Bambi's first French version

These last few years, my blog and 3 others went on a quest to find long unavailable first French versions on Disney classic cartoons. We appealed to whoever owned the missing parts on any kind of medium to contact us.
Since then, thanks to generous collectors and with hard work with my friend Rémi, I managed to piece together the first French version of Bambi in its entirety. I made a research about the first release of the film and would like to share it here with you.

I had a mystery to clear up: imdb.com listed July 15, 1947 as the first release date. When face with contemporary sources, this date appeared wrong.

La Cinématographie Française from July 5, 1947 states, without giving a reason for it, that the press presentation of the film was supposed to take place July 1st, 1947, and was replaced by that of The Spanish Main starring Maureen O'Hara, the showing of Bambi at the Marignan was pushed back to thursday July 17, at 10 am, "given directly by the distributor". Also in July, RKO announces its 1947 - 1948 season as the one of feature cartoons. If the publicity starts with a brief paragraph about Bambi, Dumbo is the subject of the rest of the article with an entire page where the film is called a "fairy tale" next to a drawing of the elephant. What is more, Dumbo is presented, way before its release, at the festival of Cannes on Saturday September 13, at 9.30 pm, where the public grades it 8/10 (the best grade that year, shared with Les maudits). The Paris press showing is yet to come: It takes place on Thursday October 9, at 10 at the Marignan, announced as "Dumbo", "Dumbo, l'éléphant savant" or "Dumbo, l'éléphant volant" (this is the latter that appears on screen, meaning "The Flying Elephant").

  On July 16, 1947 Les secrets de Walt Disney (The Reluctant Dragon) comes out in a subtitled version, a partially animated documentary about the studios (the film was shot in 1941, right before the strike), where the crew working on Bambi can be seen as well as those of later animated features (Peter Pan, Alice,...).
Must we conclude that Bambi had a rushed release, in the shadow of the flying elephant, or even eclipsed by a documentary? Of course not. This is all a strategy where each masterpiece gets a perfectly planned release.

Although the French dialog was recorded in December of 1945, the end of the war means that RKO Radio Films S.A. now owns a catalog of many Walt Disney animated features, never before released in France, which can bring profits for many years to come. In fact, it is not commercially interesting to release all of them at once, the success of some may obscure the others. Moreover the production coming from America is not what it used to be: the studio had to face a strike in 1941 which will left wounds in the company and the war forced it to work for propaganda movies and military projects. These films were not necessarily very lucrative and had one major flaw: their themes doomed them to oblivion once the war was over and there could be no re-release plans for them like for other films.

For all these reasons, the features released in the late forties in the USA pale in comparison with earlier productions. They are mostly shorts edited together with a more or less coherent storyline.

The French can expect many quality films for a few years, enough for the dream factory to rise from the ashes: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is timidly brought back in Paris in December 1944 as the industry is still not fully reorganized in France. But none of the Disney features made during the war has been shown so far. So Pinocchio is the first to bring out his nose in Paris on May 22, 1946, and then in the rest of France on October 2. Fantasia gets a relatively cold welcome on November 6 of that same year. Saludos Amigos warms up the winter on February 11, 1947. Dumbo comes out for Christmas 1947 and Bambi is kept for the 1948 season.
As a matter of fact, in La cinématographie française, RKO mostly advertises the other films: upon the release of Pinocchio, there is an article that says "critics eagerly await "Fantasia", "Dumbo", "The 3 Caballeros" and "Saludos Amigos". Not a word about Bambi, which is ready for release and is not a secret, whereas Dumbo, is still undergoing dubbing procedures.

Next come The 3 Caballeros on November 25, 1948, Make Mine Music on September 14, 1949, Song of the South on December 14, 1949, Fun & Fancy Free on March 29, 1950, Cinderella for Christmas 1950, Melody Time on February 28, 1951, then Snow White again in August 1951, etc.

Obvisouly, RKO had planned regular releases so the studio had the time to enter a new golden age with Cinderella and the French got to see at least one major feature per year. And yet the relative rush (December 1945) for the dubbing to be made and the very early press showing of July 1947 (which was in fact pushed back) would indicate that RKO was not completely clear concerning their strategy on Bambi. One easily understands how difficult it must be to accept postponing benefits by several years. It is also possible that they ran into a schedule conflict with theater rentals. Even though they do not announce exclusivity, the Gaumont Palace and the Rex do advertise in 1947 that they secured "the first batch of RKO films of 1947-1948" with Dumbo and Bambi among them.

Bambi by Marc Davis

Eventually, Bambi comes out in Paris on April 28, 1948 at the Marignan (where Snow White had come out ten years before) and at the Marivaux. Ads boast "The most magnificent Walt Disney film since Snow White". It will stay there seven weeks, until June 15.

In the meantime, Fantasia comes back at the Plaza, and on June 15 and 16, the first cartoon festival is organized at the Marcelin-Berthelot center for the benefit of charity where the animated short Le petit soldat by Paul Grimault (of The adventures of Mr. Wonderbird fame) is presented for the first time, along with the films of Max Fleischer and Walt Disney.

On July 13, 1948, as Song of the South and The 3 caballeros are announced in Cinémonde for the next season, Walt Disney is now described as "the author of Bambi".
The little fewn next conquers the rest of France and other theaters in Paris where it will triumph until the holiday season. Here is a few samples of Paris programs :
From October 20 to 26, Bambi is at the Louxor and the Mozart.
From November 3 to 9, Bambi is at the Villiers, the Fantasio, the Gloria, the Métropole Pathé, the Pigalle Palace, the Auteuil - Bon ciné,  the Dominique, the Secrétan Palace, and the Pathé Palace de Boulogne.
From November 10 to 16 : Bambi is at the Belleville, the Féérique, the Lyon Pathé, the Villiers and the Zénith.
On December 21, the film has apparently vanished from the screen of the capital city.
Profits are good: in Bordeaux, 16,500 people saw the film in just one week. At the Capitole in Montpellier, the film made 647,000 francs, at the Capitole in Avignon: FF547,000, at the New Theater in Perpignan: 593,000, at the Majestic in Cannes: 500,000, at the Fémina of Toulon: 792,000, etc.
The total gross would be 5,200,000 francs!

Danish program of the film

Now back to the first dubbing. All French versions made right after the war have a common trait: as the budget was probably limited, no chorus was recorded during the songs. Only soloists were hired who sang over the American chorus.

The French adaptation of Bambi, as I mentioned before, was made without translating the songs at all. Among all the post war released movies, it is the only one with all the songs in English. It is rather easy to explain that choice: the musical impact of the song would have been lessened had the American chorus tracks been replaced by a single person. And the lyrics are not crucial for the understanding of the story. Most of the songs in Walt Disney movies have a function in the story line and if they were replaced by more conventional scenes, these would most likely be more awkward or drowned in dialog.

Bambi in 1948 at the Marignan

In the case of Bambi, we are dealing more with atmospheric songs (the main title sets us in the mood for the story without revealing its content, the love song breaks the tension after the battle scene,the spring song lightens the mood after the death of the mother, etc.). The atmosphere brought by a few singers would have weakened the strength of the songs without gaining much clarity.

Bambi in 1948 at the Marivaux

The actors chosen for this version, although partially listed on the main title, were not associated with their characters,but they were identified by  Rémi Carémel and his friends: check out this link for his website (in French!). I'm adding a little information that I was able to come up with thanks to the missing parts I found. Spoken lines are few and it is very hard to identify who plays who, especially in this version where the cries, laughter, and other neutral elements were lifted from the American version. So some characters, as they may be to the story, only have a couple of lines in the entire film. Paradoxically, the actor playing Bambi as an adult remains to be named.

A January 27, 1948 article in Cinémonde

According to the main title, André Norévo directs this version at the C.T.M. studios in Gennevilliers, assisted by Daniel Gilbert, and André Rigaud translates. Guy Plouganou, sound editor, even gets the last single credit.

In this film where the evolution of the characters is so crucial, it was exceptionally decided to replicate the American version: actual children were hired to voice the kids, a very rare occurrence. Little Marie-Claire Marty (credited as "La petite F. [Féline] Marty" who does Faline, she later was the title role of Alice in Wonderland and Wendy in Peter Pan. "Le petit B. Gilles" (B. meaning Bambi) appears on the credit but this gives no information as to what the full name of this artist is. François Justamand found out that it is Bernard Gilles, who also dubbed Roddy McDowall in Lassie Come Home.

Even though he remains nameless, the child actor who did Thumper  offers the most mischievous version of the 3. Maurice Nasil does a very good flower as a child and adult. He recorded the part of Bashful 16 years later.

Gaby Wagner

The voice of Hélène Tossy is that of a sweet mother. It is Lita Recio who does the mother of Thumper, even though she is not listed on screen. The other credited actors and, until now, not related to their characters are leaded Samson Fainsilber who plays Bambi's father.
This gifted actor made an impression Cardinal Richelieu in the 1932 version of  The Three Musketeers. He is often mentioned in the press in the 1930s, like on August 26, 1937 in Pour Vous which shows the extant of his talent through a series of pictures where he appears completely different from one film to the next. After the war, we learn from la cinématographie française that he dispenses an acting class, thanks to his experience in the theater, the movies, the radio and dubbing

Bambi's father, Samson Fainsilber

Denise Bosc

Gaby Wagner, a sexy girl, as she appears in L'acrobate,where she is  Fernandel's idea of a fantasy nurse almost certainly gives her voice to Mrs Quail, and maybe also the sexy female rabbit when she laconically says "hello" as well as other female roles like the possum, for instance.
Denise Bosc, who plays a uncooperative secretary with Maigret in Les caves du Majestic, may have voiced an adult Faline and maybe also her mother.

November 1969 at the children salon

The films is re-released several times with this version: at Christmas 1957 and 1969 (during Mickey Mouse's 40th birthday) and a new version was recorded for the 1979 reissue, with translated songs.

Bambi in December 1969 at Clermond Ferrand

This new version comes out again in 1986, and yet a third version was made for the 1993 output, which was the released on home video and is the one used now on all discs and theater showings (the 1979 version was released on VHS in 1989 in Quebec). You can find this 3rd version on the great Blu-ray disc.
The future of the film is not solely on the small screen: it was re-released in June 2015 in all Gaumont-Pathé theaters.

Gaumont opera theater Facade June 2, 2015

Here is a sample of the first French version of Bambi.

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That's all for today, folks!