Released on this day in 1942, Bambi became the fifth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. It was based on the book Bambi, A Life in the Woods by Austrian author Felix Salten. The main characters are Bambi, a white-tailed deer (originally a roe deer but changed since those are not common in the U.S.), his parents (the Great Prince of the forest and his unnamed mother), his friends Thumper (a pink-nosed rabbit), and Flower (a skunk), and his childhood friend and future mate, Faline. The film received three Academy Award nominations: Best Sound, Best Song (for "Love Is a Song" ) and Original Music Score.
In June 2008, the American Film Institute presented a list of its "10 Top 10"—the best ten films in each of ten classic American film genres. Bambi placed third in animation. In December 2011, the film was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.