directed
by David Hand
USA 1942
”Bambi” was born in 1926 with the publication of the book
”Bambi, ein Leben im Walde” by Austrian writer Felix Salten. Salten, who’s
real name was Siegmund Salzmann, was an insurance clerk who began to write out
of boredom. The inspiration for the book came during a trip to Italy, where he
became fascinated by the word bambino, hence Bambi.
In 1935 Sidney Franklin acquired the rights and planned to do a live action
version of the book, but dropped the project, as it proved impossible to make
animals act as the book suggested. It wasn’t until he in 1937 saw “Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs”, he realised, that animation film could do it. He then
contacted Disney and offered him the book. After reading it, Disney was sold.
His words were, that this was pure gold and instantly put the film into
production. But being pure gold, Disney didn’t rush the production. It was
carefully build up, even put aside to complete “Fantasia” and “Dumbo”.
Franklin worked as a consultant on the film and was credited with a title
card, “To Sidney A. Franklin, sincere appreciation for his inspiring
collaboration.”
The period after “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was the most creative in
the studio history. Disney constantly pushed the borders for what animation
film could do and developed several groundbreaking techniques, amongst them
the multiplane process, where a scene was shot thru several layers of glass to
give the illusion of depth, first time used in “Pinocchio” from 1940, and new
styles, as in “Fantasia”, likewise from 1940, where he sat pictures to
classical music.
But with four films in production, the financing constantly had the studio on
the verge of bankruptcy. On top of that, a strike slowed productions down, and
then war broke out, which took away the European marked. Yet despite of this,
Disney kept faith in his productions, especially “Bambi”, and managed to
convince Bank of America to given him another loan. When both “Fantasia” and
“Dumbo” failed at the box office, only “Bambi” could save the studio.
“Bambi” premiered August 8, 1942, in London, a daring move because of the war,
and a few days later in New York. Yet despite positive reviews, it failed at
the box office and didn’t return its budget. While the studio provided war
effort, the future was bleak, so in order to save the studio, Disney decided
to re-release the studios only success, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, in
the summer of 1944. The gamble paid off and at the end of the fiscal year, the
books finally had black ink in them again. This gamble would also become a
Disney strategy, to re-release their films once every sixth or seventh year,
for a new generation to experience them.
After the war, everything changed. In many ways had “Bambi” burned out Disney,
and as the time changed, so did their productions. While Disney continued to
experiment, mixing live action with animation in “Song of the South” from
1946, the spark of originality was gone, only the formula remained. As such,
“Bambi” marked the end of the classic period of Disney, the studios most
creative period, 1937 to 1942.
As a film, ”Bambi” notes upon perfection. On one side, it sat new standards
for animation techniques and perfected them to such a degree, that they still
are studied and used in animation today. Animators began to study live
animals, studied their anatomy and their motorics, then to apply these to
their animations, adding the human expressions. On another side, “Bambi” was
the first animated film with a seriousness to it, as the story is quiet dark.
Where animation films in general were gay and innocent, Disney walked away
from the charming naivety of his prior films. It is in “Bambi” we for the
first time experience death, as Bambi’s mother is shot by hunters. As such,
“Bambi” was the first complete and mature animation film. One could no longer
talk about animation experiments. It was a real motion picture.
Today ”Bambi” stands as Disney’s best and most complete film. More than 60
years old, it hasn’t aged one day, nor will ever age. It is a timeless classic
and a masterpiece. It is the very definition of Disney.
Posters
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Theatrical Release: August 8, 1942 (London)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Disney (2-Disc Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL
Big thanks to Henrik Sylow for the Review!
| DVD Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from:
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| Distribution |
Disney Region 2 - PAL |
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| Runtime | 1:07:39 (4% PAL speedup) | |
| Video |
1.33:1
Original Aspect Ratio |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Bitrate |
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| Audio | 5.1 Dolby Digital English, Danish (dub) and Norwegian (dub) | |
| Subtitles | English, Danish, Norwegian and None | |
| Features |
Release Information: Studio: Disney Aspect Ratio:
Edition Details: Chapters 26 |
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| Comments | IMAGE
AND SOUND The images as been digitally restored and remastered by Lowry Digital Images. All three colour frames were cleaned, then scanned frame by frame into high definition digital format, then by hand each frame had any imperfections removed, and finally each frame was colour corrected using original artwork and notes. While the image is breathtaking, the DVD presentation has minor problems. Some scenes shows edge enhancement (see Bambi’s legs in image #4), and in a few scenes the background appears somewhat static versus the animation. Perhaps these minor compressions artefacts could have been avoided by keeping disc 1 for film only, and put the feature length story meeting onto disc 2. Still, the film has never looked better, and personally I cannot wait for the HD-DVD edition which will be released in a few years. The image may also be slightly overscanned. Where the title sequence has the AR of 1.26:1, the film itself is presented in 1.33:1, which would suggest 5% overscan, meaning 5% missing top/bottom of the image. The original mono sound has carefully been remixed into a 5.1 Dolby Digital “Disney Enhanced Home Theatre” mix. Dialogue is maintained as centre based “mono”, while all sound, especially the impressive orchestral score is blown out in all channels. ADDITIONAL MATERIAL On disc 1, instead of an audio commentary, which I personally feel this film demands, because of its history, its production and so forth. On Disney’s Platinum edition of “Aladdin”, they included two audio commentaries, so it really is a serious point of criticism, that they didn’t add one on this. Instead, Disney included a for this DVD specially made re-enactment of a studio story meeting, running 70 minutes. Using actual recordings as source, actors comment on the film, assisted by story board versus film sequences and artwork. While it is a great and very unique feature, it is no match for a historical commentary. Disc 2 begins with a hour long “Making of” featurette, where various animators, studio personal and some of the original personal, talk about the production and its many elements. A great and very informative program, that does the film great justice. It is broken down into six chapters and has the option of “play all”. Next comes a serious of for this DVD produced featurettes, dealing with the restoration of the film, a visit to the Disney archives, a 1942 time capsule program, explaining the period and Disney’s history in relation to it, the art of “Bambi” and a preview of “Bambi 2”. Following this are some original material. A for TV made featurette (aired February 13, 1957) where Disney explains tricks of the trade, as the multi-plane process. This is the full featurette, whereas only excerpts from it was included on the Special Edition Laserdisc edition. Next comes the original theatrical trailer and finally the Silly Symphony short “The Old Mill”, where Disney tried out some techniques later used in “Bambi”. The DVD includes two deleted scenes, or more precisely two scenes dropped early on in the production. Both scenes are introduces and depicted by original artwork with voice over suggesting dialogue. Finally the DVD has 5 games and interactive programs for the youngest viewers. Production-wise, this DVD is not up to "Aladdin" standard, but still is a wonderful presentation, full of great material and a must have DVD. |
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