Bambi is considered to be the last film of the Golden Age in animation for the Walt Disney Studios. It was the last full length animated film to feature a single storyline until Cinderella in 1950. The remainder of the 1940s consisted of package films, different short films strung together to make a full length film in order to save costs at the studio. Bambi might be best known for the beautiful background artistry. The oil painting impressionistic aspect of the background forest, which allows for the characters to really burst out from the environment, is credited to artist Tyrus Wong. Mr. Wong was named a Disney Legend in 2001 for his significant work for Bambi.
Premiered: August 9, 1942 in London
Directed by: David Hand (supervising); James Algar, Bill Roberts, Norman Wright, Sam Armstrong, Paul Satterfield, Graham Heid (sequences)
Produced by: Walt Disney
Based on: Bambi, a Life in the Woods written by Felix Salten
Sequels: Bambi II (2006)
Cast:
Bobby Stewart – Baby Bambi
Donnie Dunagon – Young Bambi
Hardie Albright – Adolescent Bambi
John Sutherland – Adult Bambi
Peter Behn – Young Thumper
Tim Davis – Adolescent Thumper & Adolescent Flower
Sam Edwards – Adult Thumper
Stan Alexander – Young Flower
Sterling Holloway – Adult Flower
Cammie King – Young Faline
Ann Gillis – Adult Faline
Paula Winslowe – Bambi’s Mother
Will Wright – Friend Owl
Fred Shields- The Great Prince
Supervising Animators:
Franklin Thomas
Milt Kahl
Eric Larson
Ollie Johnston
Music by:
Frank Churchill
Edward Plumb
Choral Arrangements by: Charles Henderson
Songs:
“Love is a Song”
“Little April Shower”
“Let’s Sing a Gay Little Spring Song”
“Looking for Romance (I’ll Bring You a Song)”
Academy Awards:
Best Sound (nomination)
Best Song – “Love is a Song” (nomination)
Best Music Score – Dramatic or Comedy Picture (nomination)
The Story:
Bambi begins with opening credits set to “Love is a Song.” The credits include a dedication, “To Sidney A. Franklin – our sincere appreciation for his inspiring collaboration.” (Find out who Sidney Franklin was down in the Trivia section!)
“Love is a Song” is still playing after the credits while the scene pans through a forest and past waterfalls and streams. Birds are chirping and annoying an owl who hides in his tree hole. Friend Owl falls asleep just as his neighbours, a squirrel and a chipmunk are waking up. Even further up the tree are baby birds fighting over food. A little field mouse wakes up and washes himself with a dew drop
A baby bunny wakes up as a blue bird flies by, excitedly chirping to get everyone up and going. The baby bunny, named Thumper, wakes up Friend Owl by pounding on his tree. The news is that the new prince is born and all the forest animals are very excited to see the baby. They head over to a thicket and to meet the baby fawn. Everyone congratulates the new mother and she wakes up the baby to see their company. All the forest critters say “Hello Little Prince.” The fawn tries to get up but is a little wobbly on his feet. Thumper tries to befriend him right away but the fawn gets sleepy again so all the animals leave him alone by Friend Owl’s orders. Thumper is the last to leave and asks the mother what she is going to name the Little Prince. The mother announces that his name is Bambi and Thumper processes the name before approving it. The scene then pans up to a clifftop where the Great Prince is watching down on them.
Bambi and his mother are then exploring the forest and meeting many new friends such as the quail and the opossums. They meet up with Thumper and his family who are amused at Bambi still being a little wobbly on his feet. This causes Thumper to be reminded that if he “can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.” Bambi and the bunnies take off and have fun running around the forest. They come to a log which Bambi has a hard time getting over but the bunnies are very encouraging at getting him to hop right over. Thumper then teaches Bambi how to say the words “bird” and “flower.” He meets a little skunk and calls him Flower. The skunk likes the name so much that he adopts it for himself.
In the evening there is a thunder storm and Thumper gets scared and runs home, leaving Bambi by himself. He finds his mother and they go back to their little thicket. It starts to rain and Bambi is fascinated at seeing rain for the first time. The song “Little April Showers” plays as all the little animals find shelter from the rain. The rain turns into a loud storm, which frightens Bambi so he stays close to his mother.
In the morning, the rain has stopped during the sunrise and the forest is calm again. Bambi’s mother is going to bring him to the meadow for the first time. Bambi has learnt from Thumper that he and his mother are not the only deer in the forest and he would like to see these other deer. The mother is cautious against it and then warns Bambi to be quiet as they approach the meadow. Bambi is so excited that he starts to rush right to the middle of the meadow but his mother stops him. She explains that the meadow can be very dangerous since there are no trees or bushes to protect them. She stakes out the meadow for Bambi to make sure everything is safe and when she decides that it is, she calls him to join her. They have fun frolicking and eating the grass. Thumper and his family are there as well and are eating thistles. Bambi meets another deer for the first time, a little female named Faline. She thinks he is very bashful and tries to befriend him. She teases Bambi but he is not impressed and gathers the courage to get back at her. They just end up having fun together, running around the meadow. They see a herd of young male deer running through the meadow and play fighting. Bambi is in awe of them and copies their proud prancing. Everyone stops when the Great Prince of the forest arrives. Bambi asks his mother why everyone was still when the Great Prince came and she explains that it is because they all respect him. He has lived longer than any other deer. The Great Prince leaves the meadow and starts to walk through the forest when he senses danger. He knows that Man is nearby and runs back to warn everyone. All the deer run out of the meadow and Bambi’s mother is desperately looking for him. The Great Prince finds Bambi and leads him to his mother and out of the forest, just in time to escape a fired shot. After the danger passes, Bambi’s mother explains to him the dangers of Man.
Autumn has then arrived in the forest and the trees start to change beautiful colours. The leaves all fall off the trees and then winter arrives.
One day Bambi wakes up and everything is white! His mother explains that the white stuff is snow and Bambi is curious, yet cautious about it. He enjoys making footprints in the snow and exploring around the thicket. Thumper meets up with him and shows him how to ice skate on the stiff water. They crash into the bank of the frozen pond and find Flower fast asleep in his burrow. They wake him up and Flower asks if it is springtime yet. Bambi says “Nope, winter is just starting.” Thumper asks “Whatcha doing? Hibernatin?” Yep, Flower was hibernating.
In the next scene there is a big snow storm and the deer are trying hard to find food. Bambi’s mother peels the bark off from high up in the trees to feed him.
One day there is finally new spring grass poking through the snow in the meadow. Bambi’s mother senses that danger is coming and tells Bambi run to the thicket and not to look back. He makes it all the way home but soon realizes that his mother is not with him, just as it starts to snow again. He goes out and looks for her and finds the Great Prince who informs Bambi that his mother can no longer be with him and the Great Prince calls him son.
Winter has turned to spring in the forest and the flowers are blooming, the birds are chirping, and everyone is falling in love, all to “Let’s Sing a Gay Little Spring Song.” Friend Owl wakes up and is not impressed with all the lovey-dovey noise. He scares all the little birds into being quiet but this does not last for long so he flies away to a more quiet location. Friend Owl complains that it is the same thing every spring! He is then bothered by an adolescent deer that is sharpening his antlers against the tree. He realizes that it is the Young Prince and teases Bambi that he has traded his spots for a pair of antlers. Thumper appears, whom Bambi has not seen in a long time, and then Flower appears as well. The three friends notice all the love birds around and ask what is the matter with them. Friend Owl explains about being twitterpated and that it will happen to them as well! Bambi, Thumper, and Flower don’t believe him and head off. Along the way, Flower notices a female skunk giggling in a flower patch. He stops and shyly waves at her. She gives him a kiss and blushes from head to tail. Bambi and Thumper notice that Flower has become twitterpated so they leave him behind and keep going. Then a female bunny appears and catches Thumper’s eye. She gives him a kiss and he can’t stop thumping his foot. Bambi notices that Thumper is also twitterpated but just shakes his head and keeps going. He then meets Faline for the first time since they were children. He cautiously backs away from her and she just giggles and follows him. She gives him a kiss and Bambi is instantly twitterpated! He daydreams about frolicking through the clouds but is brought back down to earth when another male deer appears and wants to fight for Faline. Bambi fights back and is triumphant; he tosses Ronno off a ravine and into the water below. Bambi and Faline wander off together into the forest while “Looking for Romance (I Bring you a Song)” plays as they fall in love.
After drifting off to sleep, Bambi wakes up and senses danger. He cautiously explores the forest and sees a campsite with a fire going. The Great Prince appears and explains that Man is back and that there are many of them this time. They must go deep into the forest to escape. Bambi goes to get Faline, but she has already woken up and is out looking for him. She also senses that something is wrong when all the birds are fleeing and cawing. All of the animals are sneaking away deep into the forest. There are pheasants hiding in the tall grass but one is freaking out as the others try to calm her down. She wants to fly away but the others warn her that hiding is safer. She panics and flies and gets shot by Man. This causes a panic amongst the rest of the animals who quickly flee.
Faline and Bambi are still looking around the woods for each other unsuccessfully. Hunting dogs are released and they chase Faline and corner her up on a rock. Bambi hears her calling for help and fights off the dogs. Faline manages to escape and Bambi creates a rock slide which kills the hunting dogs. He makes a great leap across a gorge but is shot from a distant by the hunter’s shotgun mid-leap.
The fire from Man’s campsite quickly spreads and soon creates a great forest fire. The Great Prince finds Bambi and encourages him to get up. The shot seems to have only stunned him because soon both Bambi and his father are racing through the forest, trying to escape the fire. They leap off of a tall waterfall into the lake below and all the forest animals are escaping through the lake as well. They head to the other side of the forest and Bambi and Faline find each other.
The next scene shows Thumper all grown up with his own baby bunnies who are waking up Friend Owl. Flower trots by with his own little boy named Bambi. All of the forest critters rush towards the thicket and there is Faline with her brand new twin fawns. The scene pans up to show Bambi and the Great Prince watching down over them from the clifftop.
Trivia:
- Bambi and Bambi II hold the record for the longest time gap between sequels at 64 years. Bambi II is actually more of a mid-quel as it is set during the middle of Bambi‘s storyline.
- This was the first Disney animated film to show no human characters.
- Despite never appearing on screen, the villain Man is ranked #20 on the American Film Institute’s list of Top 100 Heroes and Villains.
- Bambi and his friends were the precursor to Smokey the Bear. Disney gave rights to the American government to use the characters in Bambi in forest fire prevention campaigns but these rights expired after one year so a new mascot was needed.
- The species of deer was changed for the film as Bambi was a roe deer in the original book. This species is not native to North America and so Bambi was changed to a white-tailed deer.
- One reason that Bambi took so long in production was that Walt wanted realistic looking deer in the film instead of cartoon looking deer. This proved to be a challenge to animate and the animators spent many hours doing art classes with real deer as models.
- When Peter Behn auditioned for the part of Thumper, the casting director was completely unimpressed with him and said that young Peter could not act. However, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston heard the audition and loved his voice. They not only wanted Peter to have the part but also based many of Thumper’s characteristics off of him.
- Sidney Franklin, an American director and producer, was sold the rights of Bambi, a Life in the Woods from Felix Salten in 1933. Mr. Franklin envisioned the story as a live action film but after seeing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, he knew that the film would be better as an animation. He then sold the film rights to Walt Disney and Walt dedicated the film to Mr. Franklin.
Representation in the Disney Parks:
There is not too much representation of Bambi in the Disney Parks. Thumper and Miss Bunny sometimes appear as meet and greet characters, especially around Easter time. There is also some Bambi theming at the Wilderness Lodge at Walt Disney World and the Sequoia Lodge at Disneyland Paris.
Check out the other films of Disney’s Golden Age:
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