Horsing around with ‘Ichabod and Mr. Toad’
“The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad” might sound like a buddy movie. Maybe it would be a pairing like Butch and Sundance or Thelma and Louise or Lilo and Stitch or Turner and Hooch. But, no, the 1949 film is two separate stories, beginning with a telling of the Toad story called the “The Wind and the Willows” (written by Kenneth Grahame), followed by Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” They are voiced in the film by English actor Basil Rathbone and crooner Bing Crosby, respectively.
Both halves, of course, are included in our latest Disney Plus review, part of a series that looks back at all of the Disney animated films in the order in which they were released, thanks to the access provided by the streaming service.
The basics: Mr. Toad has a spending problem, and if he doesn’t get it under control, he could lose his grand home Toad Hall. He has “a new mania” for automobiles, and that leads to a stolen car, big-type headlines and a daring escape attempt. His friends — a rat, a mole and a badger — try to help. Once that story concludes, viewers meet schoolteacher Ichabod Crane (“Maybe he’s odd, maybe he ain’t,” Crosby sings), who’s big with the ladies, and that irks Brom Bones, who might give modern audiences a Gaston vibe. The latter tale turns dark, literally and figuratively, around Halloween.
The legacy: This is the last of Disney’s “package films,” widely credited for helping the studio stay afloat during the war years because they were less expensive to produce.
The flashback: There’s not a lot borrowed
from partridges previous are Disney back — works, this time although in lyrics.
Adult art of animation appreciation:
In the “Ichabod” tale, the headless horseman is portrayed so vividly it looks like modern computer animation. And in keeping with the steed theme, I appreciated the movement provided by animators to show Mr. Toad jumping rope on the back of a galloping horse (whose name is Cyril Proudbottom, which is almost as much fun to say as Basil Rathbone).
Parental guidance/kid stuff: The headless horseman segment is intense and lacks a happy ending. In the Toad half, the weasels are hard drinkers and engage in knife play.
What brought me back to reality
(a.k.a. coronavirus alert): Mr. Toad goes into government-enforced lockdown mode, in a way, and he doesn’t have the internet.
Burning questions: Possession of the deed to Toad Hall could prove Mr. Toad’s innocence, but wouldn’t it also mean that the weasels had the legal right to move into the mansion?
Meanwhile, back in Orlando: “Ichabod and Mr. Toad” doesn’t appear in Orlando Sentinel clippings until May of 1950, and that’s after a certain pumpkin coach rolled into town. In a newspaper listing, “Toad” is referred to as “not the masterpiece ‘Cinderella’ is.”
The theme-park angles: The headless horseman traditionally appears before the parade during Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was a fixture in that park’s Fantasyland from opening day in 1971 to 1998. The ride vehicles were jalopies, as seen in the film. Other carry-overs included weasels and run-ins with the law. It famously had a scene set in Hell that’s not in the film.
Up next: It’s about to get good. Disney’s animated films of the ‘50s are “Cinderella,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Peter Pan,” “Lady and the Tramp” and “Sleeping Beauty.”