The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

While not one of my favourites, Ub Iwerks was responsible for a lot of interesting work. Especially when working with Walt Disney, his oldest friend and one of his best, and co-creating one of animation's most famous characters in Mickey Mouse. His career since opening his own studio had interest value but the quality was variable, often being successful in the animation and music but wanting in the story and variable in gags, lead characters and tone.1933 to 1936 saw twenty five cartoons, mostly based on famous fairytales and familiar stories, as part of Iwerks's "ComiColor" series. The "ComiColor" series is very much worth watching and interesting, as is the case with many series some cartoons are better than others but there are no real animation nadirs. 1934's 'The Headless Horseman' is watchable enough it is a little disappointing, comparing this and Disney's version it is a no-brainer which is the better one of the two.'The Headless Horseman', while faithfully adhering to the basic details of the story, is slight and is too saccharine, like at the beginning, and does take far too long to get going. This affects the pacing which generally needed more kick. There is just not enough content to the poem to fill the cartoon's length and the middle especially is where one feels the over-stretching.Its characters should have been much more interesting, their personalities are bland excepting the titular character. The wit and imagination has been more frequent and stronger in other cartoons in the series before and since, apart from with The Headless Horseman there was not an awful lot to it. The character design for Ichabod is pretty poor, going overboard with the ugliness.However, 'The Headless Horseman' in no way disgraces the story and has enough interest to stop it from being completely dull. There are a few amusing moments that aren't too corny and never repetitive (like the Clark Gable caricature), and there is a genuine likeability and charm. The Headless Horseman is suitably creepy, without being traumatising, and the part with him is where the cartoon is the most interesting.Furthermore, the animation is great generally, apart from the character design for Ichabod. Meticulously detailed, fluid in drawing, vibrant in colour and often rich in imagination and visual wit. The music is cleverly and lushly orchestrated, is infectiously catchy and adds a lot to the cartoon, along with the titular character it is by far the best asset.Overall, another example of a worth a look once but not repeat viewings cartoon. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Taking a look at a post on IMDbs Classic Film board featuring links to animated shorts from 1934,I was surprised to spot a pre-Disney version of Sleepy Hollow,which led to me thinking that this might be a good time to lose my head!The plot:Reading the mythical tale of the Headless Horseman to children at Sleepy Hollow School, Ichabod Crane receives an invitation to attend a ball being held at the town hall.Arriving at the ball,Crane catches the eye of Katrina Van Tassel.Furious that Crane is tempting his fiancée away, Brom Van Brunt decides that he must get "ahead" of Crane.View on the film: Toning down the Gothic Horror elements of the tale,director Ub Iwerks instead gives his version a handmade quality,with the animation having a rough sketch appearance,which sadly creates a feeling of Iwerks stopping heads from rolling in the aisle.Along with the films rough look,Iwerks also dips the film in 4th wall breaking pop culture,with Clark Gable nodding along to the Horseman myth,as Ichabod Crane discovers that some myths can become real.

Who gets the girl: Icabod Crane or Bom Bones? They both are after Katrina Von Tassel in this famous tale, brought to cartoon life in this UB Iwerks production. This story had been done once in animation, back in 1922. This one offers up the story in color.As with a lot of these Celebrity Productions, made in "Cinecolor," the story takes precedence over the humor. At least, that's the way it appears today. Maybe people laughed a lot more 70 years ago at this kind of cartoon but I don't think it would happen today. Now, it's more of a curiosity piece and a quick, condensed (eight minutes, usually) version of a famous tale with new twists added sometimes.Not having read the novel, I can't tell you what's bogus in this cartoon story, only that it offers very little. The only clever animated scene was the grandfather clock going to sleep. The ending was a bit of a surprise and I did smile at the very last scene. Overall, however, this not recommended.

While Iwerks was a technical genius in many respects, his strong suit was not plotting or scripting and it seems as though he couldn't care less about any aspect that wasn't visual. Thus, the series of shorts based on tall tales, fables and legends provided ready-made stories that worked to varying degrees. Here, in the short, "The Headless Horseman", except for the score and some sound effects and laughter, this is a visual cartoon-there is little to no dialog here. There are some suitably creepy visual effects at times, but the cartoon is average at best. Cannot even compare to the later adaptation done by Disney of the same Washington Irving story. Has its moments, but doesn't hold up too well. Worth watching, but Iwerks did better and the Cinecolor process was occasionally jarring. Recommended for Iwerks fans.