The Birds (1963)
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The Birds Movie Review
The Birds is a 1963 horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Tippi Hedren in the main role. It’s one of the director’s most purely entertaining films.
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“Why are they doing this?
Why are they doing this?“
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The movie features a ‘Suspicion’ like concept where it starts in a different way than it ends. I am talking about the genres as basically its entire first half is a pleasing, charming romantic comedy which then in the second half turns into all-out horror. I loved that first half even though it was extended a bit.
It was great because it introduced us to its characters properly so that we feared for their safety much more afterwards. A fantastic choice that I wish more horror directors make use of. As for the horror elements, they are great. The film’s never as scary as ‘Psycho’, but it’s still a great ecological in a way tale of birds gone wild and after the humans. Because these animals are the least likely to ever attack us, the horror thus becomes all the more palpable.
I loved the beginning in the bird shop, all of the conversations between Melanie and others are very interesting and of course the school sequence is so chilling. The standout part includes its third act which is the creepiest, but the very ending is my favorite scene in the film as the shot of them leaving in the car and the birds surrounding them is one of the most striking and authentic shots from this period.
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The characters are all very well developed and one of the best things about the film. Tippi Hedren plays a very interesting woman who is blonde once again, but different from previous Hitchcock’s heroines as she is painted as very realistic, flawed, yet ultimately a good girl. Although Hedren’s performance is at times clunky, she was very good for the most part and quite charming in the role.
Rod Taylor is also very good as this highly arrogant man whom women find terribly attractive. The kids are cute with Cathy being very endearing. Annie is such a sweet person, the most likable character in the film, and thus her death was very much felt. And of course Jessica Tandy is the acting highlight here as she played this cold, scared old woman so well.
The Birds definitely is dated in the birds themselves as their attacks at times felt unrealistic, but this is a 60s film so obviously the effects weren’t great. For a 60s film, what they did here is quite admirable and needs to be respected. The blood is actually the more problematic thing here as it’s obviously fake. The birds I actually mostly found terrific, I loved that there were many different species attacking them and some of the horror scenes are very effective, but the highlight is the build up with the birds just screeching and standing ominously ready to attack.
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Hitchcock directed the film with reliable confidence, the pacing is mostly very good despite a couple of slower scenes, but I do wish that the runtime was a bit shorter. This is not one of the more sophisticated films from the director, but it still features excellent dialogue and is overall very well written, but above all else undeniably fun. The choice to not have a score at all paid off as it was all the more creepy because of it.
The Birds is one of Hitchcock’s most purely entertaining films. The movie starts as a pleasing, charming romantic comedy which in the second half turns into all-out horror and it’s highly successful in both halves. The dialogue is terrific, some of the shots are quite striking, the characters are all very well realized and the choice to have no score whatsoever paid off as it added to the suspense even more.
