When examining the history of Disney animation, it is easy to chart all of their animated feature films into certain eras. For instance, they obviously began with the “Golden Age”, sparked by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Then, there is the “Disney Renaissance”, when films such as The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast helped pull the company out of an unstable period and into a new era of box office dominance. One era that tends to fade more into obscurity however is the “Package Era”, also sometimes known as the “Wartime Era”. During World War II, Walt Disney had found the company stretched thin. The studio (along with plenty of artists) was enlisted by the military to work on numerous wartime propaganda shorts, not to mention being embroiled in labor disputes at the time. As a result, a method to keep making features on a cheaper cost came through making anthology animated films, which were also called “package films”. Movies such as The Three Caballeros and Make Mine Music stem from this era, but tend to be lost in the shuffle. For some, their varied anthology nature means they lack the focus on story and character, which have been such a part of Disney’s success. However, there is one movie in this time period that serves as a fun two-part anthology which preserves the Disney spark: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
Bookended by live-action segments set in a library, the movie offers up a double feature of animated segments based on classic pieces of literature. First, viewers find themselves in Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows as the impulsive Mr. Toad is driven by a new mania: motor cars. Though his friends Ratty, Mole, and MacBadger try their best to help him, Toad’s manic nature lands him in prison as a crooked bartender and his gang of weasels swindle his manor home out from under Toad. Thus, it’s up to the four animal friends to prove Toad’s innocence and reclaim Toad Hall…at least, before the next mania sends Toad speeding off. Then, viewers move on from England to America, as the pages open for Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. In this classic tale, Ichabod Crane has arrived in Sleepy Hollow as the new schoolmaster, but quickly falls in love with Katrina van Tassel. That brings him the ire of Brom Bones, a local man who had his eyes on Katrina first. Discovering that Ichabod is overly superstitious, Brom tells the legend of the Headless Horseman at a Halloween party to fill the schoolteacher with fear. All alone on a dark road afterwards, Ichabod finds the tale may be real as he comes face to face with the terrifying rider. It all culminates in a mad dash to a covered bridge that may just save him or serve up one final fright.
Both segments are good, though they come with their own strengths and weaknesses. Between the two, The Wind in the Willows feels more tonally complete. It delivers the story with a playfulness that befits Mr. Toad, especially when contrasted by Basil Rathbone’s “stiff upper lip” narration. Some of the sequences deliver a great kinetic energy to them, such as Toad’s escape from prison or the manic battle at Toad Hall. It really is no wonder that this segment would go on to inspire one of the first rides at Disneyland, with “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride”. On the whole, it is a charming and fun segment, even if it may not reach quite the heights of some Disney animation. Meanwhile, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is more of a mixed bag. Bing Crosby delivers an affable narration style for the classic American tale, but the segment does suffer from some padding. There’s a solid stretch to the film where it just pads the story with gags about Ichabod and Brom fighting for Katrina’s affections. It’s not until the story reaches the iconic ride with the Headless Horseman that the segment reaches its true heights. A creepy atmosphere builds amid shadows and sounds, until it becomes a juggernaut of creeps as the Headless Horseman goes barreling after Ichabod. It is one of Disney’s most iconic “scary” sequences, and has earned its reputation as a Halloween favorite. It easily makes up for the overlong padding in the rest of the segment.
Both segments work well on their own, but when paired together, they do serve as the strongest example of what the “Package Era” could offer. That is an era of Disney that was built on anthology films, and most anthologies by their nature vary in quality. However, there is one benefit to an anthology structure: there’s less of a risk in a story overstaying its welcome. Sometimes a story can have a great idea, but in trying to flesh it out to a feature, it may spin its wheels or become overstuffed with plot threads that distract from the core story. In this case, both tales are given room to breathe, and yet not too much time to potentially lose track of themselves. Interestingly, both segments have their own challenges with adaptation. The Wind in the Willows is a book that can easily fill a feature length film and has been the subject of numerous stage plays, so Disney’s take on the story whittles it down to the iconic core of Mr. Toad and the trouble caused by his “motor mania”. Meanwhile, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a short story, so they took the case in expanding it. This mostly done through padding the story with gags like some of the older Disney movies (the original Cinderella film, for example), but that padding is inspired by mentions in the original short story of Brom pulling practical jokes on Ichabod as a way to stop him from getting with Katrina. Both segments have their issues (whether trimming down The Wind in the Willows and losing some of the easygoing charms from the book, or expanding The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in a way that neglects building the characters more), but they ultimately do make for a fun pairing of animated adaptations.
The “Package Era” of Disney tended to be glossed over, given its focus on anthology films that lacked the strong singular stories that helped the studio to blossom in the first place. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is a film from that era which still holds up, offering adaptations of two literary classics spiced up with that patented Disney magic.
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