♫ With a hip-hip and a clippity-clop
He’s out looking for a head to swap
So don’t try to figure out a plan
You can’t reason with a headless man
The year is 1790, and the goofy, scrawny scarecrow-like Ichabod Crane is arriving at Sleepy Hollow. The place is a small picturesque village outside Tarrytown, New York, and Ichabod is going to be the place’s new schoolmaster. Upon arriving, everyone in the small village is curious about this strange fellow with his odd appearance and strange mannerisms. Despite this, he’s able to form good relationships with the women, who loves his singing voice, voiced by crooner Bing Crosby. No wonder the women were swooning. Bing Crosby is actually the narrator and singer for the entire film, making for some unforgettable songs from Disney’s prime time.
Now, as Ichabod Crane settles well into the little sleepy town, he meets the beautiful Katrina, daughter of Van Tassel who is the richest farmer there. A guy named Brom, a typical brutish dude, is Katrina’s fiancé and is not exactly happy about Ichabod’s advances on Katrina. Ichabod’s biggest weakness is how he is extremely superstitious, something Brom decides to take advantage of on Halloween. As they are all at the annual frolic at the Van Tassel house, Brom sings the tale of the Headless Horseman and scares the bejesus out of Ichabod. It is said the spirit is traveling through the woods of Sleepy Hollow every year on Halloween, searching for a new head to replace the one he’s lost. And Ichabod needs to travel back through the woods after the party to get back home…
The Adventures of Ichabod (and Mr. Toad) is an animated Disney movie from 1947. It began development in 1940, and originally was meant to be a feature film based only on The Wind in the Willows. It went through several production delays, until it was cut down to a short film and merged with another short film based on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which was also originally meant to be a full length feature. This review will focus on the Sleepy Hollow inspired segment.
Immediately from the opening of the short film, there’s a Halloween atmosphere all over it: the beautifully painted backgrounds which starts with a graveyard just to set the tone right away, deep in a dark forest, until the camera shifts focus out of the gloomy forest scenery and introduces us to Ichabod Crane himself, walking towards the village with his nose (literally) in a book. We see him entering Sleepy Hollow which is filled with beautiful autumnal colors, and in the pure good old-fashioned Disney style, we immediately get a song number once Brom and his other beer-drinking buddies notices him. Yes, this was from the time when Disney still portrayed the use of alcohol and cigars.
Also, like many of the classic Disney movies from their golden era, the songs are catchy and spirited. While the story progresses with some of the familiar good-humored Disney slapstick, the main story is very much about a love triangle of sorts, where Ichabod is craving Katrina’s affection and does everything he can to flirt with her, making her fiancé jealous. Katrina, on the other hand, is obviously enjoying Brom’s jealousy and is only using Ichabod to fuel his anger…“that little coquette Katrina“ isn’t as sweet on the inside as on the outside, it seems. Then again, this isn’t really a story about the sweetest and most sympathetic characters. Ichabod comes off as a selfish, ruthless gold-digger who yearns more for Katrina’s wealth than her, literally daydreaming of when her father will die (!), and Katrina herself only plays along to tease Brom which makes her a bit of an attention-seeking bitch.
The best part of the movie begins, of course, once Brom starts singing one of Disney’s darkest songs: Headless Horseman. This is such a perfect Halloween banger and sets such a dark mood and foreshadowing of what is to come. Which is, of course, Ichabod’s travel back home where he gets to meet the infamous ghost that haunts Sleepy Hollow every Halloween night. Here the animators really excels with use vibrant colors and contrasts to make an eerie and spooky atmosphere!
The Adventures of Ichabod Crane and Mr Toad is a fun double-feature from Disney’s lesser known classics. Both segments are fun, but the Ichabod Crane segment still stands as one of Disney’s darkest, filled with a great autumn and Halloween vibe together with some catchy songs. Another perfect gateway horror film!
Directors: James Algar, Clyde Geronimi, Jack Kinney
Writers: Erdman Penner, Winston Hibler, Joe Rinaldi, Ted Sears, Homer Brightman, Harry Reeves
Country & year: USA, 1949
Voice actor/narrator: Bing Crosby
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041094/
