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Man of Evil (Rank; United _ Artists) is a moldy old (made in Britain in 1943) sop for the insatiable U.S. fans of James Mason, who did not make a picture last year because of contract trouble. This one will not satisfy the fans for long.

In a minor role, Mason does little more than sip champagne, dilate his nostrils and murmur, with a leer: "Not quite cool enough but beautifully alive!" At that, he easily takes the romantic play away from the deadpan leading man, Stewart Granger. Phyllis Calvert, as a cabinet member's illegitimate child who eventually achieves her rightful station, displays a fine-boned beauty and something beyond the call of duty in a British cinemactress: a good set of teeth. A merciful Atlantic washed away the picture's only other attraction: the original title, Fanny by Gaslight.

Bill and Coo (Republic), after assuring you of your sanity in a well-advised prologue (with a glimpse of Producer Ken Murray and a couple of other human beings), settles down to its real business and drifts serenely out of this world. The actors and extras, in this astounding film are 200-odd birds -- mostly midget parrots. The bird actors whistle, or appear to whistle, jazz obbligati. They wear bow ties and little hats, operate a streetcar, a taxi and a hook-&-ladder. They live, it is painful to report, in a town called Chirpendale, whose main intersection is Birdway and 42nd Street.

One of the most incredible things about this incredible film is the fact that it isn't nearly as terrible as it sounds. In an odd sort of way, it is fun. Much of the laborious cuteness, questionable bit by bit, is so wildly preposterous that the total effect is cheerfully insane--a little as if it were possible to have a happy, harmless case of the d.t.s. The movie will undoubtedly bore some people, disgust some and delight others; but on its novelty value alone, it may make a lot of money. The mere thought of the human and subhuman labor and patience behind the entire effort appalls the imagination, let alone the intelligence.

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