The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

The last of the package features Disney made in the post-war period, joining two separate stories in one production. The first comes from Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows: Mr Toad is wealthy, irresponsible and obsessed with every new thing. Taken with the motor car, he loses his estate, and his friends try to save him. Basil Rathbone narrates. The second comes from Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Ichabod Crane is a village schoolmaster pursuing a rich farmer's daughter and competing with Brom Bones, the strongest young man in town. Bing Crosby narrates and sings. The last ten minutes of that second part are counted among Disney's darkest work: the chase with the Headless Horseman through the night woods is startlingly frightening for children's animation, and the film ends without explaining anything. The two halves were also shown separately over the years, and the Sleepy Hollow section in particular became a Halloween fixture on television. A pleasant choice for anyone who likes classical Disney animation and is curious about the two literary sources. For a viewer wanting a whole, there is no connection between the stories and their registers are entirely different.