The Wrap Up of a Difficult Time
By the late 40s, Disney was barely holdiing on. A near decade of making inexpensive package films had gotten them to eagerly prepare for their triumphant return to full length films. But their last two films hadn’t performed as well as they’d hoped, so Walt had to rethink his next step. The studio was up to 4.2 million in bank debt, so they STILL refused to finance anymore films until they were repaid, so Walt had no choice but to make just one more package film and pray that it would finally kickstart Disney’s lagging popularity with movie audiences. The result stands as an OK final achievement in the most dificult time of Walt’s professional life.
Just after the release of Snow White, Walt had aquired the rights to the Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame after animator James Bodrero convinced him it would make a good film. After delays because of the story needing major rewrites, pre production began in April 1941 spearheaded by James Algar. But, as with Dumbo before it, the animators’s strike of May 1941 brought production to a halt. When it was finally resolved in October that year, production on Willows started up again only to be jeopardised again when the bank refused to further fund Disney’s future films. Luckily, that didn’t include anything that was already in production, so Wind in the Willows was allowed to be completed under the terms of the deal he’d made with them.
However, when Walt saw the pre production footage, he decided the quality was below the standard the company was known for, so the project was shelved indefinitely. Production would restart until March 1946, and the animators who fought in WW2, including Old Man Frank Thomas, returned and were immediately assigned to salvaging the lagging project. But by August, Walt was even less happy about the direction of the production, so it was shelved indefinitely again. Meanwhile in December 46, Disney had started work on an adaptation of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving co-directed by Jack Kinney & Clyde Geronimi, but during a review in 47, Walt thought the story wasn’t strong enough to justify a full film, so the thing was trimmed down and paired up with the revived Wind in the Willows project to create a new anthology called the Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad.
THE PLOT
As adaptations of two of the most famous works in English and (white) American literature, the movie begins in a live action library and a loose but clever framing device is used by way of opening each respective book before going animated. Despite it being second mentioned in the title, Wind in the Willows is first, narrated by Sir Basil Rathbone. Who begins by posing the question: if you were asked to choose the most fabulous character in English literature, who would it be?” And he goes through the names of Robin Hood, King Arthur, Becky Sharp, Sherlock Holmes and Oliver Twist before tendering his own nomination, Mr. Toad (personally, I’m shocked he didn’t nominate Robin Hood or Sherlock). The short is, fittingly an abridged version of the book, focusing on the debonair and flamboyant J. Thaddeus Toad and his financial irresponsibility on account of his mania for fads and lack of care for the cost, which has brought him close to bankruptcy. In an act of true friendship, Angus MacBadger becomes Toad’s accountant, and brings his other friends, Rat and Mole to Toad Hall to see if they can convince Toad to abandon his latest mania of rampaging all over London in a yellow cart with a horse named Cyril Proudbottom, causing significant property damage and racking up significant cost. But during his rampage, he sees a motor car for the first time, and a new mania is born instantly. So, despite Rat & Mole’s best efforts to stop him, he makes a deal to buy a red motorcar from a pack of shifty - looking weasels and a slimy barman named Winky. And he’s accused of stealing the motorcar and thrown in the Tower of London. So, it’s up to Rat, Mole, and MacBadger to break him out and clear his name.
So, I’ve read the Wind in the Willows more times than I can count and I’m a HUGE fan, so it does my heart good to see a piece of it being adapted by Disney. Not only is this the most popular and beloved shorts of the 40s, but it’s clearly another high point from a studio struggling to survive. It’s budget and running time is shorter than other package films, but the animation is GORGEOUS while reminding you of earlier works with an adorable cast and an infectious energy which is pure, warm and entertaining.
Then, we go back to the library and we meet the original crooner Bing Crosby, who introduces us to the next book, the Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving which he both narrates and sings, and in it, lanky Ichabod Crane, who arrives in Sleepy Hollow to be its new schoolmaster. Despite his odd behaviour, Crane quickly wins over the affections of the women in the village, much to the chagrin of the town’s local rogue, Brom Bones. Ignoring Brom’s attempts to bully him, Ichabod sets his sight on Katrina Van Tassel, not only the most beautiful girl in Sleepy Hollow, but also the richest. So Ichabod doesn’t so much LOVE Katrina, as he wants to marry her so he can get his hands on the family fortune. And he takes no notice at all of the fact that Brom also wants to marry Katrina, except in Brom’s case, it actually looks like legitimate love. So, of course Katrina is merely a not so innocent bystander while these two men with starkly different intentions fight to the death for her hand, though to her credit, she seems to give Brom some encouragement every now and then to just try a little harder.
It all comes to a head at old man Van Tassel’s annual Halloween party when the guys both compete to win a dance with Katrina. And Brom gains an advantage when he learns that Icabod may be the most superstitious man alive and chooses that moment to regale the attendees with a song about the Headless Horseman, a Hessian mercenary from the American Revolutionary War who supposedly lost his head at the Battle of White Plains, and has haunted Sleepy Hollow ever since, looking for the head of some poor, random bastard to replace his own. On his journey home, a subsequently terrified Ichabod does indeed cross paths with the Headless Horseman, in the climax and best scene in the short, and one of the darkest and most atmospheric scenes in Disney history. For younger viewers, this scene will give them nightmares, for older viewers it’ll give them a shiver down their spines.
The inherent problem with the Legend of Sleepy Hollow is the supreme unlikability of almost everyone. Icabod Crane is, without a shadow of doubt, the biggest ASSHOLE In New York. He is shallow, he is conceited and he is ARROGANT, so not the kind of person you root for in a story like this. Plus he has ears that Dumbo would envy and a nose that Pinocchio would envy, so it’s incredibly unlikely that any woman would be fawning over him, much less that he would be noticed by the most beautiful girl in town.
Speaking of which, Katrina doesn't fair very well either. Painted as a manipulative, snobby princess who elicits the attention of every boy in town purely as a method of amusing herself. And Brom is painted as the big burly villain of the piece, which seems wrong, since we never see him fantasizing about marrying Katrina just so he can inherit van Tassel’s farm through her. Fun fact, Andreas Deja, the future animator of some of Disney classic villains, says that Brom influenced the design of a future villain we’ll see much later down the road. And you can totally see it.
MY VERDICT
While the film ends in a slightly dissappointing way, the animation echoes its predecessor in brilliant fashion. This film earned a Golden Globe for Best Cinematography, (just before the HFPA abandoned it in 1953) highlighting the impressive visuals.
Throughout a decade of “make money quickly” package films, this film was the one that not only genuinely fit the visual aesthetic and narrative styles of previous fims, but also hinted at a revival that was just around the corner and made enough money to keep the studio alive.
Is the Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad a Disney Classic? Neither shorts were able to stand alone, though they probably would have if they’d been completed. But together, they offer just enough with what they have to be considered a Disney Classic.
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