WILD SIDE
'Bambi' makes a typically fine Disney DVD debut
By Andy Klein
Bambi was the fifth of Walt Disney's big animated features, following Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo. (We won't count the oddball compilation The Reluctant Dragon.) Ever since its original 1942 release, it has stirred a certain degree of controversy for its (alleged) potentially traumatic effect on children. Of course, everyone of my generation (and probably of several generations surrounding mine) saw this as a kid, and we didn't turn out so bad, did we? (Don't answer that.)
It's been at least three decades since I last saw this, but Disney has now released Bambi in a "Platinum 2-Disc Special Edition," the better to reassess, in the comfort of our own homes, whether the film is all that emotionally potent.
Yoicks.
Do you know the stuff this gawky little deer has to deal with? Mom gets shot! Hunters sic dogs on him! Forest fires! It's like an animated version of The Diary of Anne Frank, with the whole human race as the Nazis. I'd like to say that it works because of the character development, but that would overlook the really scary animation.
Disney, in its current corporate form, does a lot of things wrong, but it's been terrific in assembling the DVD editions of its animated classics. And Bambi is no exception.
The first disc in the set has the 70-minute film itself, looking absolutely fresh. Back when most movie studios were cutting their old negatives into ukulele picks, Walt understood the long-term value of his properties. One can choose among four soundtracks: a Dolby 5.1 mix, with a choice of English, Spanish, and French; and the original mono mix in English. I'm opposed to remixing old films on general principles: Even done well, it's a misrepresentation of the original choices. Having said that, this is a relatively discreet, unflashy remix that just provides a wider soundstage; and, if you want to be pure, you still have the option of the mono version.
The first disc only has one major extra, but it's a doozy. The original story conferences of Disney and his writers and animation directors were recorded and transcribed. We now get to hear them in reenactments, with the visual accompaniment of scenes from the film, sketches, inserts with other material, and superscripts of pages from the transcriptions. The dialogues have been edited to match the film's sequences, so the entire presentation runs the same length as the movie. In essence, it's an augmented commentary track on the film's creation, but presented separately from the feature itself, in order to allow the addition of the other visual elements.
The second disc is loaded with more extras, including a bunch of "games and activities" for kids, which you'll have to check out on your own, because, frankly, I'm too old for that rebop. In addition, there are two brief (1:05 and 2:30) deleted scenes shown as a series of sketches. There's a new hourlong making-of program; a five-minute clip about the restoration process; an art gallery; a look at the studio's archives, guided by animator Andreas Deja; a seven-and-a-half-minute excerpt from a 1957 episode of the old Disney TV show, in which Walt explains about the development of the multiplane camera, which was crucial to Bambi's look; the Oscar-winning 1937 short The Old Mill, which was an impressive early use of that camera; and a ridiculously superficial "time capsule" short (4:30) that pretends to describe life in the '40s. Amusing, though the opening line of the voiceover - "The 1940s were one of the most pivotal decades of the 20th century" - made me wince.
Surely, if your kids can survive Bambi unscathed, the next film you should expose them to is David Lynch's 1990 Wild at Heart, a laff-fest for children of all ages. Somehow the DVD release of this, about two months ago, slipped right by me, so a quick word of praise for the transfer, supervised by Lynch himself. Finally we have a decent version; the old laserdisc edition was notorious as one of the worst transfers ever, and the tape was cropped. There are some nice extras as well, though Lynch is absent from most of them. It's my least favorite of the director's works - it feels forced, as though Lynch had the backing for a production but no story he was burning to tell - but it's still got its pleasures.Published: 03/03/2005
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