feeling sorry for himself and that he will think of an idea that will save them. Dawson tells Basil that if he has given up then they may as well set the trap off now. This gives Basil an idea and he gets his confidence back. He figures out that if they set the trap off themselves at the precise moment the ball rolls onto the trap, then the ball will get stuck. This happens and it undoes the hinges of the trap, setting of all of the weapons but directed away from them. The axe comes down and cuts the trap in half between the two mice, freeing them. Then the cork goes flying out of the bottle, Olivia with it, and Basil catches her. All in time to smile for the camera as it goes off.

Back at Buckingham Palace, the henchmen dressed as the royal guards sound off the trumpets. The curtain rises and the robot queen enters as everyone claps. She gives a speech, which is really Flaversham being forced to talk through the voice-changing tube as he reads off cue cards that the henchmen are holding. The speech is about Ratigan becoming the new royal consort. During this speech, Fidget is trying to feed the real Queen to Felicia. Ratigan comes onto the stage dressed in royal robes and everyone gasps.

Out of the sewers appear Basil, Dawson, and Olivia. Basil whistles for Toby and he tells the basset hound that the Queen is in mortal danger. Toby starts to growl and he immediately points in the direction of the palace. The mice climb onto his back.

At the palace, Ratigan is thanking the robot queen and he says that as the new royal consort, he has a few new suggestions. He rolls out a ridiculously long scroll and starts to read. The scene goes back and forth of Fidget struggling to feed the Queen to Felicia and Toby racing towards the Palace. Toby drops the mice off and reaches Fidget just in time to save the Queen. Toby then chases Felicia away.

Ratigan is on item 96 and he is not winning any favour with the audience but he just evil laughs and says that he has the power. He then asks the robot queen for permission to be supreme leader, expecting Flaversham to say yes as the queen, but then she says no. She continues to say that he is not her royal consort and starts to call Ratigan a bunch of names. Backstage, the guards have been tied up and it is Basil who is controlling the robot queen. The robot goes bonkers and starts to fall apart and Basil leaps onto the stage and calls Ratigan a rat! This makes the villain very mad and everyone attempts to capture Ratigan.

Toby is still chasing Felicia when the cat smugly jumps over a wall. She thinks she has gotten away but then there is a lot of barking and on the wall is a sign that reads “Royal Guard Dogs.”

Back in the palace, the fight to capture Ratigan is still going on. But Fidget calls him from the balcony to show that he has escaped and has captured Olivia again. Ratigan swings up on a rope to the balcony and tells everyone to stay where they are or the girl dies. Ratigan and Fidget take off again in their flying machine just as Basil, Dawson, and Flaversham almost catch up. They then make their own flying machine out of a flag, a matchbox, and some helium balloons. The chase is on. Fidget suggests lightening the load, meaning throwing Olivia off, but instead Ratigan throws Fidget off. The bat apparently cannot fly and he falls into the river. Basil catches up and leaps onto Ratigan’s flying machine and they crash into Big Ben.

Inside the clock, all of the gears are spinning which is very dangerous for everyone. Ratigan tries to sneak up on Basil but Olivia warns him in time. Basil and Olivia narrowly make it to the top of the clock without getting crushed by a gear but then Ratigan appears and chases them on all four legs looking very much like a sewer rat. Olivia is saved by Flaversham and Dawson just in time as Ratigan and Basil fall from the top of Big Ben. They land on the face of the clock and the fight continues. Ratigan is clawing at Basil and Basil seems to be losing. Basil is knocked down and Ratigan thinks that he has won. But Basil landed on the pieces of Ratigan’s flying machine. The clock strikes midnight and this movement knocks Ratigan off and he falls. Ratigan takes Basil with him but Basil survives by using parts of the flying machine to stay in the air.

The next scene shows a newspaper article which reads “Queen honors detective. Queen praises detective Basil, medal to be given.” Basil, Dawson, Olivia, and Flaversham are in Basil’s home reading the paper. Basil just thinks that it is all in a day’s work. Flaversham says that they are late to catch their train and so they must say their goodbyes. The father and daughter soon take off. Dawson says that it is time that he is on his way as well. Basil protests but Dawson says that the case is over and that he needs to find his own living quarters. But then there is a knock on the door and a distressed woman is looking for Basil of Baker Street. Basil introduces Dawson as his associate, with whom he does all of his cases. Basil then proceeds to guess exactly what the case is, without the woman saying anything. The scene zooms out and Toby is listening. Sherlock is playing the violin upstairs and Dawson narrates that over the years, they had many cases together but he shall always look back on that first case with fondness.

The end credits play over a zoomed out shot of 221B Baker Street as a chorus sings “Goodbye so Soon.”

Trivia:

• Eric Larson was once again credited as an animation consultant for this film. Animators even put many of Eric Larson’s mannerisms into Dr. Dawson.
• The Great Mouse Detective was reissued in 1992 as The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective.
• In the toy shop where Fidget is stealing uniforms and gears, there is a windup Dumbo toy.
• The newspaper at the end of the film was printed on June 21, 1987 and was issue number 1234. Queen Victoria actually celebrated her diamond jubilee on June 22, 1987.
• This was the directorial debut of team Ron Clements and John Musker. They went on to direct The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Treasure Planet, The Princess and the Frog, and Moana.
• Basil was named after actor Basil Rathbone, who played Sherlock Holmes in 14 movies in the 1930s and 1940s. His voice was actually taken from recorded samples for Sherlock’s few lines in The Great Moues Detective.
• This was Henry Mancini’s first time composing for an animated feature film, though he did compose the famous score for the Pink Panther cartoons.
• The Great Mouse Detective was released with the Mickey Mouse short Clock Cleaners from 1937.
• Ratigan was based on Sherlock Holmes’ archenemy Professor Moriarty.
• This was Candy Candido’s ninth and final role in a Disney animated feature film.
• The Great Mouse Detective was originally going to go by the book’s title Basil of Baker Street but Disney executives Michael Eisner and Peter Schneider felt that the name Basil was “too English” and American audiences would not find it appealing. So the name was changed to The Great Mouse Detective, which proved unpopular with many Disney employees. As a rebuttal, an interoffice memo was sent out with generic names of all of the Disney animated films as a joke. These generic names were:
  • Seven Little Men Help a Girl
  • The Wooden Boy who Became Real
  • Color and Music
  • The Wonderful Elephant who Could Really Fly 
  • The Little Deer who Grew Up
  • The Girl with the See-Through Shoes 
  • The Girl in the Imaginary World 
  • The Amazing Flying Children 
  • Two Dogs Fall in Love 
  • The Girl who Seemed to Die 
  • Puppies Taken Away 
  • The Boy who would be King 
  • A Boy, a Bear, and a Big Black Cat 
  • Aristocats 
  • Robin Hood with Animals 
  • Two Mice Save a Girl 
  • A Fox and a Hound are Friends 
  • The Evil Bonehead 
• These generic titles once appeared as answers in a “What’s in a Name” category on Jeopardy.

Representation in the Disney Parks:

There is currently no representation of The Great Mouse Detective in any of the Disney Parks.

 

Check out the other films of Disney’s Bronze Age:

The Aristocats (1970)
Robin Hood (1973)
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
The Rescuers (1977)
The Fox and the Hound (1981)
The Black Cauldron (1985)
Oliver and Company (1988)