The Birds: Review

The Birds

1963

[1]The Birds, (1963)

"The Birds" is a Horror/Thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Rod Taylor (as Mitch Brenner), Tippi Hedren (as Melanie Daniels) and Jessica Tandy (as Lydia Brenner)

[1]"Plot: Carefree socialite Melanie Daniels decides to play a practical joke on lawyer Mitch Brenner in a San Francisco bird shop by pretending to be an assistant. However, he knows who she is and the joke backfires on her. Piqued, she decides on a whim to follow Mitch as he travels up the coast to his Bodega Bay hometown for the weekend. At the same time as Melanie arrives in Bodega Bay, birds suddenly, inexplicably, turn and start attacking people. She, Mitch and Mitch’s mother and sister besiege themselves in the Brenner farmhouse against the terrifying onslaught." (Scheib, 1999-2011)

[2]Mitch Brenner surrounded by birds, (1963)

[2]"With The Birds, Alfred Hitchcock and screenwriter Evan Hunter (better known as crime writer Ed McBain) remove the film of context – the puzzling Whyness of what is happening is something that stands over the film with far more anxiety and unease than do any of the individual attacks" (Scheib, 1999-2011)

The Birds is, for the most part, quite a horrific film. Trying to imagine one self in the same position Brenner and his family are in, having to live through the same experience and suffer the same consequences with no warning at all, is quite horrendous. By looking at the film in a different light however, similar to the way Scheib describes, it can become quite hilarious. The fact that this girl called Melanie Daniels has come to town unexpectedly, and now suddenly the place has been taken over by birds of different kinds is amusing. The amusement is born from the confusion everyone (including the audience) is facing. The most important thing overall is that this puzzling story with crazy birds is what makes The Birds what it is, without the bird factor there is no conflict, and without conflict there would potentially be no film because everyone will just live happily ever after (which doesnt happen in the majority of horrors).

[3]Melanie at the bar, (1963)

[3]"There are countless scenes in which characters will just look at each other for a long time, even despite strong emotional reactions that would usually cause other characters to ask what was wrong with them." (Sponseller, 2001)

As well as a puzzling story, the film also has a lot of prolonged scenes of people just looking at eachother or something in the distance. Now, there is a difference between it being a reasonably prolonged shot, and when the shot is just noticably too long for no apparent reason (which woud be classed as unprofessional nowadays). An example of a shot "over done" would be when the teacher (Annie Hayworth) is shutting the doors at the birthday party after getting all the children inside; 2 kids poke their heads around each of Hayworths thighs and stare into the sky for a good 5-7 seconds. There is no justification for this as it doesnt lead us anywhere and the children dont even have any lines at that point, the scene just simply fades out into the next.

Another oddity of this film is the birds sometime-ish behaviour. From early on we see that the birds of Bodega Bay are more ferocious then in other areas, starting with a seagull's solo attack on Melanie to get the ball rolling (and to act as a warning) followed by bigger more planned attacks by gangs of birds as the film goes on. On the odd occasion however, the birds will just sit and watch as Melanie just walks right by. This is evidently done to build suspense, because Hitchcock has cleverly decided to show some mercy in the scenes the audience is more likely to expect an attack to occur, but at the same time it makes the film a bit silly. Yes seagull's, crows and raven's all have minds of their own, but surely they are more likely to strike their prey when its out in the open and not barricaded inside a house with layers of wood nailed to each and every opening...come on now!

[4]Mitch barricading door, (1963)

[4] "the film would have been more engrossing and frightening if the central character was likable, instead of a spoiled rich girl who has to learn better over the course of the movie." (Warren, 2000)

In terms of the actual story I agree with Warren's statement, and feel the emphasis of the birds overshadow the story of Melanie Daniels. The film is good, but not that good compared to Hitchcock's other films like Psycho for instance. The fact that Daniels indeed isn't likable also puts towards the point that its hard to make a connection with her as an audience. The detrimental effect of this is that we do not grasp the whole concept of why this havoc is taking place as well as we should. However, the film isn't all that bad and is worth a watch.

Illustration List:

[1] Alfred Hitchcock (1963), The Birds [electronic print] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birds_(film)

[2] Alfred Hitchcock (1963), Mitch Brenner surrounded by birds [electronic print] Available at: http://www.brummieblogs.com/2007/BBFebruary2007.htm

[3] Alfred Hitchcock (1963), Melanie at the bar [electronic print] Available at: http://bavatuesdays.com/the-birds/

[4] Alfred Hitchcock (1963), Mitch barricading door [electronic print] Available at: http://robie2008.wordpress.com/100-best-greatest-favorite-films/

Bibliography:

[1] Scheib, Richard (1999-2011), The Birds In: 0to5stars-moria.ca [online] Available at: http://0to5stars-moria.ca/horror/birds-1963.htm

[2] Scheib, Richard (1999-2011), The Birds In: 0to5stars-moria.ca [online] Available at: http://0to5stars-moria.ca/horror/birds-1963.htm

[3] Sponseller, Brandt (2001), The Birds (1963) In: Classic-Horror.com [online] Available at: http://classic-horror.com/reviews/birds_1963b

[4] Warren, Bill (March 28, 2000), Birds, The (Collector's Edition) In: Audio Video Revolution [online] Available at: http://www.avrev.com/dvd-movie-disc-reviews/mystery-suspense/birds-the-collectors-edition.html