The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

 

                        The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

This is one of the best movies made by Disney. There are many versions 

of Ichabod Crane and sleepy hallow but no one has made any better than 

this one, the same thing goes with The wind in the willow. I hope you 

get to see this movie, you can find it on Disney +. So, with that, lets get 

to the story shall we:

The Wind in the Willows

The story is set in and around London, England, United Kingdom between 

June 10, 1908 and January 1, 1909. The protagonist J. Thaddeus Toad, 

Esq. is introduced as an "incurable adventurer" who "never counted the 

cost". As the story's "one disturbing element", although he is the 

wealthy proprietor of the Toad Hall estate, Toad's adventures and 

"positive mania for fads" have brought him to the brink of bankruptcy. 

As a last resort, Toad's friend Angus MacBadger volunteers as 

Toad's bookkeeper to help Toad keep his estate which is a source of 

pride in the community.

One summer day, MacBadger asks Toad's friends Ratty a water rat and 

Moley a mole to persuade Toad to give up his latest mania of recklessly 

driving about the countryside in a horse and canary-yellow gypsy cart, 

which could accumulate a great deal of financial liability in damaged 

property. Ratty and Moley confront Toad, but are unable to change his 

mind. Toad tries to escape from them, but then sees a motor car for the 

first time and becomes entranced by the new machine, having been 

taken over by "motor-mania".

In an attempt to cure Toad's new mania, Ratty and Moley put Toad under 

house arrest. However, Toad escapes and is later arrested and charged 

with car theft. At his trial, Toad represents himself and calls his horse 

Cyril Proudbottom as his first witness. Cyril testifies that the car which 

Toad was accused of stealing had already been stolen by a gang of 

weasels. Toad had entered a tavern where the car was parked and 

offered to buy the car from the weasels. However, since Toad had no 

money, he instead offered to trade Toad Hall for the car. The prosecutor 

and judge show disbelief toward the statement, so Toad then calls the 

bartender Mr. Winkie as a witness to the agreement; however, when told 

by Toad to explain what actually happened (during which he believes he 

will be pronounced innocent, proceeding to dress fashionably and 

attempting to walk out the door of the court house) Winkie falsely 

testifies that Toad had tried to sell him the stolen car. Toad is found 

guilty on the spot and sentenced to 20 years in the Tower of London. As 

the months passed by, Toad's friends make every effort to appeal his 

case, but to no avail.

On Christmas Eve, Toad appears to have an epiphany about his careless 

ways, but once Cyril visits Toad in disguise as his grandmother and helps 

him escape by giving him a disguise of his own, all that flies out the 

window. Toad quickly runs to a railway station and hijacks a 2-4-0 steam 

locomotive and drives out of the station heading toward the river bank 

without getting caught by the police on another train. Though seeming 

to drown due to his ball and chain dragging him down to the bottom of 

the river having thrown himself into it in an attempt to give the police 

the slip, he then arrives at Ratty's house. However, while Moley is happy 

to see him again, Ratty is insistent that Toad return to prison and pay his 

debt to society out of the fact Toad ignored their warnings to stop his 

carelessness, especially when they hear what they think is the police at 

the door. Instead, it is MacBadger who enters, informing them that 

Winkie is the leader of the weasel gang, and that Toad indeed traded 

Toad Hall for their stolen motorcar; Winkie himself is in possession of 

the deed. Ratty then apologizes to Toad for thinking ill of him.

Knowing that the deed bearing both Toad and Winkie's signatures would 

prove Toad's innocence, the four friends sneak into Toad Hall using a 

secret passage near the river by boat. Though Toad nearly louses up the 

plan by almost shooting the guard outside on the bridge, the four 

manage to sneak in. Finding the weasels and Winkie (who they see has 

the deed on his person) drunk and passed out, they attempt to lower 

Moley on a makeshift rope to swipe it. Unfortunately, Toad's actions from 

before had caused more damage than originally thought as the guard 

investigates, finds the passageway and wakes up the Weasels and 

Winkie. A grueling chase around the estate ensues to take the document, 

during which a number of antics happen, including Moley folding the 

deed into a paper airplane and then Toad producing numerous ones to 

confuse Winkie and the weasels and the quick switch-around with the 

hidden wall panel. Though the four manage to escape with their lives, 

they appear to not get the deed. However, Toad proudly produces said 

deed from his pocket.

The film then ends on New Year's Day with Toad exonerated and 

regaining his house while it is implied that Winkie and the weasels have 

been arrested and imprisoned. As MacBadger, Ratty, and Moley celebrate 

the New Year with a toast to Toad, who they believe has completely 

reformed, Toad and Cyril recklessly fly past on a 1903 Wright Flyer; Toad 

has not truly reformed and has developed a mania for airplanes instead.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Although the film introduces the story as Ichabod Crane, later individual 

releases retained the story's original title. As a short story, "The Legend 

of Sleepy Hollow" was originally published in The Sketch Book with other 

stories, not as a single volume as depicted in the film.

In October 1790 fourteen years after the American Revolution and 

founding the United States, Ichabod Crane, a lanky and superstitious, yet 

charming dandy arrives in Sleepy Hollow, New York, a small village 

outside Tarrytown that is renowned for its ghostly hauntings, to be the 

town's new schoolmaster. Despite his odd behavior, appearance, and 

rather effeminate mannerisms, Ichabod soon wins the hearts of the 

village's women and forms good friendships with his students, though 

the latter is mainly in order to get invitations to suppers at said student's 

homes which he would not be able to afford on his meager salary. Brom 

Bones, the roguish town hero, does his best to bully and play pranks on 

Ichabod, such as interrupting his singing lessons with the town ladies 

choir by having a dog howl in the middle of Ichabod singing a series of 

notes, making it seem like Ichabod himself produced it. However, the 

schoolmaster is very good at ignoring these taunts and continues to 

interact with the townspeople. One day at a town picnic, Ichabod meets 

and falls in love with Katrina van Tassel, the beautiful daughter of the 

wealthy farmer Baltus van Tassel, and whom Brom is equally infatuated 

with. Despite being obsessed with Katrina's beauty, Ichabod mainly 

desires to take her family's money for himself. Brom, who has never 

been challenged like this, proceeds to compete with the schoolmaster, 

but Ichabod wins Katrina over at every opportunity and unintentionally 

makes a fool of Brom in the process. Unbeknownst to both men, Katrina 

is only using Ichabod to make Brom jealous and force him to try harder 

for her affections.

The two love rivals are invited to the van Tassel Halloween party. Brom 

attempts to get Ichabod to dance with a plump woman who is a wild and 

impetuous dancer instead of Katrina, and later attempts to have him fall 

through a cellar door, but both attempts comically backfire. While both 

men dine, Brom catches Ichabod accidentally knocking the salt shaker 

over and nervously tossing salt over his left shoulder. Discovering 

Ichabod's weakness is superstition, he decides to sing the tale of the 

legendary Headless Horseman in order to scare him. The horseman 

supposedly travels the woods on Halloween each year, searching for a 

living head to replace the one he had lost, and the only way to escape 

the ghost is to cross a covered bridge. Everyone else, including Katrina, 

finds the song amusing, while Ichabod starts to fear for his life.

Riding home from the party through the very woods from the song, 

Ichabod becomes paranoid of every sound he hears in the dark woods. 

While traveling through the old cemetery, Ichabod believes he hears the 

sound of a horse galloping toward him, but discovers the sound is being 

made by nearby cattails bumping on a log. He and his horse begin to 

laugh hysterically in amusement at being scared by something so small... 

when their laughter is cut short by the appearance of the real Headless 

Horseman, wielding a sword and riding what appears to be Brom's black 

horse. After being chased through the dark forest, Ichabod, 

remembering Brom's advice, rides across the covered bridge to stop the 

ghost's pursuit. The horseman stops in Ichabod's tracks, and rises in his 

stirrups, and throws his flaming head, revealed to be a jack-o'-lantern, 

right at the schoolmaster. Ichabod tries to dodge the terrible missile, but 

is too late when it hits him on the head in his face, presumably knocking 

him out, and tumbling him from his horse into the dust.

The next morning, Ichabod's hat is found at the bridge next to the 

shattered jack-o-lantern, but Ichabod himself is nowhere to be found. 

Sometime later, Brom takes Katrina as his wife. Rumors begin to spread 

that Ichabod is still alive, married to a wealthy widow in a distant county 

with children who all look like him. However, the superstitious people of 

Sleepy Hollow insist that he has been "spirited away" by the Headless 

Horseman.