Apart from the Mickey Mouse works, Disney made a handful of animal-centered cartoons in the 1930s and many of them won Academy Awards. Another brilliant example would be "Lambert the Sheepish Lion", but the "Ugly Duckling" is still the finest of them all. It's a truly emotional piece and all about the heart in this story of where you really belong. There is one hilarious scene early on with Papa Duck thinking Mama Duck cheated on him when he spots the little duckling who looks so different compared to the others. The way the parents argue is pretty epic, the noise is great too.
Very early on, it starts already nicely with how we witness Father Duck so nervous when his offspring will come out off the egg and his happiness is highly infectious when it finally happens. Parents can certainly relate to this, especially those who tried for a long time and it just wouldn't work out until it finally did. Anyway, back to these wonderful 7 minutes here. The way the little duckling cries is truly heartbreaking on several occasions, especially when that wooden duck "rejected" him. He felt all alone on this planet. I also really liked the scenes in which he looked into the water and because of the distortion it looked to him as if he was really ugly and unlovable. But then the happy ending comes, thank God and it's so nice to see the little duckling proud again with his new family and it's so cute how he cuddle's with his new mother's soft feather.
The director here is Jack Cutting, actually not a very prolific one and he fabricated a truly mesmerizing piece of movie-making and one of the most deserving Oscar winners ever. By the way, Disney had another contender in the race that year, but that was basically every time the case during the 1930s. "Ugly Duckling" is actually not the first version of the story, but a remake. It's been too long since I saw the original, so I cannot comment, but I believe that this is one of the rare cases where the remake is actually superior. But it does not really matter anyway, for this 1939 version is as close as it gets to perfection. Apart from everything I already mentioned (let me say it again, this is so so touching), the music, sound effects and animation are truly outstanding as well. highly recommended.
Very early on, it starts already nicely with how we witness Father Duck so nervous when his offspring will come out off the egg and his happiness is highly infectious when it finally happens. Parents can certainly relate to this, especially those who tried for a long time and it just wouldn't work out until it finally did. Anyway, back to these wonderful 7 minutes here. The way the little duckling cries is truly heartbreaking on several occasions, especially when that wooden duck "rejected" him. He felt all alone on this planet. I also really liked the scenes in which he looked into the water and because of the distortion it looked to him as if he was really ugly and unlovable. But then the happy ending comes, thank God and it's so nice to see the little duckling proud again with his new family and it's so cute how he cuddle's with his new mother's soft feather.
The director here is Jack Cutting, actually not a very prolific one and he fabricated a truly mesmerizing piece of movie-making and one of the most deserving Oscar winners ever. By the way, Disney had another contender in the race that year, but that was basically every time the case during the 1930s. "Ugly Duckling" is actually not the first version of the story, but a remake. It's been too long since I saw the original, so I cannot comment, but I believe that this is one of the rare cases where the remake is actually superior. But it does not really matter anyway, for this 1939 version is as close as it gets to perfection. Apart from everything I already mentioned (let me say it again, this is so so touching), the music, sound effects and animation are truly outstanding as well. highly recommended.