Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, The (1949)
The classic tales of “Wind and the Willows” and “The Legend
of Sleepy Hollow” are delivered to the big screen through Walt Disney’s
animators in the form of extended short subjects tied loosely together in what
would be the studio’s final “package feature.” The Adventures of Ichabod and
Mr. Toad would mark the conclusion of trying period for Disney in a decade
that rattled his studio and would turn a creative corner with the start of the
decade. With whimsy, comedy, and a touch of horror this film has a little bit
of everything that manifested how Disney maintains the ability of being the top
animation in the business. With a scattered production history the rather truncated
length feature came together to be financial and creative success that helped
propel the studio back into full length stand-alone animated features.
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is an animated
package film adapting the stories of “The Wind and the Willows,” about a wealthy
Toad and how his obsessions land him into a world of trouble, and “The Legend
of Sleepy Hollow,” about a man whose superstitions get the best of him. Loosely
tied together as two popular tales of English literature the film first embarks
on the tale of Mr. Toad to the narration of Basil Rathbone before giving way to
the more musically peppered tail of Ichabod guided by the voice by Bing Crosby.
Our first tale depicted by anthropomorphize animals, Toad
(voiced by Eric Blore) is a wealthy English gentleman of the early 20th
century with a tendency to develop “manias” and his latest one centering on newly
introduced motor car. Despite the attempt of his friends MacBadger, Ratty, and
Moley to protect Toad from ruining himself and his fortune Toad is unable to
contain his obsession and finds himself in a heap of trouble. Toad is swindled a
den of untrustworthy weasels led by a curly-mustachioed barkeep named Winky who
“weasels” Toad out of deed for his prized manor, Toad Hall, by framing him over
the matter of a stolen automobile. With the aid of his friends Toad breaks out
of jail and must find the evidence that exonerates him from crime, ultimately
saving his name and Toad Hall.
The film then gives way to the the tale of the gangly new
schoolmaster of a small New York village named Ichabod Crane. This musically
inclined segment is narrated by the famed Bing Crosby sharing the story of how
the cunning, yet superstitious Ichabod looks to gain favor of the prized wealthy
beauty of the town, Katrina. In his pursuit Crane’s romantic rival is the dashing
and brawny Brom Bones who grows frustrated by the new gentleman attempting to
steal his love away. Utilizing Ichabod’s superstitious nature against him Brom shares
the local legend of a menacing specter that haunts the wooded areas of town,
the Headless Horseman. That dark autumn evening with Crane spooked by the tale
has himself a menacing encounter with the legend as he runs for his life, never
to be heard of again.
On the whole The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
is a very well produced animated motion picture. For a feature cartoon it does
run quite a bit short, just under the 70 minutes, but its two subjects manifest
the cleanest cartoon productions at that time in the business with stories that
were entertaining and creative. The Mr. Toad segment plays well with the style
of classic anthropomorphic animals with a story that is more overall silly with
a touch of a classic Disney style fairytale-like quality. For Ichabod the story
is weaker as a convoluted love triangle where the lead character is actually a man
of poorer character.
The artistry grows significantly higher with Ichabod with
its beautiful impressionistic backgrounds, creatively constructed human cartoon
characters, and mix of music to story led almost completely by the famed
entertainer Bing Cosby. Despite the story being rather weak, the segment comes
to the creative crescendo with the climatic scene with the headless horseman
where Disney animators unleash many of their patented animated skills to up the
artistry of the film’s culmination. Disney’s multi-plane camera, a technique
that added dimensions to hand drawn animation that had been shelved for a
period due to money and time constraints gets use to add extra drama for the
scene in the woods. It may be because of this sequence that the film would be
awarded a Golden Globe for best cinematography in a color feature, an unheard
of honor awarded to an animated feature.
The picture would come together out of necessity as two
separate productions meeting together to form a singular feature long enough to
warrant a full-length feature release. The idea of Wind and the Willows was
presented to Walt Disney immediately following the release of Snow White and
the Seven Dwarfs in 1938, but the idea was held back in favor of Disney’s other
projects. Production work began on the idea briefly in 1941 until WWII halted
the project along with many other things at the studio. When production finally
resumed on Toad in 1946 it became clear that the story was not fleshed out
enough to encompass a full-length feature and was considered to be bundled into
one of the studios package features that would pepper the decade.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow would come into the mix as yet
another longer short subject later in 1946 initially considered to be a piece of
a package picture. Animators knew that Ichabod was to be part of a film
pairing, giving it clearer shape to fit within the constates of a package
feature, unlike that of Toad’s initial conception. In the late 1940s Disney
would manipulate its more prized short subjects to form its package features
forming what became Fun and Fancy Free (1947) and Melody Time
(1948) leading to the ultimate pairing of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
To add appeal to the rather truncated animated feature it
was decided to bring in the talents of known motion picture figures to play as
narrators for each segment. For Toad additions were made to accommodate narration
which was provided by famed British actor Basil Rathbone, known most popularly
as Sherlock Holmes in a series of picture, but now attempting to remove himself
from his type casted role. Three years removed form acting on the screen to
focus on stage work, Rathbone lends his fine diction to the segment to give it
an eyre of sophistication in this British children’s story. One may be able to
tell that Rathbone’s role as narrator may feel unnecessary in the story and
that is from the case that most of this segment was completed before it was
decided to tag on a celebrity narrator.
In contrast Bing Crosby is very much the center of the
storytelling for Ichabod Crane. Bing does more than narrate. Crosby voices all
male roles in what few direct lines they were given, but most of all the
segment sees the addition of original music sung by the famed crooner. It is
much clearer that this segment revolved around its narrator’s distinct quality,
which could detract from the original story, but mostly adds a fun energy to a tale
that plays like a ghost story told by a fun uncle.
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad were well received
by both critics and audiences. Bringing in decent numbers at the box office
while earning a respect among critics of the period for its artistry that
picture pointed towards brighter days for the studio. In time, like all the
other package films, the film’s segments would be showcased separately, first
on the Disney anthology television programs beginning in the mid 1950s and later
distributed separately in compilations with Disney home releases. There would
be the brief theatrical rerelease of the film, but the picture would not be
viewed in its original form for decades until the distribution on home video. Despite
the picture not being one of Disney’s treasured fairytale classics it generally
receives good marks by those that view it.
Today The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad remains
one of the better received films from long forgotten catalogue of package
features. Diehard Disney fans hold the film in high regard while most tend to
know it as the movie they never saw that inspire the Disney Park attraction Mr.
Toad’s Wild Ride. The feature is worth a watch as both segments remain strong
pieces of animation from the late 1940s that are not too brief to cut out too
much from the source material, but not too long where they would have needed to
pad the stories with unneeded fluff. It sits in a Goldilocks zone of just right
for a fun, little movie that features genuinely good animation of its era.
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