I love seeing movies at the Motion Picture Academy down on Wilshire. Some say it's the best movie theater in the country, at least in a tech sense…and if it isn't, it's darn close. Everything I see there reminds me of that "special" quality of film that you can never get at home watching a DVD, no matter how big a plasma screen you purchase. It's a special treat with a movie as visually rich and fascinating as last evening's presentation, Bambi.
The star of the evening…well, there were two stars. One was Ollie Johnston, the last of Disney's "Nine Old Men," who was one of main animators of the film. When they rolled Ollie out (he's 93 and in a wheelchair) for the post-screening panel discussion, the standing ovation from the audience was as touching as anything the Disney crew ever produced.
The other star was the print, itself. An amazing digital restoration was recently done and it's now available on DVD. But to appreciate how remarkable it is, I suspect you have to see it the way we did tonight — on a big screen, and preceded by a brief presentation of "before and after" examples. At the end of the film, when newly-added credits appeared for those who had done the restoration, there was a huge burst of applause for those folks, many of whom were present. We all hear bad things about the current management of Disney, but this preservation and refurbishment must have cost a bloody fortune. True, it will probably turn out to cost-effective but a lot of studios would have tried to strike a new print off an old negative, clean up a little dirt and release it as a "full restoration." Someone deserves credit for not going that route. (Here's an article that will tell you a little bit about what they did.)
So the film looked and sounded beautiful, and the introductions and panel discussion — hosted by good buddy, Leonard Maltin — were perfect. Joining Ollie Johnston were current-day animator Andreas Deja, and two Bambi voice actors — Peter Behn, who at age 4 voiced Thumper, and Cammie King, who wasn't much older when she recorded the voice of Faline. Ms. King drew a noticeable ooh from the audience when she mentioned that Bambi was one of two movies she worked on, the other being Gone With the Wind. I see by the Internet Movie Database that she was also in Blondie Meets the Boss, and I guess I can understand why you might leave that one off your résumé. Still, I wonder how many actors can say that 66.6% of their film roles were in movies that are widely regarded as classics. (Also present and applauded, though he declined to participate in the panel, was Tyrus Wong, who art-directed the film's extraordinary backgrounds.)
With all this wonderment, I hate to inject a "but" into this report but, as you know, we bloggers are always under oath when we post. I have to admit that there is something about Bambi that I do not love, and I'm not sure I can explain what it is. There's a stretch of film there — from just before Bambi's mother is killed through to near the end — where I feel unpleasantly manipulated. And though the whole movie is only 70 minutes, it always seems way too long to me.
Perhaps it's some form of sense memory. I first saw Bambi when I was five years old. It was the 1957 reissue and I remember my father driving my mother and me to the theater in Westwood, dropping us off and picking us up after. It was either the Village Theater or the Bruin — then, as now, right across the street from one another. I had been carefully briefed beforehand that there were sad moments in Bambi. I think newspaper articles of the day actually cautioned parents to prepare very young children for the mother dying and the forest fire. Anyway, none of that upset me but I do recall that the movie was, like most movies are when you're that age, about eleven hours long, and I really didn't like a lot of what was occurring on that screen.
There are some movies that bring out a sense of Unconditional Surrender in me. I just want to tell the filmmakers, "Okay, I'm yours. Play with my feelings. Take me on an emotional roller coaster and I'll follow you anywhere." Somehow, Bambi has never quite moved me to that point. It comes close, especially in the early scenes with Thumper, and I can certainly have a good time admiring the sheer artistry. I just feel like more of a distant spectator with Bambi than I do with Snow White or Pinocchio or Dumbo or any of the other early classic Disney animated features. Maybe in a few days, I'll have more thoughts and I can do a better job of explaining why this is. In any case, even if you buy the DVD, should you get the chance to see this version on a big screen, do not miss that opportunity.