Bambi (character)

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Bambi
Bambi-Hans-Bertle.jpg
Grown-up Bambi in Bambi's Children , as drawn by Hans Bertle.
First appearance Bambi, a Life in the Woods
Created by Felix Salten
Voiced by
Species
Gender Male
Family
  • The Great Prince of the Forest (father)
  • Unnamed mother (deceased)
Spouse Faline (mate)
ChildrenGeno and Gurri (twins)
Ferto [1]

Bambi is the title character in Felix Salten's 1923 novel, Bambi, a Life in the Woods , and its sequel, Bambi's Children. The character also appears in Salten's novels Perri and Fifteen Rabbits .

Contents

Early German-language editions of the novels were illustrated by Hans Bertle. In the Disney film adaptations, Bambi's species was changed from a roe deer to a white-tailed deer, which would be more familiar to American audiences. His image is a Disney icon, comparable to the recognition of Jiminy Cricket or Tinker Bell, and he is even shown on Disney stock certificates. [2]

Adaptations

Bambi has appeared in multiple adaptations of Salten's books.

Disney films

Bambi (1942)

Adult Bambi, along with his friends Thumper (bunny) and Flower (skunk). Bambi 1942 trailer- 00 min 29 s.png
Adult Bambi, along with his friends Thumper (bunny) and Flower (skunk).

In the first film, Bambi is not very strongly personalized to strengthen the environmental perspective of the film. Bambi, as with most of his friends, could be any deer in any forest. In his early youth, Bambi has wide eyes, spindly legs, a curious nature and high-pitched voice. As he grows, he gradually becomes more mature, but even in young adulthood, he seems a very young buck with a delicate build and a fairly naïve nature.

The naturalistic animation in the first film was helped by a pair of four-month-old fawns sent to the studio by Maine game wardens. However, human models were also used for one scene: actress Jane Randolph and Ice Capades star Donna Atwood acted as live-action references for the scene where Bambi and Thumper are on ice. [3] Disney also had Rico LeBrun, a painter of animals, come to the studio to lecture on the structure and movement of animals. Nature photographer Maurice Day spent months in a forest in Maine, recording animals for the animators, as well. [4]

Bambi II (2006)

Bambi as a fawn in Bambi II Bambi2-bambi-excited.png
Bambi as a fawn in Bambi II

In Bambi II, Bambi is much more distinctly personalized. In this film which fills in the gap between the death of his mother and when he was next shown as a young adult, Bambi finds himself faced with a number of challenges. First, there is the death of his mother and his consequential move to live with his father, the Great Prince of the Forest. His father is reluctant to learn to be a father. In addition, Bambi begins to fall in love with Faline, and comes into conflict with an older fawn called Ronno (the same deer he would later fight over Faline with as a young adult). Whereas in the first film he follows life wherever it led him, in this film he is more assertive in order to bond with and impress his father. In the first film, Bambi's status as the young prince had little impact on the flow of the story. In this film, his rank becomes a key part of the storyline as he sets out to prove to himself and others, most of all his father, demonstrating that he deserves to be prince and can live up to his father's name.

Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969)

Bambi Meets Godzilla

Bambi appears in the 1969 parody film Bambi Meets Godzilla, in which he is killed by Godzilla. [5]

Bambi's Childhood (1985)

Bambi is the protagonist of the Soviet film Bambi's Childhood. It is an adaptation of the 1923 novel.

Bambi: The Reckoning (2024)

On November 21, 2022, a live-action horror film titled Bambi: The Reckoning was announced to be in development by ITN Studios and Jagged Edge Productions with Scott Jeffrey directing and writing, and Rhys Frake-Waterfield serving as a producer. [6] The film will be about Bambi getting revenge after the death of his mother. [7] Jeffrey described the film as "an incredibly dark retelling of the 1928 story we all know and love. Finding inspiration from the design used in Netflix's The Ritual , Bambi will be a vicious killing machine that lurks in the wilderness." [8]

Related Research Articles

<i>Bambi, a Life in the Woods</i> 1923 novel by Felix Salten

Bambi, a Life in the Woods is a 1923 Austrian coming-of-age novel written by Felix Salten, and originally published in Berlin by Ullstein Verlag. The novel traces the life of Bambi, a male roe deer, from his birth through childhood, the loss of his mother, the finding of a mate, the lessons he learns from his father, and the experience he gains about the dangers posed by human hunters in the forest. It is also, in its most complete translation, seen as a parable of the dangers and persecution faced by Jews in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Felix Salten</span> Austro-Hungarian author and literary critic

Felix Salten was an Austro-Hungarian author and literary critic in Vienna.

<i>The Shaggy Dog</i> (1959 film) American film directed by Charles Barton

The Shaggy Dog is a 1959 American fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and loosely based on the 1923 novel The Hound of Florence by Felix Salten. Directed by Charles Barton from a screenplay by Lillie Hayward and Bill Walsh, the film stars Fred MacMurray, Tommy Kirk, Jean Hagen, Kevin Corcoran, Tim Considine, Roberta Shore, and Annette Funicello. The film follows a teenage boy named Wilby Daniels who, by the power of an enchanted ring of the Borgias, is transformed into a shaggy Old English Sheepdog.

<i>Bambi</i> 1942 animated Disney film

Bambi is a 1942 American animated drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Based on Felix Salten's 1923 novel Bambi, a Life in the Woods, the production was supervised by David D. Hand, and was directed by a team of sequence directors, including James Algar, Bill Roberts, Norman Wright, Sam Armstrong, Paul Satterfield, and Graham Heid.

Bambi is a 1942 Walt Disney animated drama film, centered around a young deer of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donnie Dunagan</span> American actor

Donald "Donnie" Roan Dunagan is an American former child actor and retired United States Marine Corps major. He is best known for portraying the young son of Baron Frankenstein in Son of Frankenstein and for providing the voice of young Bambi in Bambi (1942). As of 2024, he, Peter Behn and Stan Alexander are the last three surviving cast members of the film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cammie King</span> American child actress (1934–2010)

Eleanore Cammack "Cammie" King was an American actress and public relations officer. She is best known for her portrayal of Bonnie Blue Butler in Gone with the Wind (1939). She also provided the voice for the doe Faline as a fawn in the animated Disney film, Bambi (1942).

<i>Bambi II</i> 2006 American animated drama film directed by Brian Pimental and produced by DisneyToon Studios

Bambi II is a 2006 American animated drama film directed by Brian Pimental and produced by the Australian office of Disneytoon Studios as a followup to the 1942 film Bambi. Animation production was done by DisneyToon Studios Sydney, Australia. It premiered in theaters in Argentina on January 26, 2006, before being released as a direct-to-video title in the United States on February 7, 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bambi Award</span> German annual media award ceremony

The Bambi, often called the Bambi Award and stylised as BAMBI, is a German award presented annually by Hubert Burda Media to recognize excellence in international media and television to personalities in the media, arts, culture, sports, and other fields "with vision and creativity who affected and inspired the German public that year", both domestic and foreign. First held in 1948, it is the oldest media award in Germany. The trophy is named after Felix Salten's book Bambi, A Life in the Woods and its statuettes are in the shape of the novel's titular fawn character. They were originally made of porcelain until 1958, when the organizers switched to using gold, with the casting done by the art casting workshop of Ernst Strassacker in Süßen.

Thumper (<i>Bambi</i>) Disney Bambi character

Thumper is a fictional rabbit character from Disney's animated film Bambi (1942). He is known and named for his habit of thumping his left hind foot. The young adult version of Thumper also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable character in Fantasyland and at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

<i>Bambis Children</i>

Bambi's Children: The Story of a Forest Family is a 1939 coming-of-age novel written by Austrian author Felix Salten as a sequel to his 1923 work Bambi, a Life in the Woods.

<i>Perri</i> (novel)

Perri: The Youth of a Squirrel is a 1938 novel by Felix Salten, author of the 1923 novel Bambi, a Life in the Woods, and is a followup to that book. Its title character is a Eurasian red squirrel. Bambi makes a brief appearance in Perri.

<i>Perri</i> (film) 1957 film by Ralph Wright, N. Paul Kenworthy

Perri is a 1957 American adventure film from Walt Disney Productions, based on Felix Salten's 1938 Perri: The Youth of a Squirrel. It was the company's fifth feature entry in their True-Life Adventures series, and the only one to be labeled a True-Life Fantasy. In doing so, the Disney team combined the documentary aspects of earlier efforts with fictional scenarios and characters.

Lawrence L. Morey was an American lyricist and screenwriter. He co-wrote some of the most successful songs in Disney films of the 1930s and 1940s, including "Heigh-Ho", "Some Day My Prince Will Come", and "Whistle While You Work", and was also responsible for adapting Felix Salten's book Bambi, A Life in the Woods into the 1942 Disney film Bambi.

<i>The Hound of Florence</i> Book by Felix Saten

The Hound of Florence: A Novel is a 1923 novel written by Felix Salten. It is best known today for partly inspiring the 1959 Walt Disney Productions film The Shaggy Dog as well as its sequels and remakes. The novel was first translated into English in 1930 by Huntley Paterson, and the translation has illustrations by Kurt Wiese.

<i>Djibi, the Kitten</i>

Djibi, the Kitten is the last novel of Felix Salten, published originally in 1945 and translated into English in 1946. Similarly as in other Salten's late books, the protagonist is an animal, this time a young female cat called Djibi.

<i>The Shaggy Dog</i> (franchise) American media franchise

The Shaggy Dog franchise consists of American science fiction-fantasy-comedy films, with three theatrical releases, and two made-for-television films. The overall story is based on the 1923 novel titled The Hound of Florence by Felix Salten. The overarching story of each installment, follows Wilbur "Wilby" Daniels who is cursed and transforms into a large Old English Sheepdog after attaining an ancient Borgian ring and reciting its inscription.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jake Day</span> American artist, creator of Bambi

Maurice "Jake" Day was an American artist, sculptor, photographer, naturalist and illustrator. He is best known for creating the fawn-like character of Bambi for the 1942 animated Walt Disney feature film Bambi.

Bambi's Childhood is a 1985 Soviet family film based on 1923 Austrian coming-of-age novelBambi, a Life in the Woods by Felix Salten directed by Natalya Bondarchuk.

<i>Bambi: The Reckoning</i> Upcoming horror film by Dan Allen

Bambi: The Reckoning is an upcoming British independent horror film directed by Dan Allen, written by Rhys Warrington, and produced by Rhys Frake-Waterfield and Scott Jeffrey. It is the third film in The Twisted Childhood Universe (TCU) and serves as a horror retelling of Felix Salten's Bambi, a Life in the Woods. The film stars Roxanne McKee, Tom Mulheron, Nicola Wright, and Samira Mighty. It follows Bambi as he goes on a murderous rampage after the death of his mother.

References

  1. Salten, Felix (1940). Bambis Kinder: Eine Familie im Walde. Rüschlikon: Albert Müller Verlag. p. 264. — Ferto’s birth is excluded from the English translation of Bambi's Children .
  2. "One Share at a Time". Real Savvy Moms Go Green: all about moms. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
  3. "Bambi Character History". Disney Archives. Archived from the original on 27 April 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2009.
  4. Thomas, Bob: "Chapter 6: Expansion and War: Bambi", page 90. Disney's Art of Animation: From Mickey Mouse to Hercules, 1997
  5. Beck, Jerry (2015-01-13). "A "Bambi Meets Godzilla" Live Action Remake". IndieWire. Retrieved 2023-10-11.
  6. Zhan, Jennifer (2022-11-26). "Please, Was the Original Bambi Not Horrifying Enough?". Vulture. Retrieved 2023-10-11.
  7. McAndrews, Mary Beth (November 21, 2022). "Bambi Becomes "A Vicious Killing Machine" In New Childhood-Ruining Horror Reimagining [Exclusive]". Dread Central . Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  8. Fuge, Jonathan (November 25, 2022). "Bambi Horror Movie to Transform the Disney Character Into a Vicious Killing Machine". MovieWeb . Retrieved November 26, 2022.