Summary:
A wealthy woman from San Francisco takes a trip to a Northern Californian town where she and the residents are inexplicably attacked by flocks of birds.
My Thoughts:
When I was a budding young cinephile, my parents started to introduce me and my siblings to some of Hitchcock’s tamer films like “North by Northwest”, “Vertigo”, “Rear Window”, and this film. These films made quite an impression on me when I was young, but I grew older and watched more of Hitchcock’s oeuvre, and whenever I was in the mood to watch one of his films I found myself gravitating towards either rewatching my favorite- “Psycho”- or checking out one the films of his that I had not seen as a child (like “Rebecca” or “Notorious”). It had been a long time since I had revisited this film, so when we at TMM decided to revisit Hitchcock, I thought this would be a great time to go back to a movie I hadn’t seen in probably fifteen years.
I remembered this film to be pretty intense, but that was from the perspective of myself as a child. I honestly was a bit nervous to revisit this, because, out of all of Hitch’s films, I have to say that this one probably has the schlockiest plot. Nevertheless, I started my journey to Bodega Bay, and to my delight, I found the film not only still holds up, it completely elevates all of the schlocky elements to the point that it becomes artistic. It just goes to show you how great of a director Hitchcock really was.
“Why are they doing this?”
Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren, “Roar”) is the daughter of a wealthy San Francisco paper publisher and a socialite. After meeting lawyer Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor, “Inglorious Basterds”) in a pet shop, Melanie follows him to Bodega Bay, a small Northern Californian town where she is introduced to Mitch’s strangely overbearing mother Lydia (Jessica Tandy, “Drivinng Miss Daisy”), his younger sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright, “Alien”), and Mitch’s ex-girlfriend Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette, “Blackbeard’s Ghost”). Melanie’s plans for a relaxing time away from San Francisco are disturbed when flocks of birds inexplicably start to attack the town’s residents.
I think the thing I like most about this film is the way that it sort of starts off as a rather melodramatic romance, plodding along rather pleasantly, before it shifts, ever so violently, and suddenly the viewer finds him or herself in a horror flick. This sort of structuring isn’t unusual for Hitch (look at “Psycho” which starts out as a thriller about a secretary stealing forty-thousand dollars, before it shifts, and we’re suddenly watching a movie about a mad, cross-dressing serial killer), but it does put the viewer in a position of feeling unprepared for whatever will happen next. I think one of the reasons I like that shift so much is because A) it allows time for us to get to know the characters and their backstories, and B) when freak phenomenon happen (realistic or fantastical) usually there isn’t a lot of warning when said phenomenon occurs. Not only does it feel far more realistic to have our characters wandering about their lives, going about whatever it was that they would normally be doing before the phenomenon happens, it makes it much more frightening when that shift does happen.
As I mentioned above, one of the things I (needlessly) worried about when deciding to return to this movie was the ‘schlock-factor’; angry flocks of birds attacking people randomly sounds like something straight out of a Roger Corman produced B-movie. However, there are a couple things that elevate this film far above it’s schlocky premise, the first of those being writing. “The Birds” is based on a Daphne du Maurier short story- funny, because Hitch actually adapted du Maurier’s “Rebecca” earlier in his career, and that was the only film of his to win Best Picture (though, I must note, Hitch himself never won a competitive Oscar). I have not read du Maurier’s story, but I assume most of the characters and traits were adapted from that short story. Melanie is a particularly interesting character because she’s wealthy and has been in the papers; people know her, and some of her less-appealing exploits seem to follow her around, lurking in the corners, ready to pop out and show its scarred face. Because of whom she is, certain people seem to open up to her a bit more, like the schoolteacher and Mitch’s ex Annie Hayworth, but other people react by becoming cold, like Lydia Brenner, Mitch’s mother. Lydia is a peculiar character as well, and it takes us a while to work through the relationship dynamics between Lydia, Mitch, Cathy (Mitch’s younger sister), and Annie Hayworth, but it also makes the story more compelling. Honestly, I would’ve been fine with just watching a melodrama concerning these characters, they’re so well written. Of course it’s then, just when we’re hooked on the melodrama, that Hitch throws his curveball.
There are hints that the birds will attack before they actually attack, but those warning signs do nothing to prepare you for that first actual attack at Cathy’s birthday party. When the birds start to swoop and peck, they do so first to little children; there’s blood pouring from a little girl’s head, and children shrieking and running everywhere. The camera cuts are quick and the sound design, rife with the horrendous crowing of birds, is so overpowering, that the viewer is immediately ripped from the earlier moments of melodrama and can focus only on what just happened. But that attack is over almost as fast as it began. Our characters get inside the house safely, but just as they settle down and begin to comfort themselves with the fact that the incident was just a freak occurrence, they’re suddenly swarmed by thousands of sparrows flocking straight down the chimney. From there, the film becomes a nightmare of almost never-ceasing tension; you never know when you’re safe.
I honestly think all of the bird attack sequences are memorable for different reasons, and that’s part of what make’s Hitch’s directing so great. The sequence where the birds attack the children at the school has an absolutely wonderful build up- birds flock to land on the playground equipment behind Melanie as she casually and unwittingly smokes a cigarette, passing time until Cathy gets out of school. The actual attack during that sequence is terrifying because these children have practically nowhere to run, and the adults there don’t properly know how to deal with the situation, so they just tell the kids to run home; when they do, pandemonium breaks out. The next sequence, where the birds attack the town, is terrifying because you begin to grasp just how powerless we would be to stop these creatures if they actually decided to attack. And the last scene, where our main characters are trapped in the house, is great because we can see the birds quite literally pecking apart the only shelter our characters have left; nowhere is safe.
Despite the fact that this film still really holds up, there are a few issues here and there. Yes, the premise is still a little bit schlocky, and even though the execution is practically flawless, you sometimes have to suspend your disbelief a bit to enjoy what’s happening. Also, Melanie’s character is pretty stupid towards the end of this movie; she ends up wandering into the attic and almost getting pecked to death for no reason. But of course, despite those small flaws, I’d still wholeheartedly recommend this film.
Verdict:
If you are new to Hitchcock, this wouldn’t be a bad place to start; it’s relatively fast paced, it keeps you on your toes, and it’s still pretty iconic today. “The Birds” is an awesome movie, though I would say it is far from the best film in Hitchcock’s oeuvre.
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