Disney Animated Features
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Release Date: 5 October 1949
The sixth and final of Disney's 1940s-era compilation films. Like Fun and Fancy Free before it, it was a combination of two featurettes rather than several shorts.
"The Wind in the Willows" was narrated by Basil Rathbone and was an adaptation of the novel by Kenneth Grahame. The story centers around novelty-obsessed J. Thaddeus Toad and the efforts of his friends (Mole, Rat, and Badger) to keep him from destroying his life and his inheritance.
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" was, of course, based on the famous story by Washington Irving. Schoolteacher Ichabod Crane, tall and gangly but popular with the ladies, has his extreme superstition taken advantage of on Halloween night. He's told the horrible story of the Headless Horseman, said to haunt the road outside Sleepy Hollow. Then he must ride home in the dark... "Sleepy Hollow" was narrated by Bing Crosby.
Once again, a Disney Animated Feature failed to caputre an Academy Award nomination, despite the fact that both featurettes are quite good. However, the next year, 1950, would bring Disney's triumphant return to the realm of full-length animated features: Cinderella.
Information for the Disney Animated Features series of nodes comes from the IMDb (www.imdb.com), Frank's Disney Page (http://www.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de/~fp/Disney/), and the dark recesses of my own memory.