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 | motorcycle | fire | raven | 

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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:

Ken Murray Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

61 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Trucolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film holds the world record for the smallest film set. It was filmed entirely in a model village mounted on a table measuring 30 ft x 15 ft (9.14 m x 4.57 m). The success of the film was rewarded with an Honorary Academy Award in 1948.

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

Kingdom Coming
(uncredited)
aka "The Year of Jubilo"
Music by Henry Clay Work
Played after Bill springs the trap

User Reviews

A Charming Oddity

For me, it's hard to attach a rating onto a genuine oddity like B&C. In my many years of movie viewing, the flick remains a true one-of-a-kind. I don't know how the producers did it, but the birds manage a whole array of intricate tricks and self-control. The amazing results don't look like animation. Yet, I wonder whether ordinary looking birds can truly be trained for sliding down wires or standing on their heads. I wish IMDB had more info on this key matter.

Anyway, the story is about young feathered lovers Bill and Coo and their bird town Chirpendale. Much of the charm and amusement comes from converting people-talk into birdie-talk, like Chirpendale. Most screen time is taken up with the Starling Circus where the acrobats do their people-like stuff. Then too, viewers never know what trick is coming next. Intruding now and again, however, is the looming menace of the big crow, but instead of a black moustache to twirl, he struts around in domineering fashion. So it's good guy Bill against bad guy Crow. It seems some Hollywood cliches never change even in bird land.

Anyway, I can see today's kids being entertained by the oddity just as my generation was many years ago. But viewing it again as a geezer, I think many adults could also happily catch a novelty that somehow escaped the Hollywood assembly line. Meanwhile, I'm off to happily double the goodies in my patio birdfeeder.