The Ugly Duckling (1939)

A baby duckling is shunned by his family because he is different.

An outcast duckling's search for a family to accept him leads to constant rejection before learning his true identity as a swan.

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Spare, resolved, earnest and classical in form.

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CinemaSerfon TMDB · Jan 20257/10
There is something really quite touching about this Disneyfication of the timeless Hans Christian Andersen story. We start with the expectant parents awaiting their fifth chick. It's born but clearly isn't the same as the others and it's promptly rejected. Abandoned to fend for itself, it tries to make friends but everything is new and unfamiliar. Then, fortune smiles and ... Andersen's fables always did have a valid moral underpinning them and this one seems all the more ripe for a sensitively scored and delicately drawn version that has, mercifully, been spared the traditional singing accompaniment. It's surprisingly effective, this.
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