Original hand painted production animation cel of Madame Medusa set on a lithographic background from "The Rescuers," 1977, Walt Disney Studios; Numbered 91 in ink lower right; Size - Madame Medusa: 9 1/2 x 8 1/4', Image 11 x 15 1/4"; Unframed.
"Give you time? You bungler! You have been down there
for three months. Bottles. What Bottles?" - Madame Medusa
"The
Rescuers" is an animated feature film produced by Walt Disney
Productions; and was released on June 22, 1977 by Buena Vista
Distribution. The film is based on a series of books by Margery Sharp,
most notably "The Rescuers and Miss Bianca." The 23rd film in the Walt
Disney Animated Classics series, the film is about the Rescue Aid
Society; an international mouse organization headquartered in New York;
and shadowed the United Nations. The Rescue Aid Society, a mouse based
group, was dedicated to helping abduction victims around the world at
large. Two of these mice, jittery janitor Bernard (voiced by Bob
Newhart) and his co-agent, the elegant Miss Bianca (voiced by Eva
Gabor), set out to rescue Penny, an orphan girl being held prisoner in
the Devil's Bayou by treasure huntress Madame Medusa.
Early
designs for Medusa were done by Ken Anderson, there were even
discussions about bringing back Cruella deVil from "101 Dalmatians" as
the villain; but that was eventually abandoned. The character of Medusa
was eventually created and although there are many similarities with
Cruella (thin build, similar cars, appear wealthy, bad tempers, cry upon
realizing that they have lost, etc.), Medusa is still quite distinct
with her wild red hair, sagging breasts, green eyes, and lots and lots
of makeup. Her ultimate goal in the film is to possess the Devil's Eye,
the world's largest diamond. Milt Kahl was given the task of animating
Medusa and it is known that one his inspirations was his ex-wife. Kahl's
brilliance in animation is really showcased with this character and
many point to the scene where she is removing her false eyelashes as
proof of his technical skill.
Original production animation cel of Madame Medusa without the background.
The next three paragraphs are from veteran Walt Disney animator Andreas Deja:
"When Milt Kahl was asked in an interview if he had a favorite character he animated, his response was: "Oh I enjoyed a few, I just loved doing Madame Mim, Shere Khan was a lot of fun, and so were the butler and old lawyer in 'Aristocats'. But I guess I enjoyed Medusa more than any one of them." And it shows. His last animation assignment at Disney -just like Marc Davis's- was a tour de force of character acting. It was a "I'm going to give it all" feel to it.
Marc told me that Milt promised him, Medusa will "wipe his Cruella off the screen". Then he added with a chuckle: "Of course that didn't happen". So there was definitely a friendly competition going on between these two great animators and their characters. Milt sort of designed Medusa's features opposite from Cruella's. Cruella has small nose, Medusa's is longer. Cruella's hair parts in the middle, Medusa's off to one side. Cruella has a pointy jaw, Medusa is almost chin less etc.
I have to admit, when I first saw Medusa in "The Rescuers" in a London theater, I couldn't believe my eyes. So much inventiveness in her drawing and motion. How on earth can you show an animated character removing her make up? Wasn't that something only a live actress could pull off...but in animation? Incredible! I have spent way too much time studying this character, on the other hand I think I got a lot out of it. Dialogue, graphic but dimensional drawing and just being gutsy in general."
When Madame Medusa is first introduced in the film "The Rescuers," she is barging into her back room of her pawn shop to answer a ringing telephone. "Madam Medusa's Pawn Shop Bou-tique," she says. Geraldine Page, the Oscar winning actress, provided the voice to this wonderful villain and the way that she increases her voice tone with the words pawn shop boutique is just so wonderful and extremely memorable.
This is an original production animation cel of Madame
Medusa. A wonderful image from a key scene in the film when she is talking on the phone to her henchman Snoops and says to him, "Give you time? You bungler! You have been down there
for three months. Bottles. What bottles?" Medusa
is eyes open and her mouth is in a disapproving frown showing her teeth
as she is staring into the telephone in her left hand. A great addition
to any animation
art collection!
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