Its's Official: BAMBI Comes to DVD March 1, 2005 (1 Viewer)

[Patrick McCart]

quote:They even monkeyed with the opening credits and removed the in-camera mattes.

What kind of mattes would be in the camera? Was this a border or something?

 

[Ernest Rister]

The original opening credits have a soft black border around them created by an in-camera frame -- basically creating a soft window-box around the credits. For the last release, Disney Home Video zoomed in on the frame to eliminate this soft border. Why? Beats me.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

quote:The design is poor for a number of reasons -- the header "Bambi" completely obscures the body of the deer, making this, essentially, a floating head cover. The artwork also fails to reflect the content of the overall film in any substantial way. It looks like they are going to once again market this as a film for toddlers.

So who exactly do you expect will buy the DVD solely based on its cover - who won't already know about the movie?

 

[Ernest Rister]

Cover comparisons




1989 Home Video Release



http://images.google.com/images?q=tb...vers/bambi.jpg

1997 Home Video Release



1975 Re-Release Poster





Alleged French Platinum Edition DVD Cover

 

[Ernest Rister]

"So who exactly do you expect will buy the DVD solely based on its cover - who won't already know about the movie?"



I don't think anybody here has alleged that anyone will buy the movie solely based on its cover. Earlier in this thread you'll find discussion about how the film is probably not suitable for very young kids, and yet the film has been sold as a toddler-friendly entity on home video the last two times out.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Hey if you don't want Bambi for little kids, you should start out with a German restaurant here in town: "Teske's Germania". They feature wild game on the menu, especially wild bore. Every so often they have a special of venison and hare, which the waitress will call the "Bambi and Thumper special".....

 

[Ernest Rister]

I've got a freezer full of venison and venison sausage.

 

[Chris Farmer]

Venison is great meat. Tasty and healthy, very low fat compared to beef. I do love that Bambi and Thumper special though, obvious name, but still hilarious.

 

[Ernest Rister]

I'm not big on rabbit -- though I suppose if I were living in the 30's or the years before, I'd eat it in a heartbeat. Pioneers on wagon trains ate crickets, locusts, anything they could get down when food stores were low. I imagine a rabbit was a feast -- but today? Naah. Today, when food stores are low in my cupboard, I eat Ramen. Better than a locust at any rate.

 

[Ernest Rister]

As the weeks draw nearer to the release of Bambi on DVD, I've been kicking the film around in my brain a little bit - and the first thing that appeared in my noggin tonight was Victory Through Air Power. In that film (found on the Disney on the Front Lines DVD), if you're familiar with Ed Plumb's oscar-nominated score for Bambi, you can recognize the sequences for which he provided music. The similarity between his music for the third act of Bambi and his "Battle of Britain" music got me to thinkin'...how much did WW2 truly affect the aesthetic of Bambi...the story, the mood, the way the story was told, the maturity and seriousness of the thing.

When reading the production history, there is really no palpable sense at all that Walt was making a war film...and yet...you know, I think Bambi kind of IS a war film. Surely there were many war film cliches that were considered for the film before being discarded, from the discovery of the dead body of an enemy, calling to mind similar scenes in many war films and novels. Then there was the pain of watching teenage friends perish in the fight, such as the deleted scene of Thumper getting gut-shot and meeting his maker. Then you have Bambi's father behaving like a great leader. After Bambi is shot, the Great Prince behaves like a drill sergeant, urging the wounded Bambi onto his feet, pushing onward, not letting him lay down and die. This is such a classic war film cliche, even James Cameron used it as recently as The Terminator films ("Move it, Reese! On your feet, soldier!").

Bambi as American war film.

Discuss.

 

[MarcusUdeh]

Bambi was the very first movie I ever owned as a kid. My grandparents purchased the VHS cassette for me. Ernest I do not follow how Bambi is a more adult Disney film. Pinocchio is far more disturbing its content than Bambi.

slightly off topic
Flower is g-a-y: period. I don’t buy that chickenshit copout at the end of the movie.

 

[Brandon Conway]

You're basing Flower's homosexuality on a scene that is depicting him as something equivilant to a five year old. I guess all five year old males with high pitched voices and a bit of shyness are gay. :rolleyes

 

[MarcusUdeh]

Re: Brandon
I am not bashing the Flower character at all - because I perceive him to be gay. I have been angry at the fact that some form of childhood homosexual innuendo is given. Then the end of the film dismisses it, as if Flower’s reaction to Bambi referring to him, as a “pretty flower” is a phase that he grows out of. Keep in mind that Flower bends his hand from the flattery. I’m pro gay: since I am.

 

[Brandon Conway]

I think your stretching to find something that isn't there. Again, Flower is a toddler. If he's gay, he'll find that out when he's 13, not 5. When he's the equivilant to 13 in the film, he's attracted to a female skunk. Those are the facts, and that's that.

If you want to argue in favor of a gay Disney animated character, there are many more qualified candidates, from Cogsworth, to Timon, or even Gepetto (hey, there was certainly an easier way for him to have a little boy, no?)

 

[Ernest Rister]

Ernest I do not follow how Bambi is a more adult Disney film. Pinocchio is far more disturbing its content than Bambi.

Pinocchio treads some heavy philosophical waters -- but nobody in Pinocchio gets blasted out of the sky, falling dead into the frame. Pinocchio doesn't end with a fiery assault on his Italian village by an unseen force. Jiminy, Cleo, Figaro and Gepetto do not have to run to avoid being blasted by gunfire. Gepetto isn't shot dead, Pinocchio isn't shot as a young adult.

But perhaps you are misunderstanding me. I am not claiming that Bambi is *the* most adult Disney animated film. Fantasia probably earns that award. But like Roger Ebert said in his review, Bambi is serious stuff and is probably not suitable for young viewers and yet Disney sells it as if it was "Bunny, Skunk and Deer in Butterfly Land".

Then the end of the film dismisses it, as if Flower’s reaction to Bambi referring to him, as a “pretty flower” is a phase that he grows out of.

The *end* of the film? What about the entire "twitterpated" scene where the teenaged Flower falls in love? Flower - for lack of a better word - is bashful -- a shy and gentle character. Are all shy and gentle people closet homosexuals?

Why do I get the sense someone is putting us on?

 

[Bryan Ri]

Just to throw in my two cents, I distinctly remember seeing Bambi in theaters as a young child (may not have been an actual theatrical re-release, but probably just a presentation at a movie hall). I haven't seen the film in years, but I know that it left me frightened when I saw it; the imagery has been that of dark and scary in my psyche (as silly as that sounds. On the contrary I loved Pinocchio growing up and according to my mother, I watched that movie more than any other in my youth.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Let's hope that it's a step or two, or three, or even four, up from what we got on Mary Poppins.

can't wait to hear all the newly-recorded Foley effects for Bambi...think of the new gunshot scene...can you say "Universal's Vertigo"?

-dave

p.s. Bambi is one of my all-time favorites. You can bet you'll get a review with all the stops pulled out.

 

[MarcusUdeh]

Re: Brandon
The only other Disney character I assumed was gay was Rabbit from The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. He’s an old queen. Moreover, like Kerry I conceded my argument over Flower’s sexuality as wishful- thinking of my childhood imagination that Walt Disney actually created a role model that winks at its target demographic while everyone else is out side the joke.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Not to get too off topic, but "Uncle Scar" in the Lion King was *definitely* gay.

-dave

 

[Mark-W]

I think we need a thread for all the "family films" that contain apparently gay characters, just so we don't continue to hijack this thread.

I could certainly add a few there, and, Bradon, I acted like what I was when I was five, but didn't put a name to it for a few more years.

Funny how some of us guys tagged in kindergarten as "sissy boys" grow up to be gay guys, even if we, as adults, are often as masculine as our het couterparts.

Back on topic, if they butcher Bambi's soundtrack, I hope they at least include the original sound mix.

I haven't watched Mary Poppins with the new mix because of David's review here. The original stereo sounds good to me.