Horst_In_Translation Review of The Ugly Duckling

The Ugly Duckling (1931)

What's a nice duck like you doing in a place like this?

[6/10 · 26 November 2017]

"The Ugly Duckling" is a 1931 black-and-white cartoon, so this one is already over 85 years old now. Wow. It is based on a tale by the legendary Hans Christian Andersen, who had already been dead for over half a century when this was released. It runs for 6.5 minutes only and is one of the many many works by one of Disney's finest Wilfred Jackson, who was only in his mid-20s when he worked on this one. And even if this Silly Symphony cartoon is far from forgotten today, it is nowhere near as famous as the 1939 version and I personally think it should be this way as the one from almost a decade later is superior in almost every regard, but most of all story-telling, the key differences and there are many. I will get to that later. And the visual component, i.e. the animation also improved so drastically during that time. The one thing I liked the least is that it's about the duckling becoming a hero in order to be excepted by his admittedly pretty shallow "mother". Then again, it is just what would have happened in reality too that she would have neglected him right? The parts with the duckling leaving and trying unsuccessfully to find solace from other animals is not half as effective as it could have been. The entire things comes pretty short in terms of emotion and that meets the eye immediately as this is the exact area where the later, Oscar-winning, slightly longer version (also by Disney) I mentioned earlier already succeeds the most. But still this one here may not be a great watch, but it somehow succeeds in its own right, even if nothing stands out in terms of greatness. It's fine though as for its time, it is definitely a solid achievement and among the better if not best cartoon works from the early 1930s. As an individual achievement, I give this one a thumbs-up and recommend checking it out, especially to old cartoon lovers.