The Ugly Duckling

The Ugly Duckling (1939) is a Disney animated short you can watch online on iFILM — nine minutes, directed by Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi, and Jack Cutting, adapted from Hans Christian Andersen's tale. It picked up the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 1940 ceremony.

A duckling hatches into the wrong nest. He looks different from his siblings and is driven away. Every family he approaches turns him out. The film moves quickly — there is no padding, and the ending lands exactly where it should.

One of the final entries in the Silly Symphonies series before Disney shifted to features, and among the last black-and-white shorts the studio produced. Watch The Ugly Duckling (1939) online on iFILM.