Tag Archives: Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Countdown to Halloween#4

One of my favorite stories is Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow. There have been many film and tv adaptations over the years. One of my favorites is Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. While it deviates from the original book it does so in a way that does justice to the source material. And I think Headless looks even more scary in this treatment than on the Fox tv show. There was nothing really nice about him in life, who happily lopped off heads until his own was finally taken from him. He was brought back from the dead to wreck vengeance on Van Tassel and his family.

The tv version has twisted the theme into a war between good and evil with Headless being a horseman of the apocalypse. Entertaining but going this route may end up driving people batty over the confusing mythologies being employed and intertwining with Book of Revelations. At any rate here is the official trailer for this movie. I am not sure the official rating but no actual violence is shown (you are not going to see heads chopped off in the trailer)but plenty of action. A good movie to watch on Halloween.


Countdown to Halloween#1

The animation is from Ichabod & Mr.Toad (Disney,1949) and is two animated adaptations containing The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Wind in the Willows.The song was originally sung by Bing Crosby and is a delightful scene on its own. In 1963, Disney issued a record of various songs and one of the was a remixed version of The Headless Horseman Song from 1949. This version is sung by Thurl Ravenscroft. If do not recognize the name, you probably recognize the voice. His unique voice and stylings were used in other animations and in commercials. (Note:You can only watch this video at YouTube. Simply click on the text that appears on upper left side to access the video at YouTube.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwx3q0gBc70&feature=player_embedded