The Adventure of Ichabod and Mr Toad (without spoilers)

  The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad

⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

  A film more than 70 years old is one you might find dated but I did not. It has the old-school Disney touches and a few stereotypical characters but as it is about two stories still known and loved, it works. Mr Toad is over 100 years old, The Wind in the Willows having been published in 1908 and Ichabod Crane is even older. A story from a collection it was published in 1820, making it over 200 years old.

  This film is narrated by both Basil Rathbone and Bing Crosby.

  Probably best known for his role as Sherlock Holmes in 14 films (with Nigel Bruce as Watson) and also as Sir Guy of Gisborne in Errol Flynn swashbuckler The Adventures of Robin Hood, Basil Rathbone narrates the Wind in the Willows. Best known for his unique singing voice he demonstrated in over 70 films, Bing Crosby narrates The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

  The old school touch is evident, We start with Basil Rathbone asking the audience who the greatest literary character is. As he asks we pan a shelf in a library and eventually stop on one featuring Rathbone's character's favourite character, Thaddeus Toad. Much like earlier Disney films, the book magically opens for the tale to begin.

  The Wind in the Willows is the story of Badger, Toad, Rat and Mole, four friends who live near a river. In the book, while Rat, Badger and Toad know each other, Mole is new to the friend group. Also Rat rarely leaves his home but does on occasion to visit his friends. Badger lives in the wild wood, a dangerous place. Only their species are their names. In this film the four are already a friend group and have first names, their species being their surname. The villains of the tale in both the book and the film, are weasels. This is basically an animated version of The Wind in the Willows, while minor things are changed a little, the main story is the same. Toad is a character from old money, who lives in Toad Hall and risks bankruptcy with one new obsession after another.

  When Rathbone finishes his tale, Bing Crosby comments that while Toad is a good character and England has a lot of fabulous characters 'over here in the Colonies we've managed to come up with a few of our own'. Now America had become the United States back in 1776, but some people still referred to them as the colonies and it might even have been a slight dig (I'm sure in a joking way) at England. Crosby's character then tells us about his favourite character, Ichabod Crane.

  Oddly, the book Bing Crosby chooses is actually titled Ichabod Crane. It is not the original book the story comes from, nor is it the title of the story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Part of a collection of stories, often published now as Rip Van Winkle and Other Stories, the Legend of Sleepy Hollow is the story of a superstitious school teacher that moves to Sleepy Hollow and encounters the most terrifying apparition to appear there, the headless horseman.  In some versions, it is revealed that the apparition of the horseman is Ichabod's rival for Katrina, Brom Bones, wishing to scare Ichabod and perhaps get him to leave Sleepy Hollow. Bing Crosby sang two songs for this adaptation, The Ichabod Crane Song and The Headless Horseman. Sleepy Hollow is thought by the residents to be extremely haunted and the most terrifying ghost is said to be the headless horseman who rides to where he lost his head and will take the head of anyone he encounters. The film is similar, Ichabod Crane is a school teacher who comes to Sleepy Hollow. In this film, Ichabod's rival for the hand of a pretty, coquettish heiress, scares him with the tale of the headless horseman.  Riding home that night, Ichabod's imagination plays tricks on him but eventually, he does encounter a headless rider. There is a short reprise of the song about the headless horseman as the book is closed, returned to the shelf and the camera pulls back. When we pull back so far as to be out of the library, the lights go off and Bing Crosby nervously says 'man I'm gettin' outta here". 

One of Disney's darker endings. I have to say I enjoyed this. The animation is as good as we have come to expect from Disney. It is a little primitive in parts but in 1949 animators could only do so much. It has comedy as well as drama and a little terror in both. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow really does seem to leave Ichabod's ultimate fate left to the audience to decide. Two classic stories narrated very well by two giants of 1940s cinema with a Disney touch, not exactly expected to be a bad film. An unfairly forgotten gem, one I hope more people watch. Either the traditional way or Disney+ subscribers making the most of it.

On IMDB

 

Buy on Amazon

The Adventure of Ichabod and Mr Toad (with spoilers)

 The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad

⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Warning: This review contains spoilers. Read next post for one without.

  A film more than 70 years old it is one you might find dated but I did not. It has the old-school Disney touches and a few stereotypical characters but as it is about two stories still known and loved, it works. Mr Toad is over 100 years old, The Wind in the Willows having been published in 1908 and Ichabod Crane is even older. A story from a collection it was published in 1820, making it over 200 years old.

  This film is narrated by both Basil Rathbone and Bing Crosby.

  Probably best known for his role as Sherlock Holmes in 14 films (with Nigel Bruce as Watson) and also as Sir Guy of Gisborne in Errol Flynn swashbuckler The Adventures of Robin Hood, Basil Rathbone narrates the Wind in the Willows. Best known for his unique singing voice he demonstrated in over 70 films, Bing Crosby narrates The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

  The old school touch is evident, We start with Basil Rathbone asking the audience who the greatest literary character is. As he asks we pan a shelf in a library and eventually stop on one featuring Rathbone's character's favourite character, Thaddeus Toad. Much like earlier Disney films, the book magically opens for the tale to begin.

  The Wind in the Willows is the story of Badger, Toad, Rat and Mole, four friends who live near a river. In the book, while Rat, Badger and Toad know each other, Mole is new to the friend group. Also, Rat rarely leaves his home but does on occasion to visit his friends. Badger lives in the wildwood, a dangerous place. Only their species are their names. In this film, the four are already a friend group and have first names, their species being their surname. The villains of the tale in both the book and the film, are weasels. This is basically an animated version of The Wind in the Willows, while minor things are changed a little, the main story is the same. Toad is a character from old money, who lives in Toad Hall and risks bankruptcy with one new obsession after another. He starts with a gypsy cart, trashing everything in its way, then sees a motorcar and is ultimately tricked into trading his ancestral home for a car that turns out to be stolen. A villainous character involved commits perjury at Toad's trial and Toad is convicted. After being helped to escape, Toad and his friends seek to reclaim Toad Hall and clear Toad's name. Toad seems a changed character, then buys himself an aeroplane. The friends concede that their friend will never change completely, but love him just the same.

  When Rathbone finishes his tale, Bing Crosby comments that while Toad is a good character and England has a lot of fabulous characters 'over here in the Colonies we've managed to come up with a few of our own'. Now America had become the United States back in 1776, but some people still referred to them as the colonies and it might even have been a slight dig (I'm sure in a joking way) at England. Crosby's character then tells us about his character's favourite character, Ichabod Crane.

  Oddly, the book Bing Crosby chooses is actually titled Ichabod Crane. It is not the original book the story comes from, nor is it the title of the story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Part of a collection of stories, often published now as Rip Van Winkle and Other Stories, the Legend of Sleepy Hollow is the story of a superstitious school teacher who moves to Sleepy Hollow and encounters the most terrifying apparition to appear there, the headless horseman. In the book, Ichabod encounters the horseman while riding home after his marriage proposal is rejected by Katrina Van Tassel. In some versions, it is revealed that the apparition of the horseman is Ichabod's rival for Katrina, Brom Bones, wishing to scare Ichabod and perhaps get him to leave Sleepy Hollow. His plan works as Ichabod flees and never returns. However, this can still be ambiguous as Ichabod's hat and his horse's saddle are found by the bridge, while both the horse and Ichabod have disappeared. Bing Crosby sang two songs for this adaptation, The Ichabod Crane Song and The Headless Horseman. Sleepy Hollow is thought by the residents to be extremely haunted and the most terrifying ghost is said to be the headless horseman who rides to where he lost his head and will take the head of anyone he encounters. The film is similar, Ichabod Crane is a school teacher who comes to Sleepy Hollow and soon falls in love, as all the men do, with Katrina Van Tassel, only daughter of the wealthy farmer. As with probably the majority of the men, while Katrina is beautiful and coquettish, Ichabod seems more attracted to the money marriage with Katrina will bring him than Katrina herself. While in this film Ichabod seems to successfully court Katrina, his rival, unable to have stopped Ichabod, scares him with the tale of the headless horseman. Leaving Katrina's home that night, Ichabod's imagination plays tricks on him but eventually, he does encounter a headless rider. The rider laughs maniacally as Ichabod and his horse struggle to outrun him. The rider holds a flaming carved pumpkin aloft and tries to behead Ichabod. Ichabod and his horse eventually make it over the bridge the rider cannot cross, which is meant to be safe. When they stop and look back, the rider does not pursue them but hurls the pumpkin at Ichabod, who seems to be stuck and blacks out. In the morning Ichabod has disappeared but his hat and a shattered pumpkin are found at the 'safe' end of the bridge. Katrina marries Ichabod's rival and Ichabod's ultimate fate is ambiguous. While it ends with some saying Ichabod simply left and married someone else, the story ends by saying that the residents didn't believe the 'nonsense' that Ichabod lived, because they knew he was spirited away by the headless horseman. Laughing on his horse while holding a flaming pumpkin aloft is the last image of the horseman we see. There is then a short reprise of the song about the headless horseman as the book is closed, returned to the shelf and the camera pulls back. When we pull back so far as to be out of the library, the lights go off and Bing Crosby nervously says 'man I'm gettin' outta here". 

One of Disney's darker endings. I have to say I enjoyed this. The animation is as good as we have come to expect from Disney. It is a little primitive in parts but in 1949 animators could only do so much. It has comedy as well as drama and a little terror in both. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow really does seem to leave Ichabod's ultimate fate left to the audience to decide. Two classic stories narrated very well by two giants of 1940s cinema with a Disney touch, not exactly expected to be a bad film. An unfairly forgotten gem, one I hope more people watch. Either the traditional way or Disney+ subscribers making the most of it.

 

On IMDB

Buy on Amazon