AllMovie

This odd little short teams up journalist Lowell Thomas with animator/comedian Charles Bowers (who not only physically resembled but also sounded a bit like Buster Keaton). Billed as a "Lowell Thomas Tall Story," it shows the world traveler in search of a man with the tallest tale, and Bowers certainly comes up with a doozy. Bowers claims to work in a junkyard that has an overabundance of junk -- in fact, he tries giving it away to get rid of it. Then he hears about a "metal eating bird" and travels the world in search of it (a map of the continents shows where his wandering takes him). Finally in deepest, darkest Africa, he finds the bird under a rock and manages to capture it. The bird proves to have a ravenous appetite and devours all the metal in sight. Charley has big ideas for the bird, but unfortunately discovers it only lays an egg once every 100 years. The best part of this short is its whimsical stop animation, which brings the curious-looking bird to life, and it's a rare example of Bowers' acting and animation work from the sound era.