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curuchamionI've always found The Wind in the Willows a rather overdone book - flowery, verbose, and exaggerated - the kind of thing I read when I'm in a mood for overblown angst on small matters. However, the 1973 Caedmon abridged audiobook, randomly discovered last night at my local library on cassette tape, has done a good deal to change my mind.
Okay, it's still flowery and overdone. But now, it's read by David McCallum. Flowery prose is transmuted into absolute lyrical beauty, mock-heroic exaggeration poker-faced (poker-voiced?) into comic genius, and the extremely well-done abridgement - perhaps one-tenth the length of the original - takes care of the rest. The only missing bit I really, really wish they'd left in was the Water Rat's rhapsody on "messing about in boats".
The narration is done, as nearly as I can tell, in DMc's natural accent. Each of the characters has a distinctive voice, mostly in different English accents - all wonderfully well done, of course. Mole sounds slightly West Midlands, Rat very Oxford/military (haven't seen Colditz, but I wouldn't be surprised to find this is Simon's voice). Badger just sounds like Badger to me. Toad seems to have a speech impediment which somehow vastly enhances his Toad-ness. The Gaoler's Daughter is impressively feminine-sounding without going falsetto at all - you should hear "her" giggle! - the Chief Weasel has definitely been taking lessons from Colonel Nexor, and Otter is my very favorite. Even though he only has one scene... it's done in JRR Tolkien's accent! ::dies of the awesome::
It's David's acting skill, though, that really makes the show. I'd totally forgotten how much the Wild Wood freaked me as a child; listening to this tape, in the dark, freaked me just as much. Mole finding his house again nearly made me cry, and both of Toad's songs (a cappella and perfectly on key, grumble grumble) had me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.
I haven't yet checked to see if this recording is available on CD, or used on Amazon, but if it is I definitely recommend y'all snap it up. It'll be money well spent.
Okay, it's still flowery and overdone. But now, it's read by David McCallum. Flowery prose is transmuted into absolute lyrical beauty, mock-heroic exaggeration poker-faced (poker-voiced?) into comic genius, and the extremely well-done abridgement - perhaps one-tenth the length of the original - takes care of the rest. The only missing bit I really, really wish they'd left in was the Water Rat's rhapsody on "messing about in boats".
The narration is done, as nearly as I can tell, in DMc's natural accent. Each of the characters has a distinctive voice, mostly in different English accents - all wonderfully well done, of course. Mole sounds slightly West Midlands, Rat very Oxford/military (haven't seen Colditz, but I wouldn't be surprised to find this is Simon's voice). Badger just sounds like Badger to me. Toad seems to have a speech impediment which somehow vastly enhances his Toad-ness. The Gaoler's Daughter is impressively feminine-sounding without going falsetto at all - you should hear "her" giggle! - the Chief Weasel has definitely been taking lessons from Colonel Nexor, and Otter is my very favorite. Even though he only has one scene... it's done in JRR Tolkien's accent! ::dies of the awesome::
It's David's acting skill, though, that really makes the show. I'd totally forgotten how much the Wild Wood freaked me as a child; listening to this tape, in the dark, freaked me just as much. Mole finding his house again nearly made me cry, and both of Toad's songs (a cappella and perfectly on key, grumble grumble) had me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.
I haven't yet checked to see if this recording is available on CD, or used on Amazon, but if it is I definitely recommend y'all snap it up. It'll be money well spent.
