The Pigeoneers, a feature documentary film written, directed and produced by Al Croseri.
122 minutes duration

The Pigeoneers is an homage to the bravery of homing pigeons who saved thousands of lives in combat in the Great World Wars. Their achievements embodied the attributes of service, endurance, loyalty and supreme courage. Here, their memory is evoked by Colonel Clifford A. Poutre, Chief Pigeoneer, U. S. Army Signal Corps Pigeon Service, 1936-1943.

Acknowledged the world's outstanding military pigeon expert, Poutre is credited with having streamlined the U. S. Army homing pigeon training and services to keep pace with the latest developments in army aviation. Poutre has taught his homers numerous tricks unprecedented in pigeon history-to be ready for day or night messenger duty, to return to a mobile pigeon loft which moves ten miles away after the pigeon departs and to carry a canary piggy-back from New Jersey to a loft on the rooftops in New York City.

Poutre's many stories are illustrated with over two hours of rare, unseen archival photographs and footage from the 1920's, 30's and 40's. Join Col. Poutre in The Pigeoneers slow down, think and remember.

In English. NTSC DVD Video All Regions (North America, Europe, South Africa, Japan, Far East, Latin America, Australia, Africa, India, Russia & China)

Each DVD is professionally authored & replicated in the highest quality guaranteed and packaged in a full color cover, shrink wrapped Amaray case. Made in USA.

"This is quite an extraordinary film. It not only tells the story of Col. Clifford Poutre but it contains voluminous old film clips of homing pigeons in war. For these reasons alone, this is an important film.

The late Col. Poutre was obviously a charming man with a deep love of pigeons. He makes the case that this kind of affection is essential for really outstanding performance from your birds. As he tells his life story interwoven with pictures of the Army pigeon corps it makes a compelling documentary. In addition, he tells of a variety of interesting experiments that he performed. I think particularly of the idea of a mobile pigeon loft that could be moved from place to place, the training of pigeons to fly at night in both Hawaii and New York City and the problems that New York City lights caused. He describes training pigeons to fly over water for 100 to 200 miles and how his pigeons avoided flying over mountains. He describes the behavior of pigeons released from high buildings homing to a mobile loft at Rockefeller Center and how they simply folded their wings and dove for the loft." Charles Walcott, Professor, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

"The Pigeoneers is a love story between man and bird. After viewing Alessandro Croseri's sentimental documentary, there can be no doubt that Col. Clifford A. Poutre loved the many pigeons that he bred and trained for carrier service in WWII. By both word and deed, Col. Poutre treated his pigeons as though they were human family members, children, buddies. He believed in control through kindness. He saw pigeons as intelligent beings which would fly better if they trusted him. He accorded his birds real respect and even reverence. He reveled in their racing and military achievements and he mourned their loss in warfare and culling." Dr. Edward A. Wasserman, Stuit Professor of Experimental Psychology, Department of Psychology, Delta Center, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

"Last night I watched The Pigeoneers with my wife, an historian. She referred to the footage as "a primary historical document" because it codifies a rare and forgotten history-- that of the use of pigeons during warfare. Remarkablely, the tale is told by a 103-year-old colonel dressed to the nines in military regalia. He's the real deal because he was the "go to" guy in developing pigeons as instruments of war. The story is warm, interesting and, of course, historical. This movie is surely of interest to pigeon fanciers, military historians, or just to those who find listening to a fascinating tale a good way to pass the afternoon." Dr. Alan Silberberg, Professor of Psychology, American University, Washington, DC

The Pigeoneers is recommended by Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Project Pigeon Watch.

The Pigeoneers is in the collection of the American Air Museum, Imperial War Museum Duxford, United Kingdom.