Bambi

History and Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland

Year Released: 1942

Michael's Movie Grade: A+



                                                                     History

Bambi was intended to be Disney's second feature film, but due to the many problems that arouse in the process of making the film, it ended up being it's sixth. One of the reasons for this was it's uniqueness among the other Disney films, made thus far. Despite the talking animals Bambi was set in a more real world than their previous more fantasy based films had taken place. This was a new and scary venture for the studio and one they would not take lightly.

In 1933 director Sidney Franklin (The Good Earth, The Dark Angel) had bought the rights to the book Bambi, a Life in the Woods by Felix Salten, to make into a film. However he could never get the film to be the way he wanted it to be. So in 1935 Franklin had contacted Walt Disney to see if he was interested in the rights to Bambi, Walt was. Even though the supervising director of Bambi would now be Disney director David Hand, Sidney Franklin would work on the film as a consultant. Walt and Sidney had two vastly different ideas of how Bambi could work as a film. Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas (Two animators on Bambi, and future nine old men) wrote in their book Bambi: the Story and the Film, " Where Sidney Franklin saw poetry, beauty, philosophy- the wind brushing softly against the tall grass, the warm sun on the meadow, the grandeur of the forest and majesty of the creatures who lived and died there- Walt saw an entertaining cast that would give him an opportunity to fully utilize the talents of his staff, as well as his own, in giving life and character traits to everything that lived in the forest."

Walt originally urged the film to be much less seriously than the book. He wanted more gags and humorous situations and less serious drama. He felt with all the animal characters that Bambi would work better as a silly comedy than a serious animated drama. Unfortunately with this none of the serious scenes really worked because they would be too out of place, and would not create the necessary emotionally response from the audience.

After reading a rough draft Sidney Franklin offered an important piece of constructive criticism. This was that for a film about Bambi, the character of Bambi was no longer the star of the movie. The audience had to see the world from Bambi's own eyes, and understand his character. The change was heavily assisted by a new design for the Bambi character by animation legend Marc Davis. Bambi was now not only a very cute character, but a much more realistically rendered one. This would set up the new approach the film would take. Another artist who would change the approach of the film is background artist Tyrus Wong. His Chinese influenced art style would bring a unique blend of naturalistic and stylized art to the film. Unfortunately this would be the only Disney film he would work on. The film would now be much more of a drama, and definitively less of a fantasy than any previous Disney film, feature or short.  

One change Walt insisted on making to Bambi, was to reduce the dialog. He felt the movie was bogged down by too much unnecessary dialog. Walt felt that the images, and the animation could tell the story better than dialog could. As such there is only about 1,000 words spoken throughout the entire 70 minutes of Bambi's running time. This may sound like a lot on paper, but is in fact very little, especially compared to most modern movies. This dialog was not spoken by well known actors (like modern animated features), but by child actors without much previous experience. None of them were well known names. Even though Cammie King Conlon (voice of Faline) had appeared in Gone With the Wind, that and a forgotten live action film based off the Blondie comic strip called Blondie Meets the Boss were the only other films she acted in ever as she never acted in another film (A brief but impressive resume).

Unfortunately, when it was released in 1942, Bambi lost money at the box office. It also received mixed reviews from critics, many stating that with Bambi Disney was getting too far away from the cartoon reality that had made the studio famous. This was a big blow to the studio, and especially to Walt Disney, who considered this to be one of his personal favorite Disney films. Walt and the rest of the studio began to wonder whether they could continue to make animated features the way they had.

                                                               Review

Bambi, is probably the most poetic film Disney ever made and one of the best coming of age stories ever to put on film. Bambi is also one of Disney's most unique films, and that is probably for the best considering it is one of their greatest achievements, and it is unlikely that any similar film could even come close to reaching the artistry of Bambi. The best way to describe this film would be with one word, Beautiful. However I am going to write a full review anyway.

Bambi is one of Disney's most atmospheric films, in fact the only competition it has in that department is maybe Fantasia. The atmosphere is just as much of a character as Bambi, his mother, Thumpher, Flower, or any other character in the film. The background and music truly take on a life of their own. However none of this overshadows the story or characters, but rather enhances them. The passing of time and the seasons, has never been shown so beautifully, nor has the majesty of nature ever been captured so masterfully on film than it has in Bambi. Not even Disney's own live action nature films come anywhere close to this. Some scenes don't even advance the plot or characters, such as the Little April Showers scene (Which is one of the most beautiful things Disney has ever done), but they just add such a great atmosphere that they in fact enhance the story rather than stop it.

As most people know this film features one of the most emotional scenes Disney has ever done. However this would not have worked if the story hadn't have drawn you into it's characters and atmosphere as masterfully as it has done.

Anyone who just writes off Bambi as a movie with cute cuddly animals for kids needs to watch the film again and see how powerful and majestic it really is. Bambi is not just a good movie, but a great work of cinematic art.

                                                    Film Credits

Supervising Director: David Hand

Sequence Directors: James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, Graham Heid, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Norman Wright

Based on the book, Bambi, a Life in the Woods by Felix Salten

Writers: Perce Pearce, Larry Morey, Vernon Stallings, Mel Shaw, Carl Fallberg, Chuck Couch, Ralph Wright

Songwriters: Frank Churchill (Music), Larry Morey (Lyrics)

Voices: Donald Novis (Love is a Song singer), Hardie Albright (Adolescent Bambi), Bobby Stewart (Baby Bambi), Donnie Dunagan (Young Bambi), John Sutherland (Adult Bambi), Tim Davis (Adult Thumper, Adolescent Flower), Peter Behn  (Young Thumper), Stan Alexander (Young Flower), Sam Edwards (Adult Thumper), Sterling Holloway (Adult Flower), Cammie King Conlon (Young Faline), Ann Gillis (Adult Faline), Paula Winslowe (Bambi's Mother / Pheasant), Will Wright (Friend Owl), Margaret Lee (Thumper's Mom), Clarence Nash (Bullfrog), Fred Shields (Great Prince of the Forest), Mary Lansing (Aunt Ena, Mrs. Possum), Thelma Boardman (Girl Bunny, Quail Mother, Female Pheasant), Marion Darlington (Birds), Eddie Holden (Chipmunk), Otis Harlan (Mr. Mole)

Producer: Walt Disney

Music: Frank Churchill, Edward Plumb

Art Directors: Tom Codrick, Robert Cormack, Lloyd Harting, David Hilberman, John Hubley, Dick Kelsey, McLaren Stewart, Al Zinnen

Assistant Directors: Jack Atwood, Mike Holoboff, Bob Ogle

Character Maquettes: Wah Chang

Atmosphere Sketches: Jules Engel, Lew Keller, Harold Miles, Sylvia Moberly-Holland, Maurice Noble, Zack Schwartz, Glenn Scott, Gustaf Tenggren

Sound Effects: James MacDonald

Sound Director: C.O. Slyfield

Effects Animator: Miles E. Pike

Camera Operator: Max Morgan

Supervising Animators: Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl, Eric Larson, Frank Thomas, Travis Johnson

Background Artists: Dick Anthony, Merle Cox, Ray Huffine, Travis Johnson, Ed Levitt, Bob McIntosh, Art Riley, Stan Spohn, Joe Stahley, Tyrus Wong

Layout Artists: Curt Perkins, Glenn Scott

Ink and Paint Department: Jeanne Lee Keil

Assistant Animators: Lee J. Ames, Blaine Gibson, Bill Melendez, Willis Pyle

Animators: Preston Blair, Jack Bradbury, Marc Davis, Phil Duncan, Art Elliott, Bernard Garbutt, Ken Hultgren, Bill Justice, Don Lusk, Joshua Meador, Ken O'Brien, Art Palmer, George Rowley, Louie Schmitt, Retta Scott, Edwin Aardal, Jerome Brown, Paul Busch, Lars Calonius, Brad Case, Ugo D'Orsi, Russ Dyson, James Escalante, Paul Fitzpatrick, Joseph Gayek, George Goepper, Franklin Grundeen, Harry Hamsel, Joe Harbaugh, M. James, Lynn Karp, Jack Kinney, Paul B. Kossoff, Dan MacManus, Fred Madison, Murray McClellan, John McManus, Art Moore, James Moore, John Reed, Hazel Sewell, Sandy Strother, Don Tobin, Harvey Toombs, Don Towsley, Noel Tucker, Karl Van Leuven, Jim Will, Vernon G. Witt, Cornett Wood, Cy Young, Robert W. Youngquist

Consultants: Don Graham, Rico Lebrun, Sidney Franklin

Live Action Models: Jane Randolph, Donna Atwood

                                             Resourses Used
Bambi: the Story and the Film by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas

The Disney Films by Leonard Maltin

The Making of Bambi: A Prince is Born (DVD special feature)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034492/?ref_=ttsnd_snd_tt

-Michael J. Ruhland