Bambi (1942)

For Walt Disney, his sixth feature film production was “the best picture I've ever made, the best ever to come out of Hollywood”. Based on the worldwide success by Austrian author Felix Salten, Bambi depicts the developmental story of the titular white-tailed deer calf and his forest friends in characteristic Disney style: scenes of emotional elemental force - legendary: the traumatizing death of Bambi's mother by a hunter's bullet - are embedded in the impressionistic, captivatingly animated depiction of natural life and a “timeless”, adept mix of pantheism, sentiment and patriarchal values. Disney children's films such as Bambi and Snow White became the biggest box office successes with Austrian audiences immediately after the war, who turned to comedies such as Fanfares of Love or Don Camillo in the 1950s. (Christoph Huber)

Photo: Austrian Film Museum