Le Crapaud et le Maître d'école

Made at the end of the first age of Disney animation, "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad" consists of two separate animated adaptations of classic stories. The Ichabod of the title is Ichabod Crane from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", and the Mr. Toad is J. Thaddeus Toad from the "Wind in the Willows". Each is short, running only about 35 minutes apiece, and is narrated by top of the line actors, Basil Rathbone doing the honors for "The Wind in the Willows", and Bing Crosby for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". I've not read either story so can't judge the adaptations accuracy, but it doesn't matter. Both stories are highly entertaining, and if you like the old school Disney animation, you won't be disappointed.

Having never seen 'Mr. Toad', I can only comment on the 'Legend of Sleepy Hollow', having seen it many times as a child when 'Disney's Wonderful World' was running on the CBC. This has got to be some of the greatest work of Walt Disney. Washington Irving's original story is closely followed, unlike Tim Burton's 1999 version (still an awesome movie in its own right). The sequence involving Ichabod Crane's terrifying ride through the woods is undoubtedly the best, from the toads croaking 'Ichabod' to the Headless Horseman chasing Ichabod through the woods - it's alternately funny and frightening. It always appeared at Halloween on the Disney show, and I can't remember ever missing it.

From English and American literature come two fabulous characters who will forever excite readers with THE ADVENTURES OF ICHABOD AND MR. TOAD.

This was the last of Disney's compilation or anthology films - a form necessitated by the exigencies of the War years - and is actually a double featurette. Both halves would eventually be spun off into individual short subjects and work very well independently of each other. Their connections are quite tenuous: besides featuring 'fabulous characters' each story showcases a celebrated wild ride - one of which would, indeed, provide a long-lasting 'dark show' attraction at Disneyland.

First up is THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, which gives a drastically shortened & much revised view of Kenneth Grahame's classic book, focusing entirely on the chapters dealing with the exploits of the marvelous Mr. Toad and the troubles arising from his fixation with motorcars & speed (although much more time is spent showing him in his canary-coloured gypsy cart). As such, it is a fine introduction to Toad Hall, but one can only wonder what Disney would have done with a feature length animated film that included the bucolic charm of the novel, the glories of the Riverbank & the terrors of the Wild Wood as well as the high jinks. The production values are excellent, with narration by the inimitable Basil Rathbone, and Eric Blore & J. Pat O'Malley obviously have a high time voicing the wanton Toad and his equine pal Cyril Proudbottom, but a true fan of Grahame's original creation can't help longing for a little more...

Washington Irving's famous story, THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW, comes alive in the second half of the movie. Bing Crosby's singing narration and the top-notch animation tell a tale of humor and genuine fright. Ichabod Crane, the pedantic pedagogue, is a triumph of the animators' art, while the film's climax - the ride through the Hollow & the appearance of the hideous Hessian - is a celebration of pacing and stylistic understatement. Based on material much shorter than Grahame's, the plot fits into the half hour time slot more easily and still has the luxury of introducing a wholly original & hilarious minor character in the chubby little Tilda, who completely steals the dancing sequence. It is the Horseman, however, who should remain the longest in the viewer's uneasy dreams - the embodiment of every Halloween nightmare.

Two sets of narrators, Basil Rathbone and Bing Crosby, narrate stories featuring popular characters from their respective countries. Rathbone reads an adaptation of 1908's The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame from his native Britain wherein spendthrift and manic Mr. Toad is swindled into making an idiotic deal for a stolen motorcar for which he is then framed for the theft, necessitating intervention from his friends Mole, Ratty, and MacBadger. Bing Crosby then narrates an adaptation of 1820's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow buy Washington Irving which tells the story of a schoolmaster named Ichabod Crane who uses his social connections and community prestige to indulge his appetites as he competes for the affections of a wealthy farmer's daughter named Katrina against the bullyish town hero Brom Bones until one Halloween night, the superstitious Ichabod finds himself pursued by the Headless Horseman.

The final package film produced by Disney during the 40s. Originally intended to be its own feature length film, Wind and the Willows was truncated to featurette length not only because of resource scarcity at Disney studios at the time, but also because Walt Disney did not think the material was strong enough to justify a feature film. Initially intended to feature three segments, the third segment, and adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Gremlins never made it to production with only Sleepy Hollow and Wind in the Willows now comprising the release. While it still has many issues that plague Disney's other package films, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is far and away the best of these package features by virtue of showcasing literary characters from the U. K. and United States in grand manner with its library set framing device carrying a dignity and weight that really hasn't been seen in these film's since Fantasia (though admittedly it falls short of it).

The first segment, an adaptation of Wind in the Willows where we follow the madcap hijinx of Mr. Toad as he squanders his inherited fortunes of expensive misadventures whose fallout he leaves to his trusted friends to clear up is well told with Basil Rathbone's voicework giving weight and authority to a largely comic narrative with Toad's misadventures landing not only himself into trouble, but also those around him. At its core it's a decent story about friends helping a troubled friend out of trouble, but the ending where Toad reverts to his foolhardy ways blissfully unaware and unrepentant for the trouble he caused himself and his friends is definitely an odd note to go out on (but probably appropriate). The short features clever dialogue exchanges and strong animation with this world of humans and animals not only interacting, but set to scale in a unique and visually striking creative choice.

The second segment is really good and is a strong ghost story. What really fascinates me about the adaptation of Sleepy Hollow is in how our protagonist is when you step back and look at him a pompous, avaricious, and opportunistic character who is often ill remembered as an innocent who falls into the supernatural fate that befalls him. While on the surface it seems like the rivalry between Brom Bones and Ichabod would ordinarily favor Ichabod as the default "good guy", Ichabod when he falls for Katrina is fantasizing more about her inordinate amount of wealth and her father dying than he is about Katrina herself. Brom Bones is certainly a very brutish character who seems to have more muscle than brains, but at the same time he does seem to be interested in Katrina purely for herself rather than her money as Ichabod is making an interesting character dynamic where the Headless Horseman payoff feels more like comeuppance. The one drawback I'd give this short is in the casting of Bing Crosby who's fine I suppose, but his rather campy approach to the narration coupled with his upbeat singing that breaks the tone of the short (particularly in the ghost story set up for the Headless Horseman) creates a jarring disconnect. Unlike the rather silly Wind in the Willows where Basil Rathbone's was played probably more serious than the material called for, here Bing Crosby overly camps up the material in a rather head scratching manner that while it doesn't undermine the short that much still is rather head scratching in the creative choice.

Like other package films from this era of Disney there's some good elements and some weak elements. I still say this is probably the strongest of the package films produced during this particular era of Disney film history thanks to the film's focus on literary classics and attempting to give the audience well-constructed featurettes, but in the case of Wind in the Willows the material was okay if unremarkable, and with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow it creates a memorable set of characters but undermines itself with Bing Crosby's rather distracting presence that feels like it was added solely to cater to contemporary tastes. Mostly positive if messy experience.

I am a huge Disney fan at 17, and while The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad is not the best of the Disney canon, it is hugely enjoyable and definitely worth seeing. While I would rank both The Wind in the Willows and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow a 9/10, personally if I were to say which was better, the latter but only marginally. Merely because it holds more of a nostalgic value.

The Wind in the Willows is a condensed but very faithful 30 minute or so cartoon, based on the Kenneth Graheme literary classic. While it does drag in places, it does very well with what it crams into such a short running time. It is very lovingly animated, with some rich backgrounds and lovely colours. I also liked the music, it was lyrical, rousing and fun, the sort of music you will find in a Silly Symphony. Also the voice acting is very expressive, Basil Rathbone who I know best as Sherlock Holmes(well one of the actors playing the fictional detective) is brilliant as the narrator and Eric Blore is a lot of fun as Toad. Other characters I liked were Badger, who is very firm and gruff and Cyril, the Horse, a character who featured in one of the more memorable scenes from the cartoon, second only to the hilarious Courtroom scene.

On the other hand, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a terrifying yet worthwhile classic. One of my favourite moments in anything to do with Disney along with Willie the Operatic Whale. Bing Crosby is sublime as the narrator, never overdoing it, it was just right. The animation has an appropriately dark visual style, and the music is also memorable and fitting. The famous story features a schoolmaster named Ichabod Crane, and his love for Katrina and rivalry between him and Brom Bones, who like Gaston is a handsome tower of strength. Perhaps the most memorable moment of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is the part when Ichabod meets the Headless Horseman, a character that was so scary he gave me nightmares when I was little. The Headless Horseman is the sort of character who is imitated in stuff like Scooby Doo yet never as well, the very look of him here makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

Overall, this is an excellent binding of two classic stories. 9/10 Bethany Cox