The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is a 1949 American animated package film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film consists of two segments: the first based on the 1908 children's novel The Wind in the Willows by British author Kenneth Grahame, and the second based on the 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by American author Washington Irving.

The Adventures of Ichabod and
Mr. Toad
Original theatrical release poster
Directed by
Produced byWalt Disney
Story by
Based onThe Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
by Washington Irving
Starring
Narrated by
Music byOliver Wallace
Edited byJohn O. Young
Production
company
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • October 5, 1949 (1949-10-05)
Running time
68 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1,625,000 (worldwide rentals)[1]

The film is the eleventh Disney animated feature film, and the last of the studio's package film era of the 1940s, following Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, and Melody Time. Disney would not produce another package film until The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in March 1977.

Beginning in 1955, the two portions of the film were separated, and televised as part of the Disneyland television series. They were later marketed and sold separately on home video.

Segments

As the film's animated segments are based on literary works, they are both introduced in live-action scenes set in a library as a framing device. The first segment is introduced and narrated by Basil Rathbone, and the second segment is introduced and narrated by Bing Crosby. Decca Records issued an album called Ichabod – The Legend of Sleepy Hollow featuring Bing Crosby in 1949 to tie in with the release of the film.

The Wind in the Willows
See also: The Wind in the Willows

The story is set in and around London, England, United Kingdom between June 10, 1908 and January 1, 1909. The protagonist J. Thaddeus Toad, Esq. is introduced as an "incurable adventurer" who "never counted the cost". As the story's "one disturbing element", although he is the wealthy proprietor of the Toad Hall estate, Toad's adventures and "positive mania for fads" have brought him to the brink of bankruptcy. As a last resort, Toad's friend Angus MacBadger volunteers as Toad's bookkeeper to help Toad keep his estate which is a source of pride in the community.

One summer day, MacBadger asks Toad's friends Ratty (a water rat) and Moley (a mole) to persuade Toad to give up his latest mania of recklessly driving about the countryside in a horse and canary-yellow gypsy cart, which could accumulate a great deal of financial liability in damaged property. Ratty and Moley confront Toad, but are unable to change his mind. Toad tries to escape from them, but then sees a motor car for the first time and becomes entranced by the new machine, having been taken over by "motor-mania".

In an attempt to cure Toad's new mania, Ratty and Moley put Toad under house arrest. However, Toad escapes and is later arrested and charged with car theft. At his trial, Toad represents himself and calls his horse Cyril Proudbottom as his first witness. Cyril testifies that the car which Toad was accused of stealing had already been stolen by a gang of weasels. Toad had entered a tavern where the car was parked and offered to buy the car from the weasels. However, since Toad had no money, he instead offered to trade Toad Hall for the car. The prosecutor and judge show disbelief toward the statement, so Toad then calls the bartender Mr. Winkie as a witness to the agreement; however, when told by Toad to explain what actually happened (during which he believes he will be pronounced innocent, proceeding to dress fashionably and attempting to walk out the door of the court house) Winkie falsely testifies that Toad had tried to sell him the stolen car. Toad is found guilty on the spot and sentenced to 20 years in the Tower of London. As the months passed by, Toad's friends make every effort to appeal his case, but to no avail.

On Christmas Eve, Toad appears to have an epiphany about his careless ways, but once Cyril visits Toad in disguise as his grandmother and helps him escape by giving him a disguise of his own, all that flies out the window. Toad quickly runs to a railway station and hijacks a 2-4-0 train engine and drives out of the station heading toward the river bank without getting caught by the police on another train engine. Though seeming to drown due to his ball and chain dragging him down to the bottom of the river (having thrown himself into it in an attempt to give the police the slip), he then arrives at Ratty's house. However, while Moley is happy to see him again, Ratty is insistent that Toad return to prison and pay his debt to society (out of the fact Toad ignored their warnings to stop his carelessness), especially when they hear what they think is the police at the door. Instead, it is MacBadger who enters, informing them that Winkie is the leader of the weasel gang, and that Toad indeed traded Toad Hall for their stolen motorcar; Winkie himself is in possession of the deed. Ratty then apologizes to Toad for thinking ill of him.

Knowing that the deed bearing both Toad and Winkie's signatures would prove Toad's innocence, the four friends sneak into Toad Hall using a secret passage near the river by boat. Though Toad nearly louses up the plan by almost shooting the guard outside on the bridge, the four manage to sneak in. Finding the weasels and Winkie (who they see has the deed on his person) drunk and passed out, they attempt to lower Moley on a makeshift rope to swipe it. Unfortunately, Toad's actions from before had caused more damage than originally thought as the guard investigates, finds the passageway and wakes up the Weasels and Winkie. A grueling chase around the estate ensues to take the document, during which a number of antics happen, including Moley folding the deed into a paper airplane and then Toad producing numerous ones to confuse Winkie and the weasels and the quick switch-around with the hidden wall panel. Though the four manage to escape with their lives, they appear to not get the deed. However, Toad proudly produces said deed from his pocket.

The film then ends on New Year's Day with Toad exonerated and regaining his house while it is implied that Winkie and the weasels have been arrested and imprisoned. As MacBadger, Ratty, and Moley celebrate the New Year with a toast to Toad, who they believe has completely reformed, Toad and Cyril recklessly fly past on a 1903 Wright Flyer; Toad has not truly reformed and has developed a mania for airplanes instead.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
See also: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Although the film introduces the story as Ichabod Crane, later individual releases retained the story's original title. (As a short story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" was originally published in The Sketch Book with other stories, not as a single volume as depicted in the film.)

In October 1790 (fourteen years after the American Revolution and founding the United States), Ichabod Crane, a lanky and superstitious, yet charming dandy arrives in Sleepy Hollow, New York, a small village outside Tarrytown that is renowned for its ghostly hauntings, to be the town's new schoolmaster. Despite his odd behavior, appearance, and rather effeminate mannerisms, Ichabod soon wins the hearts of the village's women and forms good friendships with his students, though the latter is mainly in order to get invitations to suppers at said student's homes which he would not be able to afford on his meager salary. Brom Bones, the roguish town hero, does his best to bully and play pranks on Ichabod, such as interrupting his singing lessons with the town ladies choir by having a dog howl in the middle of Ichabod singing a series of notes, making it seem like Ichabod himself produced it. However, the schoolmaster is very good at ignoring these taunts and continues to interact with the townspeople. One day at a town picnic, Ichabod meets and falls in love with Katrina van Tassel, the beautiful daughter of the wealthy farmer Baltus van Tassel, and whom Brom is equally infatuated with. Despite being obsessed with Katrina's beauty, Ichabod mainly desires to take her family's money for himself. Brom, who has never been challenged like this, proceeds to compete with the schoolmaster, but Ichabod wins Katrina over at every opportunity and unintentionally makes a fool of Brom in the process. Unbeknownst to both men, Katrina is only using Ichabod to make Brom jealous and force him to try harder for her affections.

The two love rivals are invited to the van Tassel Halloween party since Ichabod had borrowed a horse from a farmer. Brom attempts to get Ichabod to dance with a plump woman who is a wild and impetuous dancer instead of Katrina, and later attempts to have him fall through a cellar door, but both attempts comically backfire. While both men dine, Brom catches Ichabod accidentally knocking the salt shaker over and nervously tossing salt over his left shoulder. Discovering Ichabod's weakness is superstition, he decides to sing the tale of the legendary Headless Horseman in order to scare him. The horseman supposedly travels the woods on Halloween each year, searching for a living head to replace the one he had lost, and the only way to escape the ghost is to cross a covered bridge. Everyone else, including Katrina, finds the song amusing, while Ichabod starts to fear for his life.

Riding home from the party through the very woods from the song on his old plowhorse, poor heartbroken Ichabod becomes paranoid of every sound he hears in the dark woods. While traveling through the old cemetery, poor Ichabod believes he hears the sound of a horse galloping toward him, and motions his possessed horse to move, but discovers the sound is being made by nearby cattails bumping on a log. He and his horse begin to laugh hysterically in amusement at being scared by something so small... ...when their laughter is cut short by the appearance of the real Headless Horseman, wielding a sword and riding what appears to be Brom's black horse. When being chased through the dark forest, poor terrified Ichabod, remembering Brom's advice, rides on his terrified horse, and races across the covered bridge to stop the ghost's pursuit. The horseman stops in superstitious Ichabod's tracks, and rises in his stirrups, and throws his flaming head, revealed to be a jack-o'-lantern, right at the terrified schoolmaster. Poor superstitious Ichabod just has time to scream, and tries to dodge the terrible missile by ducking, but is too late to hunch down when it hits him on the head in his face with a great crash, presumably knocking him out with a tremendous explosion, and tumbling him headlong from his poor old horse into the dust.

The next morning, Ichabod's hat is found at the bridge next to the shattered jack-o-lantern, but Ichabod himself is nowhere to be found. Sometime later, Brom takes Katrina as his wife, and leads her to the altar, but also marries her by and by. Rumors begin to spread that Ichabod is still alive, and is married to a wealthy widow in a distant county, and is living with her and many children, who all look like him. However, the superstitious people of Sleepy Hollow refuse to believe such nonsense about the schoolmaster and insist that he has been "spirited away" by the Headless Horseman.

Cast

The Wind in the Willows

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Production

In 1938, shortly after the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, James Bodrero and Campbell Grant pitched to Walt Disney the idea of making a feature film of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 children's book The Wind in the Willows. Bodrero and Grant felt that The Wind in the Willows, with its anthropomorphized animals, could only be produced using animation. To persuade Disney to approve the film, Bodrero and Grant prepared a Leica reel, which combined storyboard stills with rough dialogue performed by members of the animation staff. Disney was skeptical, however, and felt it would be "awful corny",[3] but acquired the rights in April that year.[4] The film was intended to be a single narrative feature film with the title of the same name.

After some delays due to story rewrites, James Algar was appointed to direct the film. By April 1941, work on The Wind in the Willows had begun as animators and writers had come off from Bambi, which was nearly complete.[5] When the Disney animators' strike was finished in October 1941, Joe Rosenberg of the Bank of America issued an ultimatum in which he would permit an absolute loan limit of $3.5 million, and in return, he ordered the studio to restrict itself to producing animation shorts and to finish features already in production—Dumbo, Bambi, and The Wind in the Willows—but no other feature film would begin work until they had been released and earned back their costs. In response, the studio's feature film production, including early versions of Alice in Wonderland and Lady and the Tramp, were heavily scaled back while The Wind in the Willows was kept in production as animation work had already begun.[6] However, after reviewing the animation footage, Disney decided to shelve the project deciding that "the quality was too far below the standard necessary to be successful on the market."[7]

The Wind in the Willows resumed production in 1946. Following his military service in World War II, animator Frank Thomas was assigned to direct additional footage for Wind in the Willows alongside James Algar in hopes of salvaging the project. Under Walt's strict orders, the film was shortened down to a length of 25 minutes.[8] However, the project was shelved again following layoffs in August 1946.[9] Meanwhile, in December 1946, Disney started production on a new animated feature film, an adaptation of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", which was to be co-directed by Jack Kinney and Clyde Geronimi.[10]

Around this same time, there were plans developed to combine The Wind in the Willows with The Legend of Happy Valley and The Gremlins, an original story developed by author Roald Dahl, into a package film titled Three Fabulous Characters. When The Gremlins failed to materialize, the title was changed to Two Fabulous Characters. Then, The Legend of Happy Valley was cut from the project in favor of pairing it with Bongo in which the two shorts were incorporated under the title Fun and Fancy Free, which was eventually released in 1947.[11] In late 1947, Disney decided to pair The Legend of Sleepy Hollow with The Wind in the Willows into a singular package film as neither part was long enough to be a feature film.[12][13] The new film was later given its final title The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.[14] Well-known celebrities Basil Rathbone and Bing Crosby were cast as narrators in order to provide mass audience appeal.

Songs

The Wind in the Willows

All lyrics are written by Larry Morey & Ray Gilbert; all music is composed by Frank Churchill & Charles Wolcott.

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."The Merrily Song"Eric Blore & J. Pat O'Malley 
2."Auld Lang Syne"Chorus 

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

All tracks are written by Don Raye & Gene de Paul.

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."Ichabod Crane"Bing Crosby & Jud Conlon's Rhythmaires 
2."Katrina"Bing Crosby & Jud Conlon's Rhythmaires 
3."The Headless Horseman"Bing Crosby & Jud Conlon's Rhythmaires 

Reception

Critical reception

The New York Times praised the film, saying that "Mr. Disney, abetted by his staff, such perfect narrators as Bing Crosby and Basil Rathbone, and a pair of durable literary works, has fashioned a conclave of cartoon creatures, which, by and large, have the winsome qualities and charm of such noted creations as Mickey Mouse, Dumbo, et al."[15] Herman Schoenfeld of Variety felt the film "ranks among the best full-length cartoons turned out by the Walt Disney studios." On The Wind in the Willows, he commented that it "has a subtle, satirical edge on its comedy which will limit its appreciation to adult audiences. The Irving legend, however, is treated with splashes of color and broad strokes of humor and violence that will appeal in a fundamental way to all age groups. Together they comprise a solid package of varied entertainment."[16]

Life magazine wrote that Disney's adaptation of The Wind in the Willows "leaves out the poetry and most of the subtlety, but it still has enough action for the children and wit enough for everybody. It is deft and pleasant, and throughout, ironic and goodhearted. Although the Ichabod part of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is silly and bumbling, Mr. Toad's half is good enough to convince Disney admirers that the old master can still display the bounce and vitality he had before the war."[17] Time magazine overall felt the film was "an uneven doubleheader by Walt Disney, who has combined into one film two dissimilar literary classics". However, they particularly praised The Wind in the Willows, writing, "This lighthearted, fast-moving romp has inspired some of Disney's most inventive draftsmanship and satire." They were less receptive to Sleepy Hollow, writing it was "Disney at his facile best. The rest of the story, dealing with quaint, legendary people, is flat and prosaic."[18]

Disney film historian and film critic Leonard Maltin, writing in his book The Disney Films, wrote that the film was "one of Disney's most beguiling animated features: The Wind in the Willows in particular has some of the finest work the studio ever did." Altogether, he claimed "these sequences form a most engaging feature, with as the saying goes, something for everyone. The half-hour length seems ideal for each of the stories, with neither a feeling of abruptness, nor a hint of padding to reach that length. And somehow the two tales seem to complement each other quite well, providing an interesting contrast, notable in style and execution, and more obviously in the change of narrator."[19] M. Faust of Common Sense Media gave the film five out of five stars, writing, "Two classic stories told in the best Disney style".[20] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad has an approval rating of 93%, based on 14 reviews, with an average score of 7.25/10. Its consensus states "This Disney two-fer may not be the most reverent literary adaptation, but it's remarkably crafted and emotionally resonant."[21]

Box office

The film grossed $1,200,000 in domestic rentals in the United States and Canada. Cumulatively, it earned $1,625,000 in worldwide rentals.[1]

Accolades

Release

Television airings

The Mr. Toad segment of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad was first screened on television, in edited form, as part of the inaugural season of the Disneyland anthology series, on February 2, 1955, under the title The Wind in the Willows.[23] It was paired with an edited version of Disney's The Reluctant Dragon[23] due to the fact that both cartoons are based on stories by author Kenneth Grahame.[24] The Ichabod segment of the film had its television premiere during the following season of TV's Disneyland, on October 26, 1955, under the title The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.[25] Notably, for this airing of Sleepy Hollow and subsequent reruns, a new 14-minute animated prologue was added, recounting the life of Washington Irving, the story's author. This prologue has never been released on home media.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was released on its own to theaters as a 33-minute featurette in September 1963.[26] This was the same edit presented on the Disneyland television series, minus the 14-minute prologue and the Walt Disney live-action host segments. Similarly, in 1978, the Wind in the Willows segment of the original film was re-released to theaters under the new title The Madcap Adventures of Mr. Toad to accompany Disney's feature film Hot Lead and Cold Feet.[27]

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow had a subsequent television airing, in truncated form, as part of the TV specials Halloween Hall o' Fame (1977) and Disney's Halloween Treat (1982).

Once it was split into two segments for airing on the Disneyland television series, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad was not available for viewing in its original form for many years thereafter, but was instead screened as two individual items. When first released on home video, the segments retained their names from the Disneyland series (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and The Wind in the Willows, respectively), having taken their names from the original stories.

Some of the scenes were cut when the segments were split up for home video release. For example:

  • The Wind in the Willows
    • Part of the introduction was cut because of the new music added.
    • The scene where Angus MacBadger confronts the angry townspeople who are suing Toad.
    • The newspaper scene regarding Toad's disgrace was shortened by removing the newspaper articles of his friends' attempts to reopen his case.
    • When Toad realizes he is underwater after unknowingly jumping into a river to elude the police pursuing him, there is a brief full-body scene of Toad frantically trying to pull out the ball-and-chain he is shackled to out of the floor of the river.
  • The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
    • The only thing that was cut was the introduction in the bookcases.

Home media

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad received its first complete home video release in the UK in 1991 and in the US in 1992, when it was released by Walt Disney Home Video on LaserDisc. A subsequent complete release on VHS followed in 1999 as the last title in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection line. In 2000, it appeared on DVD for the first time as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection line.[28]

The 1963 theatrical version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was released on VHS in 1982, 1990, and 1994. The 1978 theatrical version of The Wind in the Willows was released on VHS in 1982, 1988, and 1996. This same version of The Wind in the Willows was issued on DVD for the first time in 2009, as part of the fifth volume of the Walt Disney Animation Collection: Classic Short Films series. Both had been released to video separately in the US in the early 1980s as white clamshell releases even though Fun and Fancy Free had been released in its entirety around the same time.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad was released on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD and in a two-film collection with Fun and Fancy Free on August 12, 2014.[29] It was also released as solely on Blu-ray, DVD and digital copy combo[30] and a stand-alone DVD[31] exclusively to Walmart stores.

The film was available to stream on Disney+ when the service launched on November 12, 2019.[32]

See also

References
  1. Sedgwick, John (1994). "Richard B. Jewell's RKO Film Grosses, 1929–51: The C. J. Trevlin Ledger: A comment". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 14 (1): 51–8. doi:10.1080/01439689400260041.
  2. "Disney's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1949)". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  3. James Bodrero. "James Bodero Interview" (Interview). Interviewed by Milton Gray. michaelbarrier.com. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  4. Gabler 2006, p. 283.
  5. Barrier 1999, p. 280.
  6. Gabler 2006, p. 376.
  7. Barrier 1999, p. 309.
  8. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston (November 21, 2014). "Interviews: Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston (1987)" (Interview). Interviewed by Michael Barrier. michaelbarrier.com. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  9. Barrier, Michael (2008). The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney. University of California Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-0520256194.
  10. Clyde Geronimi (March 16, 2015). "Interviews: Gerry Geronimi" (Interview). Interviewed by Michael Barrier. michaelbarrier.com. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  11. The Story Behind Fun and Fancy Free (VHS) (Documentary film). Walt Disney Home Video. 1997 – via YouTube.
  12. Barrier 1999, p. 394.
  13. Gabler 2006, p. 458.
  14. Gabler 2006, p. 518.
  15. "'The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad' Sees the Return of Disney to Realm of Pure Animation". The New York Times. October 10, 1949. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  16. Schoenfeld, Herman (August 24, 1949). "Film Reviews: Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad". Variety. p. 18. Retrieved January 28, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  17. "The Remarkable Mr. Toad". Life. November 21, 1949. p. 65. ISSN 0024-3019. Retrieved February 24, 2018 – via Google Books.
  18. "Cinema: New Pictures". Time. October 17, 1949. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  19. Maltin, Leonard (2000). The Disney Films. Disney Editions. pp. 91–2. ISBN 978-0-786885-27-5.
  20. M. Faust. "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad - Movie Review". Common Sense Media. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
  21. "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  22. Golden Globe Awards "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 2, 2012. Retrieved September 8, 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  23. Television. (1955, February 2). Yonkers Herald Statesman, p. 18.
  24. Today's Television Programs. (1955, August 3). Long Island Star-Journal, p. 25.
  25. "Tonight...don't miss Channel 7". (October 26, 1955). The New York Times, p. 63.
  26. Shorts Chart. (1963, September 23). BoxOffice, p. 10.
  27. Feature Reviews. (1978, July 31). BoxOffice, p. 77.
  28. "Walt Disney Home Video Debuts the "Gold Classic Collection"". The Laughing Place. Retrieved February 24, 2018.
  29. "Adventures of Ichabod & Mr Toad / Fun & Fancy Free". Amazon.
  30. "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy)". Walmart.com.
  31. "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad". Walmart.com.
  32. https://attractionsmagazine.com/disney-plus-day-one-list/

Bibliography
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