My Own Personal Nerdy Disney and Animation Scrutinizing Analyses: "Bambi "- The Sweet, Adorable and Mellow, But Tragic Iconic Disney Deer

Hi folks! Welcome to my My Own Personal Nerdy Disney and Animation Scrutinizing Analysis blog. A blog where I'm analyzing several Disney films, Disney or Animation in general! These entries are just meant to be my analyses. Not reviews or statements. Just fun analyses! Though I'll make some personal remarks now and then, the content of these entries are meant to be depicted objectively. They're made for entertainment purpose only and the pictures/clips are copyright Disney or other companies.

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And finally; If you haven't seen the films, beware of spoilers! And the funny lines aren't meant to be nothing than funny. So I hope you won't find them offensive. If so, I apologize

As the title song of this movie says; Life may be swift and fleeting. But life can also have it's unpredictable and unexpected turns and not always going as the way we planned. However, life can also have a peculiar way of not letting an work of art getting it's true reward at first. And gaining praise and legacy afterwards.
If you'll look at the beginning on Walt Disney's career, his first five years on the full-length animation industry were peculiar ones. These five films have been labeled for being the classics of the first "Golden Era". But funny enough only two of them broke the Box Office (Snow White and Dumbo). While the others flopped on their first releases, but gained a classic legacy afterwards with their re-releases.
It certainly was a daunting disappointment for the ever ambitious and hard-working Walt. Yet fortunately he managed to have a following golden era the following decade. While Disney are usually associated with adapting fairy tales (as aforementioned in my other entries), Walt actually relied on different sources to base his features on. Some of them was well known and iconic stories (as I've previously mentioned in my Tarzan-entry). But others were actually lesser known at the time.

Bambi`s Origins and Disneyfication

One of these contenders is 1942's Bambi. Based on German author Felix Salten's (his original name was Siegmund Salzmann) naturalistic and provocative novel from 1923. Inspired by the wildlife of the Alps.
Bambi is Salten's most well-known work and was banned from his homecountry by Hitler for it's political allegory. But it arrived to the US in 1928, translated at the time by Whittaker Chambers.
Apparently Salten wrote the story out of mere boredom and yes folks, the name Bambi was taken from the Italian term Bambino. Salten himself saw the film at the European premiere (while he passed away three years later, in 1945) and his novel was re-released with illustrations from Disney's work.
Of course Disney`s

Bambi a Disneyfication of the story. And regardless of the criticism around this, the storyguys encouraged Walt to not stick to the book for artistic license. But at the time it was one of the more recent sources that Disney used. Bambi has seen other adaptations afterwards (a Russian live action version was made in 1985, as well as a ballet). But it would be fair to say that Walt's version is the most well-known.
The novel was at the time, believe it or not, considered to be too adult to adapt as an animated picture. While it was being targeted for being children's literature later on (for all the flack The Hunchback of Notre Dame got for being an adaptation of an adult literary source back in 1996, Bambi was certainly another contender).
Yet Bambi wasn't the only of Salten's work that was made into a motion picture by Disney. Two of his other properties, Perri (where Bambi makes a cameo) and The Hound of Florence (The Shaggy Dog), were adapted into live action properties. Yet unsurprisingly Disney would be sued for the copyrights of the book from Twin Books that were given by Salten's daugther, Anna Wyler (while the Salten's weren't the only ones Disney received a lawsuit from, as German Author Eugion Prandi claimed that Bambi was based on his 1932 book, The Hind).

Bambi`s History and Position in Disney`s Pantheon

It's certainly a challenge to try to analyze Bambi. For it's position as a classic and it's simplistic and poetic nature. But I'll definitively give it a try. Bambi was unfortunately a flop on it's original August 21th 1942 release (it opened in London with a live stage show, while it was intended to premiere on New York City's Radio City Music Hall. But MGM's Mr. Miniver postponed that release). Yet Bambi was more successful on it's 1947-re release and onward (while it was marketed as "the most awaited of Walt's features", yet the aftermath of three Box Office failures had impacted the crew).

But it's underperformance was due of the second World War, who cut off the foreign markets (where some of the animators were serving and the army used the studio for their trucks and equipment. And the badges the animators were given had Disney characters drawn on them). A market that were crucial for Disney. But according to Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, Walt didn't show any concern for the diminished markets (nor did he want to bother his staff with the concerns from the studio).

Though Bambi received mixed reviews initially, it gained more praised afterwards. Not only an iconic Disney film, but a iconic movie on it's own right, Bambi has survived and appealed to children (and adults) in all ages through several generations. It holds a 3rd spot on the Top 10 list of American Film Institute. And it's 75th anniversary was marked twice in 2017, on Disney's D23 Expo and with a special screening with Leonard Maltin that same May.
Bambi has often been labeled as Walt's personal favorite (as well as Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston's) and also being the favorite of Peter Pan's Kathryn Beamount (which proves their good tastes, haha). Beamount even got in trouble for seeing it again.

Having been re-released

several times (1947, 1957, 1966, 1975, 1982 and 1988), and been released a couple of times on VHS and Laserdisc (first in 1989, where it's marketing campaign was about $60 million dollars. Combined with the VHS-release of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which was labeled for being "the biggest marketing campaign ever" at the time). And being broadcast on Disney Channel for the first time in 1991.
And having been released on DVD trice (being re-released every sixth year and it's Platinum Edition had 1. Million units sold the first day) and Blu Ray twice (the Diamond Edition

introduced the Second Screen feature). And last being released in 2017 to it's 75th Anniversary (it's restoration process was a easy one, since the original film was in good shape. Despite being filmed on the very flammable Nitrate stock).
Bambi is also one of twenty-five films selected for preservation by U.S. Library of Congress National Film Registry. It won an award in 1947 for it's groundbreaking Hindustani version. Bambi was also dubbed into Arapaho at the time and there`s also been some brief mentioning of converting it to 3D (while unfortunately it's not like to happen)

What Bambi is Known For

Through it's (more) than 75th years of life, Bambi has been known for a lot of things. It's known for it's calm, mellow and subdued nature (no pun intended for this time, guys). It's known for it's little dialogue, 950 words to be exact (something that I never wondered about as a child, strangely enough, though they ended up with 200 more words than planned)! It's known for it's cuteness and charm, but also for it's

serious nature and harrowing moments (the first trailer depicted it as a love story, funny enough. Which is after all fair, since romance is vital to the story, after all). Perhaps people have been deceived by Bambi for it`s tonal opposites and while of course most narrative has both lightness and darkness for dramatic purposes, Bambi is especially known for both tones. It's been listed on Time Entertainments list among Top 25 horror films, And horror novelist Stephen King has labeled Bambi as a horror movie.

This is a jaw-dropping stearing contest :)

At least we're not the black stallions :)

Bambi`s Way of Telling a Story

This is what we call a slumber party :)

Out of this short Golden Pantheon, Snow White and Dumbo were mostly dedicated to tell a cohesive story. Pinocchio could've been put in the same category (and sure you can perceive it individually, guys). But it comes across as rather episodic (reflecting Collodi's episodic nature).
Of course the same could be said about Fantasia. Which of course isn't a cohesive story, but a couple of narratives strung together! The narrative Disney's Bambi possesses is a very simplistic one. But it's also something that Bambi is truly known for.

Ignore the picture above, they copied me. It's Deja Vu :)

It would be tempting to say that Bambi lacks a real plot. But Bambi is rather an every day depiction rather than we what associate with a elaborate story (which was one of the producers initial concerns with the film and Walt wanted to define the characters before shaping the story).
Originally the crew wanted the story to possess a moral for our hero, yet they eventually decided that it wasn't necessary (Walt had a stenographer during the story meetings for the film and his final drafts were not far from the final result). Yet Walt wanted the story to be simplistic as possible.

Bambi touches upon life, childhood, death, adulthood, love and rebirth (Walt wasn't initially sure of the appeal of baby animals would have, yet he learned afterwards that they simply had more appeal than the grown deers). So Bambi embraces the "circle of life"-aspect that The Lion King would be later on known for.

The Deja Vu ending with Bambi's twin fawns (named Geno and Gurri in the original novel, but rumored to be named so in the Disney version as well, according to Disney Wiki and a comic) were suggestions from Sidney Franklin. Which relieved the crew, yet originally Bambi took his father's place earlier in the story. During the climax, and the scene would be in dialogue. But his closure with his old man was a deliberate choice.

I did it waaaay before Simba :)

Bambi himself mostly serves as a observant for all the wonders, happenings and dangers of life (the touring of the forest was the opening scene in the first draft, but it was originally too long). And it's remarkable how Bambi is less promoted as an adult in trailers and merchandise, despite it's coming of age-premise (yet the choice of not re-introducing Bambi again as an adult immediately after the next spring was a conscious one). But in retrospect it's not strange that he's mostly marketed as a fawn (which is a departure from Simba, who`s equally marketed in both age groups).

The Visuals and the Environmental Message

What Bambi is definitively known for are it's visuals! Which is completely deserved! This non-descriptional forest, modeled by after one in Maine and unofficially setted in the US, is truly something awesome and a feast for the eyes (the opening scene was designed by Dick Anthony). This dark, deep forest is given some real depth, executed by the Multiplane camera. Which had the animation painted with oil on glass (and ripple glass were used for water and fire effects), created from the short The Old Mill. Though Walt didn't realize the potential of the visual beauty at first and seeing it's potential by envisioning changing seasons.
Walt originally envisioned a montage of the forest being restored by the changing seasons after the big fire. Yet the fire sequence was actually a part from the get-go (despite not being a part of the book). But the idea of a charred forest was eventually cut due to financial reasons. So the 8,500 feet long picture was reduced to 6,259 feet (to the biggest dismay of Frank Thomas).
Bambi`s look was supervised by Chinese painter Tyrus Wong (alongside with Tom Codrick), who came to USA at the age of 9 (and who had read Salten's novel in advance). Wong passed away in 2016 at the age 106, but became a Disney legend in 2001 (and became the oldest Chinese-American painter alive). Wong was at the time a newcomer to studio, but was fired when the strike arrived (despite that he didn't strike himself). And never worked for the studio again (he went over to Warner Brothers). He never even got to meet Walt himself!

Yet Wong cites that his contribution to Bambi was just a minor one in his career, it's certainly been remembered. The simplistic style (inspired by the Song dynasty) was a conscious choice, since the leaves and details of the forest were getting too elaborate, detailed and even photo-realistic to get the characters seen (yet the original thought was to make it entirely realistic).
The muted colors was also a conscious for it's setting (yet ironically enough, the film was shot in black and white and then added colors through a color wheel). However, the look of the film was actually an issue that the crew faced after refining the story. Walt himself felt that the style for Bambi was truly a departure from his prior features.
And while crews of later Disney projects have looked at Bambi for inspiration, they've never managed to capture the exact sheer feel of it (while The Fox and the Hound came close, in my opinion, regardless of it borrowing scenes from Bambi). Of course animation historians have cited that nobody will match the opulence of Bambi. And while this is of course subjective, Bambi's visuals are of course noteworthy for their own.

What a cool new hat, huh? As long as it doesn't thaw :)

The wind was initially going to be an anthropomorphized character with it's own voice (yet funny enough, a choir was used for the autumn montage). And there would be a second wind character to mirror Bambi and Faline's romance (as would the creek that Bambi sees his reflection in meadow, believe it or not). But it was scrapped due to it's limited appeal of entertainment.
The last two leaves that falls at the end of the fall montage was taken from the book. And Walt wanted to include it from the get-go. But even he got apprehensive about it once, believing that it wouldn't play as well in the movie. But the following snow scene was depicted as a contrast to the falling leaves (and Bambi's discovery of the snow was modeled after the joy of real life children discovering snow. Deliberately meant to be funny and Walt originally envisioned a snow montage turning into spring to open the movie).

Young Thumper's voice actor, Peter Behn (who didn't audition for the part) stated that Walt himself was far ahead with his environmental concern at the time, since Walt had a fondness for nature after all. Bambi has also been listed as the very first motion picture to be environmental in any kind (as the original book was listed to be the first environmental literature). Bambi was also the very first film Jack Bauer (no, I mean Kiefer Sutherland) ever saw and he confessed that he had a crush of Thumper's love interest.

Behind the Scenes Trivia

Bambi was originally conceived to be an live action movie from top MGM-producer and filmmaker Sidney Franklin. Franklin got the rights in in the 30`s from Felix Salten, actually (he even wanted to cast actors for the two leaves from the book). Franklin realized that animation was the best way to portray the story and actually approached Walt in 1935 (which actually delighted Walt)!
However, two years would pass before Walt finally got the rights to the books (it's rumored that Sidney urged Walt and even said that he was getting another offer for the story from MGM, while it was rumored to be bogus)

Despite that Walt's original vision was different (and certainly different from Sidney's), Franklin guided Walt to the picture's epic and emotional scale. Though Walt still deliberately wanted more comedy in his film, as opposed to the book (yet Sidney Franklin got his final dedication on the picture). The possibilities of depicting the animals intrigued Walt, while he didn't felt the urge to stick to the book. Walt wanted to construct the story first and cast the actors before animating and recording the music. Yet he was advised to just portray the story through some few characters first.

However, Walt believed that animating animals would be an easy task at first. Yet the assignment daunted the animators, for not knowing how to animate the complex emotions on animal characters, while this didn't worry Walt at first.
The animators had their each individual talent; Ollie Johnston pulled off the animation of the characters thinking, while Milt Kahl animated the complex body positions. Eric Larson were assigned to do the cute stuff, whereas Frank Thomas was mostly interested in emotions (and both latter persons had their each individual policy of what was more important between a good drawing or good acting). The animators were given different sequences and didn't have their own character to supervise as priorly. And these animators would animate the whole film (and adding some additional animators).

While Walt had his concerns of how the dialogue should be animated due to the realism of the characters, at least he wanted believability to them (yet he wanted a sincerity to the dialogue).
However, both Frank and Ollie had their reservations over the story even being appealing to film, as they described it as an "mosaic of isolated adventures". Animating complex emotions on the deers themselves still made the deers look awkward at first.

Yet for all this, Walt stressed the importance of less dialogue. And Walt's "plausible/impossible"-mantra was certainly used in Bambi (while Walt was rumored for being a ruthless boss, both young Bambi's voice actor, Donnie Dunagan, and young Thumper's actor Peter Behn, said he was a quite affable and helpful boss. While Donnie interacted more with Walt than Peter did, as Walt didn't show up in the recording sessions).

Poisoned apples are irresistible :)

Walt was usually ahead of his staff with his visions for the studio. Walt originally planned to release Bambi after Snow White at the following year (Christmas 1938). But he realized that the dedication would give the film some difficulties with anatomy (also due to his perfection). So Bambi needed to be postponed.

While Walt eventually aimed for a Christmas 1941 release, a short strike at the studio also hampered the production (as well as putting lyrics to the songs that weren't originally going to have lyrics). Yet it's merchandising release actually began in 1941.
His animators thought that making Bambi the second feature was a huge mistake! The problems of the film daunted Walt when he first worked on it (and he was more comfortable with the comedy scenes and with the squirrels and bees at first than those with the deers and Man).

Must eat them before the Gummi Bears arrives :)

Most of the crew were already working on Pinocchio, which seemed easier to work on. Since it was closer to a full-length Silly Symphony-episode (and being cited as being a picture that Walt knew how to make). Pinocchio was put in front in the schedule, which Walt announced to the press.
Walt didn't want to rush the production afterwards. And by exploring the use of classical music (and because of his uncertainty, he was absent of the story meetings for Bambi and chose Fantasia to be the following picture after Pinocchio (yet Walt wanted to strive for a release every single year and was even that cocky that he thought the studio could churn out a feature every sixth month and be even more active, as Goldwyn).
Walt chose the storyguys from Snow White, Perce Pearce and Larry Morey, to be the heads of story for Bambi. Since they brought a sympathetic appeal in the former project (Pearce even acted the characters and was suggested to even record some of the lines).

More Behind the Scenes Trivia

Hey, we must be creative, won't we?

Walt highly believed on the enormous appeal of the story and envisioned the entertaining appeal of the personalities. Which would be different from the book. Yet two sequences which Walt liked, the animals talking about Man and how Bambi learns that Man is not all powerful, were discarded from the picture. Ss well as a conversation between the forest animals and Man's hound dog (who explained the joy of his bidding).
But what differentiated Bambi from Walt's previous works was (despite the dialogue given to the animals) the story would be more realistic and have no roots in fictional magic. So this mantra would of course apply to the animals (despite that his firstthoughts was not about to make the deers too realistic). Yet Walt was still less present during the story meetings for this picture, because of
But it's certainly evident that the animals in Bambi have been dedicated with anatomy. The

Don't call me mama for this :)

studio had some pet deers named Bambi and Faline sent from the Maine Development Commission. So Walt took them out in the nature to see how they behaved there (though they managed to escape once). Compared to the deers in Snow White, while endearing on their own right, Eric Larsson compared their bodies to flour sacks.
The crew also had other different species of forest animals, suggested by artist and photographer Maurice "Jake" Day. Yet the pet deers would be eventually released in the Griffith Park at the end (and a buck actually came to seek out Faline and causing a huge havoc).

The species of the deers were changed from roe deers to white tailed-deer. As the latter was more common in the US. Producer Dave Hand claimed his pity for the animators who had to learn the hard anatomy, who couldn't manage to draw eight drawings daily.
The crew eventually borrowed an old film studio on Seward Street in Hollywood, since the Hyperion Avenue studio were getting overcrowded (and despite some initial resentments, the crew found it stimulating to work on a less frantic environment). While the fawns were left behind in the Hyperion Avenue studio, which of course left the crew with confusion over the absence of Walt. They almost forgot the deers when they were on the other lot! The construction of the then-new studio in Burbank also took Walt's time.

The crew also borrowed an animal expert, Bernard "Garby" Garbutt, to guide them to draw the animals (despite being no animator and even protesting the idea of humanizing the animal expressions). Artist Rico Lebrun had even brought a carcass of a dear, which only Eric Larsson attended to (since he could tolerate the smell).
Even drawing Bambi's muzzle was a hard task, due to it was hard to making him talk for his rounded snout. Which was the opposite of Thumper's, who only has one tooth. Walt suggested that Thumper's ability would be to say quotes (Peter Behn was guided through the wee zoo and didn't knew about the storyline when he was a part of the film). Even to make Bambi's spots always in the right place was cautiously taken care of. While the process was of course slow, Walt wanted the animation to be quick at the end of production (while the animators originally worked fast).

Bambi`s Portrayal of Naturalistic Animals

I've been too much with Sleepy :)

The story sketches for Bambi were more elaborate and involving than those for Walt's previous pictures. And while Walt wanted to use his key personnel for this picture, they were usually used to animate more caricatured characters. So they were sent to other assignments.

Prior to Dumbo, the naturalistic animals in Walts films weren't given dialogue (with the exception of the transformed donkeys in Pinocchio). And while Dumbo has the naturalistic, female elephants behaving realistically, they've still given clothes. So Bambi was indeed a departure from the studio. Where the naturalistic animals were characterized, yet being animated realistically (as the animation on the naturalistic animals in Dumbo was less naturalistic).

Kudos to Marc Davis, (who knew how to draw animals priorly) for giving Bambi some credible,

human expressions (as well as huge eyes, who would be a typical Disney trademark to come). While Marc wasn't originally an animator, Walt was so impressed with his work that he put Milt Kahl and Frank to teach him to animate! Marc convinced the skeptics that naturalistic deers could carry a picture! Yet Milt Kahl was the one who made the ultimate transition by making the designs easy to animate.

Walt still wanted the mannerisms and expressions to be inspired by human ones and encouraged the crew to look at Figaro in Pinocchio as reference. Yet realism vs. entertainment value actually became an issue for the storycrew (Walt deliberately threw out some funny gags during the Little April Shower song, while his own gags were regarded as weak), realism was still a prominent key to the credence of the film (yet ironically enough, at the end of production, Walt realized that too much realism would hamper the characters from their full potential. Which were one of the complains of the critics, among one from film critic Manny Farber in The New Republic. About "the stereotyped mechanisms of the formula movie in Bambi and the animals behaving just as Hollywood thinks we do and that Mickey wouldn't be caught dead in this")

Editor of Outdoor Life, Raymond J. Brown, suggested to Walt that Bambi would open with a prologue that cemented reality. Author John Culhane praised the film for it's depiction of the feeling of reality.

Ignore the thing below
me, it's just... green :)

On Walt's very first drafts, however, Bambi was surprisingly less the focus, believe it or not (Franklin suggested the change of focus). Walt also marked the importance of working with a small crew. But the most important crew meeting was on March 1, 1940. Where Walt acknowledged the early reel with tears in his eyes, praising his animators for "making pure gold" (the first scene storyboarded, supervised and even recorded was Bambi's learn to walk-scene). He also felt that the action sequences had a slower pace compared to what the studio had done before (yet the action was a problem in the first versions, since it wasn't suspenseful enough).

While Bambi became an initial (under)performance for many reasons, one of them was for not being the levity escapism the audience wanted to see during the war. But also because of the market being overwhelmed with motion pictures. Walt wrote to Franklin in May 1943 that he was certain that the film would find it's audience eventually (which even Roy Disney believed). And Walt gleefully declared it to his crew when it finally happened in the early 1950's.
Walt was thinking to present the film as a "roadshow" feature with limited performances and reserved seatings. Showcased in theaters that would feature Walt's "Fantasound", along with an immersive, ultra-widescreen format. Walt also had a debt to the Bank of America, so he had to persuade them to give him enough support to make Bambi. Which he fortunately managed to get. Yet eventually the budget of the film was $ 858,000 million dollars!

Bambi`s Similarities With Pinocchio and Dumbo & Bambi`s Characterization and Relationships With The Other Deer`s

They're not strings,
they're shadows :)

One thing Bambi has in common with Walt's previous pictures, is for being his third film with a child protagonist. In many ways, Bambi himself comes across as an amalgam of Pinocchio and Dumbo, having the innocence of Pinocchio and the huge features of Dumbo (if you'll really think about it, hahahaha). But Dumbo was a rare protagonist without any dialogue and while Bambi is given some dialogue, he's not as chatty as Pinocchio. There`s no denial to confirm the shy nature of Bambi, which he's known for. Which makes the (brief) dynamic between Bambi and Faline as fawns somewhat remarkable. As the proactive, vivacious and mischievous Faline is his opposite (the incident of the reflection in the water and the ripples repeated when our fawns are grown was a conscious choice). Which makes an interesting departure from the dynamic in The Lion King, where Simba is the proactive one and Nala being his follower (despite how Nala has lots of spunk as a cub) .

It's also rather interesting that Faline (voiced by Cammie King Konlon, who was in Gone in the Wind. And brought to audition by her mother at the age of five) is the first deer besides his mother that Bambi sees (the frog leading Bambi to Faline was also a conscious choice). While his relationship with his mother is the most pivotal one (in the first act, let's not forget Bambi`s vague and apparently brief relationship with his dad, The Great Prince (which was at least expanded in the midquel Bambi II, which served it's purpose. Yet it's rumored that Walt wanted to sequelize Salten's sequel book, Bambi's Children). Yet making The Great Prince a distant father was a conscious choice, since male deers are actually absent to their fawns in real life.

Bambi's mother was actually a challenge for the animators, since she could somewhat become inactive in long scenes. And to animate her talking was a challenge too. So that`s why she rarely talks into the camera (originally she was going to sing a lullaby for him, but it was deleted). Animating The Old Stag`s thoughts and antlers when he`s turning around was also a challenge.

I was looking down, I'm not bowing to you :)

Bambi and Thumper`s Voice Actors

To ramble about Bambi's voice cast, Walt himself handpicked young Bambi's voice actor, Donnie Dunagan. Appealed by his expressions and eyes. Donnie was initially just picked to be the model. Walt helped Donnie a lot during the recordings, who`ve said that the crew were joy to be around (despite him not knowing so much about Disney initially). However, Disney himself took Donnie's water gun from him when he squirted on a crew member.

Unfortunately Bambi's circumstances paralleled Donnie's own life. Since he became an orphan himself in his early teens and was sent to an orphanage. While Donnie never mentioned his role as Bambi during his years at the marine (where he was wounded in Vietnam), due to how the majority perceived Bambi as being too frail (yet Peter Behn didn't talk about his experience with Thumper either). However, Disney did consider re-releasing Bambi with end credits (which they did with the Platinum Edition) and Donnie trying to impersonate a deer caused some laughs from people. Yet he didn't even told his wife about his Bambi-part their first years of marriage.

Donnie recorded two hours per day, while he wasn't filmed. But has said that his time for preparation not as long. And that the job was easy and that Bambi was his favorite job, while the fun was so overwhelming that it was hard to put on a sad face and he had to envision himself that he ate Castor oil (which was used as a reference for the scene where Faline licks him in the swamp). Donnie's favorite moments were Bambi's first lines and Flower's famous "christening" line. And he actually rehearsed with Cammie King, yet he didn't meet the other cast members back then.

But Disney wanted real and natural kids for the part and though Donnie was seasoned (and had started as a dancer). Yet Bambi was his very last film (he was the original son of Frankenstein and enjoyed playing the thrilling parts on that movie) before Pearl Harbor. Apparently back then he found the deers to be boring. So while being afraid of being boring, Walt told him that Bambi couldn't and wouldn't be tedious. Donnie declares that he actually receives many letters and drawings of the characters one time at month, especially at Christmas. Yet he didn't remember his interaction with the animators. But his laugh of the scene of Bambi's first words was slowing the recording process down.

The screenwriters didn't change the dialogue before it was read by the
voice actors. The voice actor of adult Bambi is claimed to be provided by Donald Sutherland, who was an assistant director, writer and dialogue director. Yet animated voice actors at the time were never credited (yet Sutherland tested his voice for Friend Owl and Mr; Hare and married the voice actress for Bambi's mother). Disney veteran Verna Felton was also among the cast.

Both Donnie and Peter have confirmed their realization of Bambi's everlasting nature when they became adults (in the late seventies). Yet they didn't see the film so many times afterwards and never even met until 2011 (and of course not remembering too much of the recording today). Peter's recording sessions were about eight times during two years. While he had to do retakes due to the lengthy production. Peter was taken by his father, Henry Behn. Who was a famous screenwriter and author, and wrote Howard Hughes' Hells Angels. And since Peter couldn't read, the voice director had to say the lines with the inflection. And Peter's favorite line being "if you can't say something nice, then don't say something at all" (which Donnie has said to many children).

Bambi`s Cuteness, Friends & Deleted Characters

We're lost in our Cellophane eyes :)

Since it's cuteness has been mentioned, it's certainly true that Bambi has a huge amount of that (the introduction of the mole was inspired from a Pluto short with a gopher). Especially in the first act, where the harmonic and mellow pace dominates (and the action increasing more in the second and third act). But that's really the true beauty of Bambi, in my opinion! Walt's films truly succeeded in cuteness and sheer charm (which was one of the concerns by the crew on the preview screenings, where it labeled it as too saccharine).
The outgoing, outspoken, but endearing Thumper is really the star of the show (there are many suggestions of who invented him. But his role got expanded afterwards to solve certain story problems. And priorly his name was Bobo). Stealing every scene he's in (and not to mention his cute siblings with different colors, yet Walt envisioned that the sibling would be six individual characters, in the vein of the Seven Dwarfs).

We're playing strike a "tough" pose. It's going to take forever ;)

While originally Bambi's mom was the one who introduced Bambi to the different animals, the creators realized that Thumper did a better job with it! And he proved how a naturalistic character could be the comic relief (the adorability of child animals overshadowed how to make the adult animals interesting). While Peter Behn was originally rejected for being too loud and unable to finish long sentences (while Frank and Ollie got intrigued by him), the creators still had envisioned Thumper with a distinctive voice from the get-go (yet Peter was originally brought for the part of Bambi himself and to this day has been his only acting role).

The film does take time to create an endearing bond between Bambi and Thumper (while Thumper's father gets referenced to, he's never shown. Yet Walt had initially created a wise character in Mr. Hare, who always were going to tell a story that he would never complete before being shot). Ollie Johnston animated the scene where Thumper tells Bambi to eat the blossoms in the meadow.

At least it's not wingapo :)

But personally I've considered to be a pity that Bambi's dynamic to Faline and Flower (who was the most popular character in the early screenings and being animated by Marc Davis as an adult) are given less chance to develop in the first act (yet Flower was originally called Petunia, which was the name of a real skunk the crew had in their zoo).

I'm pondering about my next lie :)

It's also a pity that both of them share overall less screentime. Especially Flower who funny enough gives his son the name Bambi (while he was going to be more belligerent and use his smell as a weapon. And the crew had to go through three actors before landing upon Sterling Holloway). Being a huge fan of Bambi as a kid, I thought it was a pity that his universe and characters were never expanded in a spin-off animated series or shorts. Since the characters are endearing enough to be more shown. By something of a show like The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh series (yet there were plans to give Thumper his own movie in 1985 called Thumper: The Motion Picture. For both cynical and nostalgic reasons).

I don't understand a clue of what you're trying to say :)

It's tempting to compare Thumper to Jiminy Cricket and Timothy Mouse. since they were literally his predecessors in terms of comic reliefs. But Thumper is essentially more pivotal in the first half, while Jiminy were prominent throughout the whole picture (and Timothy shared overall more screentime).
Several characters from the first drafts were deleted, as a spider, bee, fox, grasshopper (who was very spiteful) and a weasel (by suggestion by Franklin, who didn't like the latter scene). The two former animals had comedic encounters with Bambi. And when those scenes got reshaped, the animators didn't want nothing to do with them. However, funny enough, a random video captured a deer and a rabbit playing together in 2015.

Friend Owl

Now that we've gone through the characters, we cannot forget to mention Friend Owl (who also was an early favorite among the viewers). While his scenes may not be the longest, his characterization gets quite enhanced on his sequences. While not being an exact guide or mentor to Bambi, he still comes across as a semi-grandfatherly character with some dimension!

While his purpose is being a comic relief, he's mostly cranky (for never getting a real chance to sleep, the poor thing). But he's also cordial and friendly and delivers a couple of lines of pathos (his twitterpatted speech wasn't in the script originally). He would be one of the first of many Disney owls to come, while of course those owls weren't exact copies of his character.

The Death of Bambi`s Mother

And yes, there's no point of denying it! We all know the iconic death of Bambis' mom! It's a harrowing moment that has labeled Bambi and had traumatized children for life! It's even labeled Bambi in such a way that the death is the first thing that people associate the film with! Despite how it deals with it in a non-explicit way.

Bambi is certainly a departure from Dumbo, which also deals with a mother/son-dynamic (Bambi's tone-departure from Dumbo worried the Disney staff initially). But at least Dumbo has a happy ending where he gets together with his mother.
Apparently back on it's 1942 release, the audience were legitimately baffled over the inclusion of a sudden death within the story. Which may be a reason why death was pretty much excluded in Walt`s following films. And despite how death is now known as a typical Disney trademark, it has increased in the latest Disney films. And several mothers covered their children's eyes when it happened.

Of course the death was the most debated aspect of Bambi (Milt wanted the accident to happen in a blizzard, while Walt wanted the scene to actually take place in the in a perkier moment to build it up). Originally Walt wanted to actually show the demise. But took it away due to that it would be too much for the audience to take (yet an original version, she jumped over a log).
Walt was aware of that moment being the most powerful moment in the film (yet the Stag's speech to Bambi was going to be more elaborate). The story team had reservations to the incident initially, since it seemed like a random event (and even Diane Disney was upset over this choice). Donnie Dunagan had to use method acting for this scene and the storycrew wanted to stress that Bambi was helpless without her (by showing how she was the one who found the grass).

On it's final theatrical release in the summer of 1988, a phycologist warned parents to take children to see this film (at least children under the age of seven). Yet surveys proved that children handled this scene quite well. However, another survey confirmed that parents were more worried than their children about the death scene.
While the story never deals with the grief after the accident, there was an article that suggested that Bambi learned to take care of himself after all. While Bambi's mom may not be fully developed, she's still a caring, decent and likable character to make the audience invest in her. Which makes the death even more devastating (and yes, folks, a teenager actually cried out "here I am, Bambi" during the premiere, making the audience laugh)

It's a dramatic version of Brady Bunch :)

For us who grew up with Animaniacs have seen the Bumbie's Mom segment, where Slappy Squirrel's nephew Skippy is traumatized by the event. And needs to be convinced that she didn't died (since he meets the "actress" of the part). The abrupt tone change in Bambi, from the grief to the gleefully transition to Let's Sing a Gay Little Spring Tone, has been picked by some critics and people (and even Brad Bird). However, the death made Paul McCartney interested to invest in animal rights.
It would be awfully tempting to compare which death between Bambi vs. The Lion King is worse. But since it's subjective, I'll leave it for now. However, we can be all glad and thankful for that the tough love-perception that Bambi receives about it wasn't in the movie. As opposed to the book.

The Villains: Man and Ronno

The hunters (or just Man, as they've referred to) are the main antagonists of this movie (and the issue of man as a hunter daunted Walt, as such things were not suitable in 1937). Man appears about three times in the movie (and when he actually shoots Bambi's mom is the least crowded scene). It would be tempting to ponder if Bambi really needed an visible villain. But a hunter is a satisfying antagonist, after all (Man has been nominated as the twentieths powerful villain in The American Film Institute).
But it's fascinating that the hunters are never shown! It was a conscious choice, for the mere power of it and just let them arriving by music (the fire cue was made by a crinkling cellophane at close to the microphone). And not even using their shadows, as it was suggested. And yes, folks, some hunters were insulted by the portrayal, while others hunters were converted for the better! And Bambi created a huge anti-hunting agenda, which the media still mocked it quite blatantly, by one of them with Bambi starving because of increasing deer population;.

Bambi was the very first of Walt's features where a humans were never actually shown (yet Walt originally wanted the animals to describe man in a comedic way. By even having the skunk talking about his smell). Even the first encounter in the meadow is fascinating, how the animals flee in despair and you hear a gunshot right when all the anumals actually disappears.
And believe it or not, it was suggested that Thumper would be shot (originally the squirrels would plead the dogs to not attack Faline at the climax). The dogs being both sketched and animated by the studio's first female animator, Reta Scott. Who sketched animals with Mel Shaw and Marc Davis, despite her decreased experience of animating. Since female staff were usually put on the ink and paint department at the time. Scott was even labeled as a female version of Freddy Moore.

There were rumors that Walt wanted to characterize the Hunters and even showing the hunter who shoots Mom. The hunter was going to be killed after the fire (for his own carelessness). But it was too grim for the audience to handle (yet Old Stag would ensure that Man weren't that powerful to Bambi at the climax). And despite of how harrowing Mom's off-screen dead has been, we're actually shown the corpse of a bird who gets shot in the climax. Yet Walt wanted to reduce the pure violence and corpses.

I'm not evil, only the
shadows suggest so :)

And it's of course remarkable how there's no animal predators in this forest. Where all animals live in perfect harmony (which at least isn't as contradictory as in The Lion King). And even Bambi gets shot himself during climax (while there were suggesions about Bambi being shot as a fawn)! Originally a scene would have the Old Stag leading Bambi to Man's camp and leave him there.

While Man is the main antagonist, it's also worth to mention Ronno. The wordless stag who fights for Faline (which he fought with Bambi in the book, while his name is never mentioned in the movie).
He becomes Bambi's opponent for a slight moment. But it's remarkable how the fight itself is depicted in black colors. Moody, indeed. Personally I found it quite distracting as a kid (for obvious reasons, duuuh). But it was an intentional choice. Faline's brother in the book, Gobo, was discarded from the picture. Franklin suggested to Walt that the action in this movie would've been seen, not talked about (which was a contrast from the book, where the chapters of Man had the animals talk a lot).

How Bambi Distinguishes Itself From Usual Movie Standards & Comparisons With The Lion King

While this may seem as an indication of mine, perhaps there`s an unwritten law about old classics should be cherished as flawless, regardless of their faults. And perhaps it's fair to say that by today standards, Bambi's imperfections may be notable. That`s it's too simplistic, poetic, lacks a real plot and a real villain. And that it's definitively too syrupy at times (in fact, though a pre-screening in February 1942 had been lukewarm, Walt still refused to make any big changes). Or to say it in another way: By today standards, Bambi would've probably not have been executed in the same way.
The Lion King is often labeled as "Bambi with a plot" by people. And regardless of what purists may say, it's understandable to see why. Another issue with Bambi is that there's given little dedication to real development or arc to the characters. How Bambi and The Lion King handles both deaths are obvious. Since Bambi's mom is never ever mentioned by any character later on. While Lion King makes the death of Mufasa an important plotpoint.

Bambi vs. The Lion King/Other Disney Features Which`ve Been Inspired by Bambi/Bambi Cameos in Other Disney Pictures

Yes, we're standing here without getting eaten by the Royals :)

Look at this, Diana Ross :)

Since The Lion King is heavily influenced by Bambi, a comparison between them are of course inevitable. In my entry for Lion King I even discussed the similar plot points. But it would be also tempting to have a survey of which film is the best one! And of course my entry won't be about that (since it's after all a subjective taste and sure, it seems that I'm backing off now, haha).
Both of them were childhood favorites of mine and both great in their own way. But to give my overall opinion of the characterizations, atmosphere and sheer innocence in each movie, Bambi is the clear winner! While The Lion King shines with it's other components and deservedly so.
It's also a fact that The Lion King was a bigger blockbuster than Bambi at the time. Since Lion King had a bigger advantage of following a string of successes. However, while The Lion King has been officially "crowned" as the following generations Bambi, it hasn't been the only naturalistic film influenced by the royal fawn!

Of course I'm talking about The Fox and the Hound. It's needless to repeat it, since I've already tapped on that issue in my entry for that film. But it's also a coming of age story and shares similar elements (and also borrows the same scenes). It's even features the mother's demise (but since Tod is an unaware toddler, it's less harrowing).

But at least Hound has the friends Tod and Copper growing up together and leaving the love interests late in the film. Of course Bambi has influenced other Disney films, but mostly the nature films, as Tarzan and Brother Bear. While not being exactly identical, they've taken some obvious cues (wonder if Disney will ever make a naturalistic film with animals again).

At least we're not Rudolph's gang :)

While Disney have always included "Easter egg" cameos in their features, it's also remarkable how the animals in Bambi have made a various cameos in following features. Bambi was among the characters used in fire prevention public service campaigns in the 1950`s (and a small series of Public Service Announcements for fire prevention had footage from Bambi). Ironically enough, some animation from Bambi was in 1941`s The Reluctant Dragon (that never

appeared in Bambi itself). While the cameos in The Fox and the Hound has been mentioned, Bambi and his mother has made cameos in Donald Duck's No Hunting-short and in The Rescuers. While the mother have been shown in The Sword in the Stone, Beauty and the Beast and even in Sofia the First (and yeah, it`s remarkable how the dead character has made the most recurring cameos). But perhaps the most fitting cameo has been in The Jungle Book. That could be perceived as fit to it's religion. Since Hinduism is aboutrebirth after all (but at least she manages to escape before in both Jungle Book and Sword in the Stone as a full circle. While there's some theories about Gaston and even Amos Slade who killed her).

Bambi`s Iconic Moments

Some Disney moments have managed to become iconic in their own rights. And therefore been promoted. And his certainly applies to Walt's films! Of course it's inevitable to talk about Bambi without talking about the cute ice skating scene (suggested and animated by Frank Thomas, inspired from his own experiences of being a rookie on ice). Which has become a true icon in more than one sense.
Since it's been a part of From All of Us to All of You Christmas show (and modeled by real life skate champions. Where live action reference was shot of Jane Randolph, who had never skated before and Ice-Capades star Donna Atwood).

It was the only size they had :)

This skating moment definitively invented the term "Bambi on ice". And was also somewhat modeled after Pluto in the Mickey Mouse on Ice short (how Bambi leaped towards the ice first made it funnier for the animators). Bambi was the first of Walt's film that showed winter (and the reference that was used was bleached cornflakes to white).
The snow sequence was animated by Bill Justice, who claimed his work on Bambi as his greatest. But the ice sequence isn't the only iconic scene in the movie (besides a certain deeath). Bambi's tour of the forest, the bounce over the log and especially the chase after the butterfly (animated by Frank Thomas) is iconic. And the image of the butterfly landing on his tail has been frequently used in posters and book covers. Bambi has been frequently used in Disney's Educational Products as well.

You made my tail more exciting :)


What? I'm cooling down :)

Music

As for the music, it would be fair to state that Bambi isn't particularly known for it's songs (which were nominated for Academy Awards, but didn't won). Compared to it's predecessors, Bambi has a modest amounts of them. But perhaps the most remarkable thing about them is that they're never sung from the characters themselves! And this was actually a deliberate choice, due to the realistic nature of the story.

While we have a love song by the birds and a duet between Bambi and Faline, they're sung internally. So for all the buzz Tarzan got for being the first Disney feature with a narrating musical voice, at least Bambi was the first (originally the wind itself was going to sing a lullaby and also an opening and closing song). The Making of Bambi-documentary cites that Bambi was the very first movie to ever have the songs not sung from their characters.
Regardless of it's stamp, Bambi does succeed with it's songs. It's opener, Love is a Song, was sung by popular tenor singer Donald Nevis (which was dedicated to composers Frank Churchill's wife, Carolyn, who was a secretary for

Walt). My personal favorite, Little April Shower (visualized by Mel Shaw and it's ending shot was inspired by a reference photo) is a true delight and a highlight in the film (it's rumored that one of the effect guys was arrested for laying on the ground and looking at rain above for the reference. While it's uncertain if this story is true or not, rain on a soundstage was filmed for reference).
As is Let's Sing a Gay Little Spring Song, who was partly inspired by the short Birds in the Spring. Yet a winter song was suggested (who would show crystal formations of snow and showing beautiful shapes of trees and sunlight pushing the snow away).

Walt realized how music would be a prominent part in Bambi. Due to it's events, settings and last, but not least to it's little dialogue. So of course it's not strange that the sciore dominates a lot and in fact there's just a couple of quiet moments in the film (the first moment of silence being only eighteen seconds).
But the team rather wanted the comedy to be played through music and not dialogue. And the planning of the music on this picture was a contrast to the process in Pinocchio.

Due to Bambi's setting, Walt also diluted the cartoony sound effects. He also stressed how the music should be great. Frank Churchill's and Edward Plumb's score is delightful and wonderful (despite that Churchill wasn't really trained, his previous job was to play the music for silent films). The lyrics were written by story man Larry Morey.
But personally I've always considered Walt's previous scores to be equally steeped in classic music (flutes and piccolos were suggested as a theme from the birds, but Walt preferred the classical). Yet Fantasia's score still influenced Bambi pretty much (and Walt wanted the score and especially the Ronno-fight, to be steeped in music by Wagner, Ravel and Stravinsky for it's thrill).

Bambi was the last production that Chruchill attended. But it's interesting how the overall use of the so-called Disney chorus and Gregorian chants are prominent in this setting (suggested by Frank Thomas). Little April Shower was recorded right before Ave Maria from Fantasia. Perhaps the chants may be a headscratcher, but it's a compromise that works. While Thumper never gets his song, a song named Thumper's Song was made for the publicity. As well as a song called Twitterpatted. Yet the musical delay was also another reason for Bambi's delayed release date.

Epilogue

As aforementioned, Bambi was one of my true favorites growing up (can't say this enough, guys). Most likely due to my love of nature and forest animals. And the sheer, innocent appeal of it's naturalistic story of animals. But of course Bambi has appealed to me for it's other strengths. For being endearing, cute and thrilling.

I remember seeing it theatrically as a kid in the summer 1993, when I was eight years old. With an sold-out audience and children who were absorbed and immersed in the film. Laughing at the funny parts and shouting loudly "now it's Bambi's turn to get twitterpatted" during that scene.

Perhaps also the strong mom-son bond appealed to me, due to me being a true mommy-boy (yes, I'll admit it and Franklin suggested the focus on the motherly love). Yet Bambi manages to appeal to me to this day. It's a iconic Disney trademark, but also a wonderful film on it's own right. Perhaps it may seem contradictory to say this as priorly citing that it may be imperfect by today's standards. But I do truly love it.

I can fly and you can't ;)

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My Own Personal Nerdy Disney and Animation Scrutinizing Analyses

tirsdag 12. september 2017

"Bambi "- The Sweet, Adorable and Mellow, But Tragic Iconic Disney Deer

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And finally; If you haven't seen the films, beware of spoilers! And the funny lines aren't meant to be nothing than funny. So I hope you won't find them offensive. If so, I apologize

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