The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

The package features had the blessing and the curse of being able to offer several different types of material in one film.  It’s a blessing because variety is the spice of life, a curse because the various types of stories could be wildly uneven, with one being simply amazing and another being downright bad.  After several tries, though, Disney got it right with The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

 

Like the other package features, Disney recruited celebrities to come on board and provide narration and music.  For the first part of this piece, it was Basil Rathbone, best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, who was the narrator of the story of J. Thaddeus Toad.  The aristocratic tones of Rathbone lend an air of credibility to a tale of talking animals.  After all, the original book was meant to poke fun at the British aristocracy, and the film follows that while infusing some Disney magic.

Walt was not impressed with the animation of this story, which is why he shelved the project for so long.  And to be honest, he wasn’t entirely wrong.  The animation isn’t as fluid and beautiful as what is seen in the second half of the film.  That’s not to say it’s bad, however, as some very memorable images from this film still resonate today.  The shot of Toad standing atop his horse, Cyril Proudbottom, and the weasels chasing him through Toad Hall are images Disney still uses.

The story ultimately comes down to a lighthearted romp through the tale of Toad swapping Toad Hall for a motorcar.  The best work in this film is the contrast between Toad’s mania and the stuffy, buttoned up attitudes of his friends Rat and Mole.  You see it during the courtroom scenes, the chase sequences and more.  While the crazed pace of the film keeps kids entertained, it’s the way that character is revealed through the actions of these characters that fascinated me this time around. 

When we hit the second part of the film, it’s a welcome slow down to spend some time getting to know the inhabitants of Sleepy Hollow, especially the skinny schoolmaster Ichabod Crane.  Helping along that path is Bing Crosby, who brings his crooning skills to the table and provides songs and narration to the tale.  This was probably the best choice Disney could have made, because Bing’s trademark vocal tones soften the sharp edges of the tale and make it much more friendly to the viewer.

The story of this tale is actually quite light, as we are simply introduced to the three main chracters – Ichabod, his rival Brom Bones and their mutual crush Katrina Van Tassel – then shown how they interact.  The rivalry between Ichabod and Brom is the conflict of the short, and is established through action rather than narration.  Sure, Bing puts out a few lines that prod things along, but most of the rivalry is displayed through the slapstick back and forth between the two.

Of course, the real masterpiece of this film is the Headless Horseman, and the animation does not disappoint.  This is where Disney’s Nine Old Men spent their time, filling the short sequence with gags, suspense, horror, thrills and some of the best work the Disney studio produced in the 1940s.  There is a reason this part of the film still resonates today. 

The complete package of the stories of Mr. Toad and Ichabod Crane seem mismatched, and they probably are.  But combined together, they make for a film that is probably amongst the best of Disney from this era.  Soon after would come a second renaissance for the company with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and others, but the seeds for that future success are sown in this film, which should not be missed by anyone who loves Disney. 

Development of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

As 1949 draws to a close soon in our meandering path through the Disney films, we come upon the end of an era for Walt and the studio.  It has been years since the last full length animated feature film and that does not change until 1950.  Since 1942’s Bambi, the Disney studio turned their focus to shorts, war materials during World War II and the so-called “package” features, where a group of shorts that were not considered enough material for a full film are packaged together and served to the public as the latest Disney feature.

The last, and perhaps best, of these is The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, which took a long and torturous route to the screen.  Work first began on adapting Kenneth Grahame’s work A Wind In The Willows back in the late 1930s.  The book was a spoof of British aristocracy, masked as a children’s book about anthropomorphized animals.  It was brought to Walt’s attention after Snow White was such a huge success, along with nearly every other kid’s story known to man.

Walt was not entirely convinced, but bought the rights to the story anyway and set some of his story men to work on it.  Script work was completed in 1941, and a reel was completed along with some dialogue on some initial story concepts.  It was apparently not good, and Walt shelved the project only to be interrupted by World War II.  Many in the studio wondered if A Wind In The Willows would ever be started up again.

Toad/Cyril sketch from Van Eaton Galleries

It wasn’t until after the war in 1945 that work resumed on A Wind In The Willows, but this time the story was shortened and it was intentionally put into work as part of a package feature.  The initial concept during the war was to put this short together with Mickey and the Beanstalk and a short based on The Gremlins, a concept by author Roald Dahl.  However, The Gremlins never got off the ground, and was shelved in 1943.  The intended package film was titled Two Fabulous Characters after Mickey and Mr. Toad. 

Once Bongo came along, however, it was determined that the story of the circus bear was a better project and fit better with Mickey and the Beanstalk, and the two were released together as Fun and Fancy Free in 1947.

Still searching for material to make the Mr. Toad project work, in late 1946 Disney acquired the rights to make a version of the book The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving.  It was determined that this would be a good pairing for Toad and friends, and the Two Fabulous Characters title was reborn, this time pointing to Toad and Ichabod Crane, the hero of Sleepy Hollow.

Mary Blair concept for Sleepy Hollow, courtesy of Dipity.

The work of the Disney studio’s finest animators was on display in the film, as Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, John Lounsberry, Ward Kimball, Milt Kahl, Woolie Reitherman and Eric Larson all contributed to the finished product.  As such, the animation was top notch, and audiences responded when the finished film was released as The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad in October of 1949.  It became the hit film that Disney needed and has been a perennial favorite since the segments were broken up and re-released in the late 1970s.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at the film itself and see the brilliance behind this Disney classic.