The very last package film produced by the Walt Disney Animation Studios was The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad in 1949. The studio was becoming financially stable again after World War II and plans were being made to once again produce single-story animated feature films. Both stories of The Wind in the Willows and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow were originally going to be made into full length films, but were shortened and put together as the last package film.
Premiered: October 5, 1949 in Washington, D.C.
Directed by:
Jack Kinney
Clyde Geronimi
James Algar
Produced by: Walt Disney
Based on:
The Wind in the Willows written by Kenneth Grahame
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow written by Washington Irving
Sequels: none
Cast:
Bing Crosby – Narrator, Ichabod, Brom Bones
Basil Rathbone – Narrator
Eric Blore – J. Thaddeus Toad, Esq.
Claude Allister – Rat
Colin Campbell – Mole
Campbell Grant – Angus MacBadger
Leslie Dennison – Judge, Weasel
J. Pat O’Malley – Cyril Proudbottom
Alec Harford – Mr. Winkie
John McLeish – Prosecutor
Featuring: John Ployardt and the Rhythmaires
Directing Animators:
Frank Thomas
Ollie Johnston
Wolfgang Reitherman
Milt Kahl
John Lounsbery
Ward Kimball
Music by:
Oliver Wallace
Ken Darby
Don Raye
Gene de Paul
Joseph Dublin
Songs:
“The Merrily Song”
“Ichabod”
“Katrina”
“The Headless Horseman”
Academy Awards: none
The Story:
The film starts out in live action with a stain glass window picturing a candle and a book. Inside the window is a library and the shot pans along the shelves of books as a narrator asks “Who is the most fabulous character in English literature?” He names different characters such as King Arthur, Robin Hood, and Oliver Twist but then nominates J. Thaddeus Toad, Esq. as the most fabulous character of all and the scene settles on The Wind in the Willows book. The book opens to reveal many illustrations of Mr. Toad’s adventures and he is described as an incurable adventurer.
Mr. Toad has three friends, a badger, a water rat, and a mole, whom have his best interests at heart. The friends all have small and modest homes along the river. Mole is in a hurry and paddles his boat down the river to Rat’s. Rat is first annoyed with Mole’s tardiness but soon forgives him and they settle in for afternoon tea. There is a knock on the door and it is the postman. A letter is addressed from Toad Hall and reads
“Dear Rat,
You and Mole must come to Toad Hall at once. Urgent!!
MacBadger”
Toad Hall is the finest home along the river and all the animals are very proud of it. However, Mr. Toad might lose his home because of all his costly follies so MacBadger volunteers to try and put the affairs back in order. He is busy going through all of Mr. Toad’s tickets and expenses when many angry people start knocking at the doors, demanding for the money that Mr. Toad owes them. MacBadger is very stressed out when Rat and Mole arrive. The three friends have a meeting about how Mr. Toad has gone too far with his spending and he must be stopped. MacBadger describes Mr. Toad’s new mania as crazily driving a horse cart around with his new friend Cyril Proudbottom. Cyril is also the horse who pulls the cart.
Mr. Toad and Cyril are then seen driving around in the cart and singing “The Merrily Song.” The pair destroy hedges, gardens, and clotheslines full of laundry. They stop when Rat and Mole find them down the road and invite Rat and Mole for a ride. Mole wants to accept but Rat puts a stop to that. Cyril is introduced and thinks that Mr. Toad’s friends are quite stuffy. Rat says that Mr. Toad must give up the cart and stop his foolishness. Mr. Toad refuses and just covers his ears while laughing at Rat’s lecture. He then takes off with Cyril and they spot a motor car for the first time. Mr. Toad is in awe! The car runs into another horse cart and breaks the cart but Mr. Toad does not care. He starts to pretend that he is driving a car and the narrator describes his new mania as motor mania.
Rat and Mole catch up with Mr. Toad and bring him back home to try to put him into bed. They lock Mr. Toad in his bedroom and decide that he should stay there until he gets over his motor mania. At night, Mr. Toad is still completely mad and sneaks out through his window. He will stop at nothing for a motorcar.
The next scene shows newspapers with front page stories of Mr. Toad’s arrest! He was caught with a stolen motor car.
In a courtroom, a lawyer is listing off all of the wrong things Mr. Toad has done. The first witnesses are Rat and Mole. They are asked “Did you or did you not lock him up to prevent him from getting a motor car?” They have to answer truthfully, yes. The second witness is MacBadger who is asked about the lack of Mr. Toad’s allowance and funds.
Mr. Toad decides that he is going to be his own lawyer and plead his own defense. His first witness is Cyril Proudbottom. Cyril tells the story of how Mr. Toad met up with him after the escape. They were walking down the street when a motor car went zooming by. The car pulled up to a tavern and a pack of weasels got out. Cyril admits that weasels cannot be trusted but they still did not know that the car had been stolen. He continues the story by saying that Mr. Toad went into the tavern to try and buy the car. He offered to trade Toad Hall for the motor car and Mr. Winkie, the bartender, witnessed the transaction.
The judge and the lawyer laugh at how ridiculous it would be for Mr. Toad to trade an entire estate for a car. Mr. Toad’s second witness is called and it is Mr. Winkie. Mr. Winkie describes the incident as taking place on August 12th and he tells the court that Mr. Toad tried to sell him a stolen car!
Mr. Toad is immediately arrested again, even though he has been framed. The newspapers show that he has to serve a long term and is to be made an example of. The request for a new trial is denied and the case is closed.
The next scene is of a white Christmas in London but Mr. Toad is locked up in the Tower of London and is untouched by any Christmas cheer. He is crying for himself and for his friends and through his tears a new Toad is born! He decides that never again will he give way to his foolish manias. A prison guard comes into Mr. Toad’s cell to tell him that since it is Christmas, Mr. Toad is allowed one visitor and his Grandma is here. Cyril Proudbottom turns out to be Grandma in disguise and is there to break Mr. Toad out of the Tower of London. He gives Mr. Toad a dress and wig to match his. The adventure of the escape brings back Mr. Toad’s old habits of seeking thrill.
The police are all out and looking for Mr. Toad; one police officer even finds Mr. Toad but falls for the old lady disguise. However, the ball and chain fall out of Mr. Toad’s dress and the weight sends him flying down the steps and away from the surprised police officer. Mr. Toad sneaks onto a nearby train and the police follow pursuit. Mr. Toad then jumps off of the train and into the river below.
At Rat’s house, he and Mole are praying for Mr. Toad over their Christmas dinner. They do not forget their friend even though the name of Toad was banned due to the disgrace. Suddenly, Mr. Toad appears at Rat’s house and the two friends think that he is a poor old lady before realizing it is actually Mr. Toad! There is a knock on the door and Mr. Toad thinks that it is the police. Rat will not let him hide since he is a debt to society. He opens the door and it is MacBadger, who has made an important discovery. The weasels have taken over Toad Hall and Mr. Winkie is their leader! He tricked Mr. Toad into trading Toad Hall for the motor car and then framed him in court.
Mr. Toad, Rat, Mole, and MacBadger come up with a plan to get the deed paper back from Mr. Winkie. The four friends sneak down the river in the fog and go through a secret entrance into Toad Hall. All of the weasels are drunk and fast asleep. Mr. Winkie is also asleep and has the deed paper on him. Mr. Toad and his friends climb up to the balcony and lower Mole down with ropes made of bedsheets. Mole grabs the deed and his friends start to pull him back up but the weasels guarding the outside of Toad Hall barge in after discovering the secret entrance. Mole falls down onto Mr. Winkie, who wakes up and realizes the deed is gone! Mole is quick and runs away, but he thought a mirror was a hallway and ends up smacking right into it.
The weasels have all woken up and they are running around trying to get the deed back. Mole turns the deed into a paper airplane and tries to pass it to Mr. Toad, but the weasels keep interfering. Mr. Toad makes and throws dozens of paper airplanes to confuse the weasels about which one is the actual deed. The four friends are able to escape through the secret entrance but MacBadger believes that they did not succeed in obtaining the deed. However, it turns out the Mr. Toad was able to grab it!
To celebrate the New Year, Mr. Toad’s friends toast the new Toad, thinking he has learnt his lesson about manias! But then Mr. Toad appears flying in on his new biplane so he really is not a new Toad after all.
Back in the live action library, the narrator is again explaining why he thinks Mr. Toad is the most fabulous of characters. The book closes and is placed back on the shelf. The shot pans down the books and a new narrator starts talking. He is talking about how in there are many fabulous characters in the colonies as well, such as Davy Crockett, Johnny Appleseed, Daniel Boone, and Black Bart. And there is also the one and only Ichabod Crane. A book opens up to show a map of the state of New York. Manhattan was then only a market town and the shot travels up the Hudson to Tarrytown and then onto the gland of Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow is known for folktales and superstitions and the scene focuses on an old graveyard. But soon the shot zooms out of the dark woods and the narrator explains that the best known story is actually about a schoolmaster.
One autumn afternoon, a most unusual man is heading into town. He is tall and lanky, with a small head and a long nose in a book. At Ye Olde Schnooker and Schnapps Shoppe, the boys of Sleepy Hollow are all gathered with their self-appointed leader Brom Bones. Brom likes practical jokes but is actually quite popular around town. He opens up a beer barrel for everyone and then through the bottom of his stein, Brom spots Ichabod. Everyone in town is staring at Ichabod and they start to sing a contentious song about him with lines such as “Are they shovels or are they feet?”
Ichabod heads right to the schoolhouse and the next scene is of him teaching while peeking into the student’s lunchboxes. He keeps on good terms with the pupils whose mothers are good cooks in order to get invited over for roast turkey.
One scene shows Ichabod keeping track of his very busy social calendar in his journal while munching away on a turkey leg. He is very popular and actively involved with the village, though it is mostly for the free food at the events. The village ladies spend so much time with him that they start to fall in love with Ichabod. Brom Bones is not impressed.
Katrina Van Tassel comes through town with her rich father. All the men get googly eyes around her and they bend over backwards for a chance to carry her parcels. Katrina wants to set up a picnic but keeps changing her mind about which spot is best and makes everyone else reset the picnic each time. The village men are so smitten that they do not care that she is making them work so hard to set up a picnic. Ichabod then spies her for the first time while on his own picnic with some of the village ladies. He is completely in awe of her beauty and absentmindedly puts chicken on his head and eats his hat instead.
The next scene shows the schoolroom in chaos and Ichabod has just made it look like he is sitting behind his desk by setting up gloves and an open book. But really he is slouching down in his chair and day dreaming about Katrina. And owning her rich farm.
The scene changes back to Katrina and all the village men carrying her parcels and Ichabod is devising a plan to capture her heart. Brom Bones races in on his horse and scares all of the other men away. He offers to carry her parcels but what Katrina really wants is for someone to come and challenge Brom. Ichabod comes over, completely oblivious to how Katrina is just using him, and picks up all the packages. He leads her towards her home but Brom comes in and swoops her up onto his horse. Katrina waves her handkerchief as a goodbye to Ichabod, but he is not disheartened and races on to Katrina’s farm house. A comedic competition between Brom and Ichabod results in who gets to help Katrina to the door. Ichabod ends up winning that round and leaves after Katrina is inside. Brom keeps trying to knock Ichabod out but Ichabod ducks out of the way every time.
An invitation is shown for an annual Halloween party at Mynheer Baltrus Van Tassel’s home for that evening. The invitation is addressed to Ichabod and Katrina has left a special message at the bottom that says “Please come.” She makes the special request in order to stir up the rival between Brom and Ichabod.
Ichabod is very excited for the party and gets ready at the school house. He borrows a sad looking horse for the occasion and sets off. At the house, the party is in full swing and Ichabod and Katrina dance together. Brom sits all alone and another lonely girl eyes him. Brom uses her to try to switch partners with Ichabod but the girl is too excited about the chance to dance and bounces Brom all over the dance floor. He succeeds in switching partners with Ichabod for a moment but Ichabod switches right back. Brom tries again but is unsuccessful and ends up locking the other girl in a closet to try a new plan. He tries to cause Ichabod to fall down a crawl space but the other girl escapes the closet and Brom hides from her in the cellar. He appears outside and is watching the party through the window.
At midnight, the guests all sit down for a meal and Baltrus Van Tassel wants the guests to tell spooky tales. Brom knows that Ichabod is very superstitious so he tells the scariest tale he can think of, the tale of the Headless Horseman. Ichabod tries to eat but is so nervous with the that he is not able to. All of the other guests are really into the story and Brom says that the Headless Horseman is out in the woods looking for a head to swap but he is not able to cross the bridge at the edge of the forest.
Ichabod leaves at the very witching hour of the night on the lazy horse. He whistles to himself to calm down but every noise scares him. The forest seems to be closing in behind him and the animation of the clouds above look like hands closing over the moon. There is a howling that scares Ichabod and he thinks that fireflies are eyes in the forest. A frog croak scares him, an owl hoot scares him, and even crickets scare him. Ichabod hears what he thinks is other horse trots but they are actually cattails hitting a log from the wind. He starts to just laugh at his own fear and his horse laughs as well. But suddenly there is a third laugh and it is the Headless Horseman!
Ichabod’s horse takes off and he runs to catch up. The Headless Horseman is right behind them. They almost make it to the bridge but the Headless Horseman cuts them off. Ichabod and his horse get turned around again and again. They get in sight of the bridge again and Ichabod remembers Brom’s words “Once you cross that bridge my friends, the ghost is through, his power ends.” But poor Ichabod runs into the Headless Horseman again who throws a flaming pumpkin head at Ichabod trying to cross the bridge.
The next morning, only Ichabod’s hat and the smashed pumpkin head is found. There is no other trace of the school master.
Katrina and Brom get married and rumours circulate about what happened to Ichabod. Some say that he married a rich widow in a distant county but some settlers think he was spirited away by the Headless Horseman.
The book closes with a reprise of Brom’s song about the Headless Horseman. The book is placed back on the shelf and the shot zooms out of the library with the narrator saying “I’m getting out of here.”
Trivia:
- The success of this film financed the production of Cinderella (1950), which led the way for the regular production of single-story animated feature films
- The Wind in the Willows story takes place from August 11, 1907 to January 1, 1908.
- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow story takes place in October 1790.
- The working title was Two Fabulous Characters.
- Animation was reused from the Silly Symphony The Old Mill (1937) and Katrina Van Tassel was modeled after Grace Martin from The Martins and the Coys (Make Mine Music, 1946) in order to cut costs.
- Many of the fabulous characters mentioned by the narrators in the library had their stories made into films by Disney.
Representation in the Disney Parks:
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was an opening day attraction at Disneyland in 1955 and is still operating today in Fantasyland. When the Magic Kingdom opened at Walt Disney World in 1971, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was also an opening day attraction but it closed down in 1998 and the attraction building now houses The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. In the new attraction, there is a tribute to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in a picture of Mr. Toad handing over the deed to Owl. A statue of Mr. Toad can also be found in the pet cemetery at the Haunted Mansion over in Liberty Square.
Toad Hall can be found in Storybook Land Canal Boats. There is also a quick service restaurant called Toad Hall in Fantasyland at Disneyland Paris. At the Magic Kingdom, there is a quick service restaurant called Sleepy Hollow in Liberty Square.
At Mickey’s Not-so-Scary Halloween Party in the Magic Kingdom, the Headless Horseman leads the Boo-to-You Halloween Parade. He also makes an appearance at Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland.
Check out the other films of Disney’s Package Era:
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