A blog for writers writing everything from history to suspense. Wife, blogger, writer.
A Silly Symphony Review - The Ugly Duckling (1939)
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I'm loving the Silly Symphonies. So much emotion in such a short cartoon. This one was The Ugly Duckling, which is exactly the story that you think it is. Let's dive in.
Courtesy of Pinterest
Silly Symphony storylines are usually expressed without words (and in this case, no intelligible words). All you have is a duck quacking, bird sounds, and a swan crying. This is the tale of a little swan that got hatched by a duck, left by the duck mother, and picked up by a swan mother. It's incredibly sweet. There isn't too much to say.
After the little duck wanders off, it gets in another nest. After being chased out of the other nest, it finds a duck decoy and gets bonked on the head by it. This makes the ugly duckling (swan) a little traumatized and sad. It sobs its little eyes out until a swan mother and her little ones hear it. Once he finds a loving home, he never returns to the duck who hatched him. Our little swan swims off with the loving adopted mother and her hatchlings.
Amazing Cartoon
10 stars, no notes, the most adorable thing I've seen. This is so cute and still leaves you on an emotional rollercoaster. It was scary to the little swan to be bonked by a duck decoy. It was sad to see it abandoned. We even have the parent ducks arguing about (I suppose) the mother duck cheating early on. This little swan crying almost made me cry. It was amazing to see him find a home where he'd be loved.
Silly Symphonies don't disappoint me. I've loved every single one I've come across. This appealed to the whole family and you didn't need words to do it. Ducks quacking and body language were enough. It's amazing what you don't need intelligible words to express. This is a masterclass in storytelling through visuals alone. Before this era was the silent films, which did that same thing.
Morrow is released! This novella is the story of two women writing a family history for the Morrow family. They find a nasty secret while researching. Will they survive their internship?
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