Bill and Coo (1948)

The feathered residents of Chirpendale are terrorized by an evil black crow by the name of "The Black Menace". But to the citizen's rescue comes a brave young taxi puller named Bill!

Director:

Dean Riesner

Writers:

Royal Foster (screenplay), Dean Riesner (screenplay),

Stars:

Burton's Birds, Jimmy the Crow, George Burton

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview:
Burton's Birds	...	Bill / Coo (as George Burton's Love Birds)
Jimmy the Crow	...	The Black Menace (as Curley Twiford's Jimmy the Crow)
George Burton	...	George Burton (Prologue)
Elizabeth Walters	...	Elizabeth Walters (Prologue)
Ken Murray	...	Ken Murray (Prologue)

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

bird | taxi | raven | fire | motorcycle | 

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Genres:

Musical | Family | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 March 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bill e Lú

Company Credits

Production Co:

Republic Pictures (I)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

61 min

Color:

Color (Trucolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The players are real birds dressed like humans.

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Connections

References Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)

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Soundtracks

"London Bridge Is Falling Down"
(uncredited)
Traditional
Played when the school breaks for recess

User Reviews

AN underrated classic

This is one of the oddest family films ever...not animated, not CGI, not puppets, stop motion, dolls, but birds, with the occasional dubbed in voices. I think the several original choral songs here may have been on the Hit Parade around this time....and yes, it definitely aired on TV years ago! I noted George Burton died on December 8,1955, five years before my b'day.

For us young at heart. (I wish there was a heart icon to insert.:))

I'm listening to a mp3 file of costar Elizabeth Walters-anybody know more on her?-tell the story and did a review on Prelinger Archives last night..

For many years it was the ONLY thing that the name Ken Murray brought to my mind, and not surprisingly...I had forgotten that it was not indepently done as I'd thought but at Republic Studios.