Saturday, February 25, 2012

Bill and Coo - A movie for the birds

In 1948, producer Ken Murray was sitting around with a lot of time on his hands and thought "Hey, I'll just make an entire film about birds! Not a nature documentary, no, I mean birds as actors, telling a story, putting on a SHOW!" And this was the result.

Had enough? If not, view the entire 61-minute Bill and Coo here.

Admittedly, this is the corniest idea you've ever seen go into a feature film, and they don't spare one kernel while they're at it - gag signs, lame puns, and endless gawking at the cute widdle birdies ensue. For being birds, they're pretty clever and do little tricks while the typicalmid-20th-century narrator yammers on and on about what the birds are doing since the birds don't actually talk - they really missed out not getting Alex the grey parrot - alas, it was before his time.

Just, y'know, don't expect A-list acting. It's just enough to sit through this thing in jaw-dropping astonishment that it got made.