• 8 years ago
Development
In 1933, Sidney Franklin, a producer and director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, purchased the film rights to Felix Salten's novel Bambi, A Life in the Woods, intending to adapt it as a live-action film. After years of experimentation, he eventually decided that it would be too difficult to make such a film and he sold the film rights to Walt Disney in April 1937.[7] Disney began work on crafting an animated adaptation immediately, intending it to be the company's second feature-length animated film and their first to be based on a specific, recent work.[7] However, the original novel was written for an adult audience, and was considered too "grim" and "somber" for a regular light-hearted Disney film.[7] The artists also discovered that it would be challenging to animate deer realistically.[8] These difficulties resulted in Disney putting production on hold while the studio worked on several other projects.[7] In 1938, Disney assigned Perce Pearce and Carl Fallberg to work on the film's storyboards, but attention was soon drawn away as the studio began working on Fantasia.[7] Finally, on August 17, 1939, production on Bambi began in earnest, though progressed slowly owing to changes in the studio personnel, location, and methodology of handling animation at the time

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