Car-lassic Shorts Showcase: Wind In The Willows

What's this, a title change?  Yep but it's only temporary as this part of Automobile month but I didn't want to include that in this already long title, so instead of Classic Shorts Showcase, your getting Car-lassic Shorts Showcase and the first short is Wind In The Willows.  Join me as we visit Mr. Toad and friends at Toad Hall.



 The Plot




In this short, we follow a Toad, Mr. Toad to be exact who has many hobbies but they are rather expensive to keep up and he can easily fall in love with the first thing he sees and that causes him in some trouble when he sees a motor car.  He knows he wants to have it but his friends know better and he goes to trade it with the owner. Though the owner claims that he stole the motor car from him and this causes Mr. Toad to land in jail.


Narration

Narrator - Basil Rathbone

You know for the most part I thought this was a decent short but I truly feel that they could have done without any narration in this short. Unlike most of the other shorts, where the Narrator actually served a purpose, it didn't feel that way here and I had the same problem with this narrator that I had with Sterling Holloway in Goliath II, in that there was no emotion in his performance.  He sounded bland and once again, it felt as though he was reading a book.  I mean yeah the short opened with him taking a book off a shelf and ended with him putting it back up but he could have been a little more enthusiastic. Now it wasn't the worst narration I have ever heard but in the long, it served no purpose to this short as I think the short would have been better off if they had just let the story play out and let the characters tell it.


Characters


There a quite a few characters to cover for this short. Therefore, I'll be breaking it down into Main Character, Supporting Characters and lastly Villains.

Main Character


J. Thaddeus Toad voiced by Eric Blore

The best way to describe the character of Toad is to say that he has an unhealthy obsession with life.  He loves adventuring and exploring.  Though if there is one flaw that he has is that as soon as he sees something he wants it.  Such as the case when he first sees a motorcar. He may not know how to drive one but he wants that car so badly. And he won't be happy until he gets it.  It causes him to go mad.  Now going into this short I thought I was going to hate this character because of everything I had read about him and his other appearances just made him out to be an annoying character.  While he did get annoying at points, it wasn't as bad as I had imagined but he is nowhere near my favorite character. Though he is a fun character and isn't hard to see why many fans embraced this character as he is just so lovable.  

Supporting Characters

Angus MacBadger voiced by Campbell Grant

Angus is one of Toad's many friends.  He had been brought in to restore Toad Hall and to help Toad get his affairs in order because Toad is falling behind on his debt.  MacBadger is at his wit's end with Toad because of his crazy excursions.  When he finds out that Toad traded Toad Hall in the courtroom, he just faints.  Now it should be pretty obvious from the name of this character that he is Scottish.  What I like about this character is that they don't make that a joke but rather it is just part of his personality.  I think MacBadger is perhaps the weakest character in this short as not much happens with him. Though he is the one that gets the gang back into Toad Hall to get the Deed to Toad Hall out Mr. Winky's hands to prove Toad's innocence.  Other than that though, there is nothing truly memorable about him as a character.   

Rat voiced by Claud Allister

Rat is perhaps the most serious and levelheaded out of all the characters in this short.  He is the first character to try and talk some sense into Toad on behalf of MacBadger though. Even still, he is always ready with a lecture to let Toad know what he is doing is wrong and needs to be stopped. In many ways, Rat is like the stern father figure who wishes to see their young do good but disapproves of their gallivanting around town.  Understandably so, though Toad has gone too far according to his friends and they are just tired of putting up with it.

Mole voiced by Colin Campbell

Mole was one of my favorite characters in this short.  Out of all the characters in this short, he is the most childlike and naive.  Though that also makes him the most goodhearted as Mole believes that there is good in everyone.  While Mole doesn't fully understand what they are doing to Toad, he understands that it is for Toad's own good and I honestly feel that Mole is the most likable because of  all of the traits that I listed up above.

Cyril Proudbottom voiced by J. Pat O'Malley

Cyril Proudbottom is the horse that pulls Toad's horse driven cart that he is driving before he sees the motorcar.  Cyril is my favorite character from this short as he is just so much fun and he is perhaps the funniest character. I think part of that comes from his mannerisms as he is just over the top and goofy. He also plays an important role as he is the one that breaks Toad out of jail on Christmas Day, no less.  He may not be in the short all that much but when he is, a laugh can be found.  The combo of Cyril and Toad works quite wells as their humor is able to play off of each other without one overshadowing the other.

Music

We're Merrily On Our Way To Nowhere

  

Now this is the big song in this short and it fits the personality of Toad quite well as this song is all about just having fun and going an adventure.  It's not where you go but how you get there is the basic message of this song and it is just a fun song to sing along with.  Now it isn't featured in the short too much though there is a slight reprise of this song towards the latter part of the short when Toad escapes from jail. Though he really isn't singing so much as speaking it there.


Villains




The Weasels - uncredited

The Weasels  are the henchmen in this short and there are dozens of them all around the place in this short. Though that does make for a nice final battle in Toad Hall with all of them against our heroes fighting over the deed.  Now even if you haven't seen this short, The Weasels may look familiar as they appear in Disney's version of The Prince and The Pauper, where they work for Pete and The Toon Patrol's design from Who Framed Roger Rabbit was based off of that of The Weasels.  The Weasels were just a lot of fun and I honestly think that they are some of the most underrated Disney henchmen.

Mr. Winky voiced  by Oliver Wallace

Mr. Winky is the main baddie in this short and he was an interesting take on the idea of a bad guy as his appearance isn't threatening. Now he has no real motivation for his actions which is part of the reason why I didn't care for him.  Though the way he gets Toad in trouble is rather realistic as he sits in the courtroom and lies to the jury that Toad stole his car when he knows he traded his car with Toad.  After that he isn't seen too much but really he isn't needed to make this story work.  He isn't seen again until our heroes enter Toad Hall to regain the Deed from him but even then he relies on The Weasels to do his dirty work and fight.  Now if there is one nice thing about this character and short in general is that this is one of the earliest shorts to show interaction between animals and humans, where the animals are treated like humans.

My Final Thoughts

Wind In The Willows was fun little short to watch, most of the characters were likable. Again, even with the little qualms I had with the short I was able to enjoy it and I think that is the best thing that any short can do.  Now perhaps this wasn't the best short to choose for Automobile Month but I feel that Toad's obsession with the motorcar makes it fit.  I suggest if you haven't seen this short, give it a watch and I think you'll like it.  

Join me next for one more Car-lassic Short when I take a look at...

Susie The Little Blue Coupe