The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

An animated adaptation of "The Wind in the Willows" followed by an adaptation of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".

Directors:

James Algar, Clyde Geronimi

Writers:

Washington Irving (story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"), Kenneth Grahame (story "The Wind in the Willows")

Stars:

Bing Crosby, Basil Rathbone, Eric Blore

Won 1 Golden Globe.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bing Crosby	...	Relating the Story of Ichabod Crane (voice)
Basil Rathbone	...	Narrating the Story of Mr. Toad / Policeman (voice)
Eric Blore	...	Mr. Toad (voice)
J. Pat O'Malley	...	Cyril Proudbottom (voice) (as Pat O'Malley)
John McLeish	...	Prosecutor (voice) (as John Ployardt)
Colin Campbell	...	Mole (voice)
Campbell Grant	...	Angus MacBadger (voice)
Claud Allister	...	Water Rat (voice) (as Claude Allister)
Jud Conlon's Rhythmaires	...	Additional voices (voice) (as The Rhythmaires)

Storyline

Two stories. The Wind in the Willows: Concise version of Kenneth Grahame's story of the same name. J. Thaddeus Toad, owner of Toad Hall, is prone to fads, such as the newfangled motor car. This desire for the very latest lands him in much trouble with the wrong crowd, and it is up to his friends, Mole, Rat and Badger to save him from himself. - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Retelling of Washington Irving's story set in a tiny New England town. Ichabod Crane, the new schoolmaster, falls for the town beauty, Katrina Van Tassel, and the town Bully Brom Bones decides that he is a little too successful and needs "convincing" that Katrina is not for him.

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Plot Keywords:

headless horseman | thought bubble | bowler hat | gun battle | monocle | 

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Taglines:

HEAR BING SING: "THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN" "KATRINA" "ICHABOD CRANE" (original print media ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Horror

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 January 1950 (USA)

Also Known As:

Two Fabulous Characters

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

68 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The idea to produce a film based on "The Wind in the Willows" (1908) was suggested to Walt Disney in 1938. Since the novel featured anthropomorphic animals, it was thought that animation would be the ideal medium for an adaptation. Disney secured the rights to the novel the same year.

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Goofs

Just before Brom spots Ichabod for the first time, as he's drinking his beer, his socks suddenly change lengths for a few frames.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: If you were asked to choose the most fabulous character in English literature, who would it be? Robin Hood? King Arthur? Becky Sharp? Sherlock Holmes? Oliver Twist, perhaps? Well, any one of them would be an excellent choice. Still, for the most fabulous character of all, I would nominate... a toad - J. Thaddeus Toad, Esq. Have you ever met him? You'll find his story in this delightful little book, "The Wind In the Willows". Toad, you might say, was the one disturbing element: ...

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Alternate Versions

Debuted on home video as part of a 1983 VHS compilation entitled Disney's Scary Tales.

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Connections

Referenced in Leverage: The Boost Job (2010)

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Soundtracks

Katrina
(1949) (uncredited)
Written by Don Raye and Gene de Paul
Performed by Bing Crosby and Jud Conlon's Rhythmaires

User Reviews

entertaining althrough

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is a 1949 animated feature produced by Walt Disney himself. It comprises of two segments, one of which is based on Kenneth Grahame's 1908 children's book The Wind in the Willows and the other story is based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow which is a short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is the 11th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. Disney had shifted from making full length animations and started making short package movies due to the involvement of America in the ongoing World War II at the time. War saw some of his (Walt Disney) animators being drafted to the it and due to the heavy cost of making full length features on a single story, package shorts were released during the period and a total of six were done, and there were Saludos Amigos, The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, Melody Time and this movie The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is the last.

Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes) and Bing Crosby were cast as narrators in order to pull viewers. The movie plot is quite similar to the stories that they were adapted from, with Mr. Toad's story (which is narrated by Basil Rathbone), has the charismatic J. Thaddeus Toad, Esq. who was ready to do anything to fulfill his fun craze for adventure, giving up everything and getting into trouble for purchasing a stolen motor car.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is also close to its story (narrated by Bing Cosby), it tells the tale of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. As Ichabod's selfish desire to claim the wealth of Katrina Van Tassel father by marrying his daughter led him to cross fire with the towns bully Brom Bones, who eventually scared Ichabod off with his stories of the headless horseman (which Ichabod later met).

Ironically both stories, The Wind in the Willows and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow were initially planed to be full length animations, the work on The Wind in the Willows started in 1941 but was halted during the war and done as a short but kept awaiting a suitable pairing. The production of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was done in 1946, but when they noticed how short the movie will be, Disney then decided to pair it up with The Wind of Willows and released together under the name The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

The movie is a critical acclaim, and it is a nice watch for both adult and kids alike. There is no moral in these stories just good old cartoon fun.

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