Home / Series / Rankin Bass Productions / Aired Order / Season 2 / Episode 17

The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows is a 1987 American animated musical television film directed by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass. It is an adaptation of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Set in a pastoral version of England, the film focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters (Moley, Ratty, Mr. Toad, and Mr. Badger) and contains themes of mysticism, adventure, morality, and camaraderie. The film features the voices of Charles Nelson Reilly, Roddy McDowall, José Ferrer, and Eddie Bracken. The screenplay was written by Romeo Muller, a long-time Rankin/Bass writer whose work included Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Hobbit, and The Flight of Dragons, among others. This was the last project produced by Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment. The film was finished in 1985, but its television premiere was delayed several times, before finally airing July 5, 1987 on ABC. In this version the horse pulling the barge is the same horse who pulls Mr. Toad's caravan, Portly is Badger's nephew, and The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Wayfarer's All chapters are included, although the events of Wayfarer's All occurs before the events of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and Ratty actually leaves the Riverbank, only to be found later by Mole (alongside Portly).

English
  • Originally Aired July 5, 1987
  • Runtime 95 minutes
  • Network ABC (US)
  • Notes Is a movie
    Is a season finale
  • Created April 28, 2020 by
    Administrator admin
  • Modified April 28, 2020 by
    Administrator admin