‘Don’t they ever stop migrating?’
While I have kinda seen The Birds before, it was when I was a particularly doom-laden teenager obsessed with nu-metal and gory horror films. While Hitchcock’s classic does present us with a man who has literally had his eyes pecked out by birds, it is also a bit of a slow build so it didn’t really appeal to me at the time. It should also be noted that I was an imbecile so there’s that too. Watching it properly as an adult is such a treat. Hitch is never a subtle director but he flaunts his genius here like a majestic peacock…
Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) is a prankster. After meeting Mitch (Rod Taylor), a smooth-talking lawyer, Melanie designs an elaborate prank that involves hiring a boat and dropping off a couple of love birds at Mitch’s house. This goes awry when Melanie is unceremoniously attacked by a gull. Having recovered herself, Melanie shacks up with Mitch’s former lover Annie (Suzanne Pleshette) and continues her pursuit of Mitch. Meanwhile, Mitch’s overbearing mother Lydia (Jessica Tandy) disapproves of any potential relationship between Mitch and another woman. Now, all of this could be the basis for a Hitchcock classic without thousands of murderous birds, with the thousands of murderous birds in tow, it becomes a masterpiece.
Based on Daphne de Maurier’s short story, Hitchcock’s adaptation moves from the action from a sleepy Cornish village to San Fransisco (much to du Maurier’s chagrin). The use of real birds and expensive animatronics ensures that the attack sequences are still visceral over sixty years later and Hedren’s screams of terror were often real. Indeed, it was on this film, having been plucked from obscurity by Hitchcock himself, that the master director’s troubling obsession with Hedren began, culminating in her accusation of unwanted sexual advances during the filming of their second and final collaboration, Marnie. That unfortunate business aside, it must be acknowledged that Hedren is sensational here, delivering a performance that is perhaps the best of all the Hitchcock Blondes. She’s funny, sensual and utterly charismatic. It’s a spellbinding turn. She is matched all the way, however, by Hitch’s masterful cinematography and use of sound as well as George Tomasini’s assured editing. The result is a film in which everyone is firing on all cylinders. This is Hitchcock’s beloved Pure Cinema in action. He doesn’t even need a score here. There are long sequences without dialogue that must go down as some of the most arresting scenes in Hitchcock’s oeuvre. And that really is saying something.
It’s strange to say about one of Hitchcock’s films, but The Birds is underrated. Perhaps only second to Jaws on the list of films about nature fighting back.
