Bill and Coo

(1948, U.S.) color 61 minutes
Republic Pictures Corporation
Screenplay: Royal Foster, Dean Riesner
Music: David Buttolph, Lionel Newman, Johann Strauss, Richard Wagner
Cinematography: Jack A. Marta
Produced by: Ken Murray
Directed by: Dean Reisner

With: Ken Murray, Elizabeth Walters, George Burton and his Love Birds

Plot Outline (IMDb): Welcome to Chirpendale. There's plenty of parking space, plus it has everything: a bar where bird citizens can drink junebug sundaes and listen to jazzy music. But the bird citizens are terrorized by an evil raven called "The Black Menace", but a pluck young bird named Bill Singer, who's a taxi driver by day, comes to the aid of a damsel in distress, Coo, who's trapped in a fire. And soon the circus comes to town, Bill and Coo get box perches and witness ferocious feats and even laugh along with Cannonball Twitcher on an out of control motorcycle! But soon The Black Menace returns, and Bill and the rest of the citizens put together a plan to put him away for good.

***

Surely unique as the first movie starring live animals (the next one was THE SECRET OF MAGIC ISLAND, some twenty years later,) and kind of a distant cousin to the current crop of anthropo-animal flicks like HOMEWARD BOUND and BABE, this obscure novelty piece features befuddled birds stumbling through a bizarre table-top world, dragging around tacky little props and wearing stiff and goofy costumes. The poor birdies.

Since birdies don't talk, there's a smarmy coy narration by Ken Murray that tries but fails to ape the then-hot smart-ass Robert Benchley sense of humor.

Intended to portray postwar, small town America, Bird Town's hard-won, idyllic peace is threatened by Communism, in the form of a big fat crow called "The Black Menace." The cold war hits home!

The bad bird attacks at night, like a sneaky Nazi air raid, evoking fresh memories of the just-ended war. The grainy red-and-blue "Trucolor" offers an evocative yet cheesy atmosphere, like hallucinating a model railroad. Loving reference to 1940's pop culture staples like juke joints and circuses.

There are also some quite bad, mock-operatic songs.

A silly prolog features Ken Murray, acting as director, "preparing" the birds for their shooting session.

Essentially a stupid project, just an excuse to show off some trained birds, the film wins you over by its sheer odd innocence and primitive production design.

Video/DVD availability: VHS (various, oop)