Walt Disney Interview (Interview)

We're here to talk about Bambi, the re-release of Bambi

I understand it took you seven years to develop and produce

Bambi. Uh, what did you see in the Bambi project to carry

It through those seven years? How come it took so long?

Well, actually, it was a change of pace for us from what we'd been

Doing. Uh, Snow White, uh, Pinocchio and the others, uh, were more

The obvious cartoon type of characters. But, uh, with Bambi, there

Was a need for a subtlety in our, uh, in our animation, a need for

More of a lifеlike, uh, type of animation. And, uh, wеll, there was

A certain awe and respect we had of this classic of Bambi that I

Decided that, uh, number one, I'd have to put my artists back in

School to learn something that, uh, is, uh, well, is something you

Don't get in the, in the formal art education, and that is, you get

Human anatomy. And, uh, this was animal anatomy and beyond that

Animal locomotion, you know, movement and things. So I, um, I put

Them into school, and I had my artists specially trained for this one

Picture. Now when I finally went into production, I just couldn't put

Every artist I had on it. So I had to take a select team, and that

Cut the size of the, of the staff down to a point that it took longer

. But I think the end result, uh, was worth that, because in studying

The animals, we brought deer in, brought them into the art classes

And, and let them munch hay and things to keep them quiet, and the

Artists were drawing the, uh, the animals. But that wasn't enough

We had to see them more as they actually, uh, behaved in nature

And I found a naturalist photographer that had done some

Beautiful work out in the, in the open country, and I, uh

Made a deal with him to go and cover the, the action of these

Animals as they actually lived their life. And he went into the

Main country, he went into different, uh, parts of the country

Where he'd find the animals, and photographed them for me. And

He caught them, uh, just living their life as nature intended

You know, I counted them, and there are only 950 words of dialogue

In Bambi. Uh, why so few words in a feature motion picture?

Well, we thought we got a little gabby with it, to be frank. I mean

Uh, we were, uh, we were striving for fewer words to begin with

Because we wanted the action and the music, uh, to

Carry it, more or less. And, uh, we finally ended up

With, uh, 200 more words than we thought we would

When we first started out, that we wanted to have in it

Isn't there a little bit of, uh, Bambi in Walt Disney

Or for that matter, in everything you try to do?

Well, I don't know. I never thought of myself that way. I mean

Uh, I don't know who I'd be, Thumper or Flower or what, you know

But, uh, but, uh, I think the thing might be that I, I'm, I'm

A lover of nature. In fact, I, I respect nature very much. And

Uh, I feel that, uh, through watching, observing, uh, the, the

Uh, habits of the creatures of nature, man could learn a lot