Bill and Coo

Technically, "Bill and Coo" is a pretty amazing film. After all, the picture stars a whole lot of adorable birds (mostly lovebirds but some parakeets and other birds) doing a lot of adorable tricks...and making the film must have been very slow and difficult because of this. But, it also reminds me of a bird show at the zoo...interesting but not something you'd want to see for an hour. Additionally, the narration is often a bit heavy-handed and I am sure calling the villain 'The Black Menace' won't go over very well in this more politically correct world. The bottom line is that the film is cute to see...at least clips of the film. If you can actually hold on for the hour without losing interest, I applaud you. For me, the novelty quickly wore off--much like those god- awful shorts they made back in the 1930s with dogs dressed as people and with terrible voice-overs. A little bit goes a long, long way.

If you are curious about seeing the film, it can be downloaded for free from archive.org--a site often linked to many of the films on IMDb.

I saw this movie for the first time in a Spanish translation in Cuba, circa 1950. It was such memorable film that I never forgot it. I was about 10 years old at the time.

The trainers of the parakeets, love birds, and other creatures must have spent years to make this film! Bill and Coo, hero and heroine, are endearing. But the evil crow is the most wonderful villain a child could ever wish for. And the village idiot who saves the day is a real warm character.

In fact, each and every character seems to share human traits and personalities, thanks to the great editing, music, and narration of this charming movie. It should return to the video stores for new generations to enjoy.

This film received a special Oscar for "patience and persistence." Not so remarkable in these days of CGI, but astonishing back then. There must have been bushels of outtakes, but the final story works fine with its many avian actors. The town of Chirpendale is rife with puns (such as a burlesque theater that features "beautiful gulls"), and some of the action seems a bit strange, but the story flows. The reason to see the film is to behold the "acting" of the incredibly trained birds.

Later animal films, such as "The Adventures of Milo and Otis" are more realistic, but the fantasy world of Chirpendale is internally consistent, and a lot of fun to visit.

Definitely not a movie for everyone, but this movie is a treasure. Cast with lovely birds, kittens, puppies and a crow who makes the town of Chirpendale a living heck, Bill and Coo is an accomplishment. The tricks that the birds perform in the circus scene alone are great and storyline is engaging even for those who are young at heart. After watching this movie on late night public TV, I became enamored with it and feel it should be seen more rather than lay on the wayside of cinema history.

Unshackled insanity. It's as if Hitchcock had cast birds in all the roles in "The Birds". And while Hollywood loves a remake, it's safe to say that nothing like this will ever be made again.

Like other films made for children, B&C is quite a bit more surreal than anything the Surrealists ever came up with. Not even they ever quite got as far as the sequence in which live birds-- dressed up in little waistcoats-- tow a pair of caged cats through a miniature town, or in which a crow the size of King Kong terrorizes the night.

The explanatory narrative is merely annoying; try this one silent, or with the music of your choice.