La mare aux grenouilles

A Walt Disney Cartoon Short Subject.

The enthusiasms of a wealthy & irrepressible Toad and his passion for motorcars brings hilarious turmoil to the lives of his friends along the Riverbank.

Disney's THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, originally the first half of THE ADVENTURES OF ICHABOD AND MR. TOAD (1949), gives a drastically shortened & much revised view of Kenneth Grahame's classic book, focusing entirely on the chapters dealing with the marvelous Mr. Toad. As such, it is a fine introduction to the original, but one can only wonder what Disney could have done with a feature length animated film that included the bucolic charm of the book, as well as the high jinks. The production values are excellent, and Eric Blore & J. Pat O'Malley obviously have a high time voicing Toad and his equine pal Cyril Proudbottom, but a true fan of the book can't help longing for a little more...

In the Prologue, narrator Basil Rathbone compares Toad very favorably to some other fabulous characters from English Literature - Robin Hood, King Arthur, Becky Sharp, Sherlock Holmes & Oliver Twist. A bit curious, as there was nothing fabulous about young Oliver (either Fagin or Micawber would have been a better choice) and considering Rathbone's own long association with the Holmes character.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a storm of naysayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

It's a shame that the Wind in the Willows was made into a 30 minute film. It would've made a good feature length film, as it's not too long or too short a story to dramatize in under 90 minutes. And where was the rowing boat, the Otter, the rabbits and the willow tree? Needless to say, the characters are cute and it's better than some films like Lady and the Tramp and The Jungle Book.

Originally part of the movie The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, this condensed version of the Kenneth Grahame novel tells the story of madcap Mr. Toad's obsession with the newfangled automobile and how his friends try to help him. It's a fun, well-paced cartoon with lots of humor and action. The courtroom scene is a treat. It features the talented voice work of Eric Blore, Pat O'Malley, Claude Allister, Campbell Grant, Colin Campbell, and the great Basil Rathbone as narrator. The music is lively and cheerful. The animation is just gorgeous! The characters and backgrounds are beautifully-drawn and the Technicolor is so rich it's a feast for the eyes. Classic Disney animation was so attractive and so much fun to watch. This is a perfect example of that.

I liked this movie, but it was too short. I know kids have short attention spans, but a half an hour was too short. I was very disappointed. I thought it would be longer.

I saw this movie when I was a kid and never forgot it. I've been looking for it for about 60 years, I loved it that much. It was very entertaining, the characters were charming and the narration was wonderful. I'd love to find it and see it again now that I am an (old) adult!. A classic.