David O'ConnellHitchcock's The Birds
July 14th 2008 06:12
Master director Alfred Hitchcock, armed with the best technology available at the time and at the height of his powers, unleashed another dose of cinematic terror upon audiences in 1963 in the form of inexplicable avian madness. Adapted from a story by Daphne Du Maurier by novelist Evan Hunter (known best for his crime fiction work as Ed McBain), The Birds still has the power to chill with its calculated build-up before the fireworks really begin with a string of typically memorable Hitchcock set pieces.
Tippi Hedren, in her memorable star-making debut, is Melanie Daniels, a wealthy socialite who is so intrigued by a man she meets in a pet store in San Francisco, and who claims to know her from court, that she decides to personally deliver two lovebirds that he wanted to his weekend retreat in the sleepy Californian seaside town of Bodega Bay.
The man is lawyer Mitch Brenner, played to perfection by Rod Taylor, who lives there with his overprotective mother Lydia (Jessica Tandy) and kid sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). Local school teacher Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette) provides a rented room for Melanie after she’s encouraged by Cathy to stay for her party the next day.
Coinciding with Melanie's arrival however is the start of a strange series of incidents beginning with a single seagull attack as she rows back to shore after stealthily delivering the birds to Mitch’s house. An old man is found dead in his home with his eyes seemingly pecked out. Then Cathy’s party is thrown into chaos when a whole swarm of birds comes raining down upon the heads of the children and guests in a relentless airborne assault.
But these are only the beginning as the strange occurrences intensify, the entire town thrown into turmoil by confusion and fear for their community as the previously harmless birdlife seems to assume demonic intentions. It may all sound silly and remote, but of course in Hitchcock’s hands another classic thriller is born with a riveting take on the idea of nature gone wrong which has been explored before and since in cinema, like the classic Australian film Long Weekend (1978), for example.
Evan Hunter’s screenplay takes ample time to build suspense as the main players are fleshed out in the first half with back stories and a reason to empathise with them once the reign of terror descends. Hedren in her first role does well as the ice-cool Melanie and she’s more than matched by Taylor in his biggest role since his breakthrough in The Time Machine three years earlier. Tandy and Pleshette are very good support; only the children are a bit weak though Cartwright's performance seems to become more convincing as the film goes on (she was to later feature prominently as an adult in two of my favourite films of all time, both horror classics from the 70’s - Alien and Invasion of the Body Snatchers).
One of the more effective elements of the film, especially in the last half hour is the work of electronic sound composers/manipulators Remi Gassmann and Oscar Sala who imitate the chilling sound of the predators as they hone in on their victims. Regular Hitchcock composer at the time, Bernard Herrmann, was asked to forgo a traditional score and oversee the work of the other two men.
The sprinkling of blood may be less than convincing and you could write an entire psychological thesis on the disturbing subtext present in the mother/son relationship between Mitch and Lydia, but there is so much to admire and enjoy, so that even if The Birds does lack the scope or sophistication of Hitchcock’s best works like Rear Window and Vertigo, it remains a classic, highly memorable film, still capable of provoking chills with its unexplainable phenomena and many graphic – for its day - scenes of children in peril. No true fan of cinema should neglect this one, even after 4 or 5 screenings throughout the years I still loved every minute of it.
Tippi Hedren, in her memorable star-making debut, is Melanie Daniels, a wealthy socialite who is so intrigued by a man she meets in a pet store in San Francisco, and who claims to know her from court, that she decides to personally deliver two lovebirds that he wanted to his weekend retreat in the sleepy Californian seaside town of Bodega Bay.
The man is lawyer Mitch Brenner, played to perfection by Rod Taylor, who lives there with his overprotective mother Lydia (Jessica Tandy) and kid sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). Local school teacher Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette) provides a rented room for Melanie after she’s encouraged by Cathy to stay for her party the next day.
Coinciding with Melanie's arrival however is the start of a strange series of incidents beginning with a single seagull attack as she rows back to shore after stealthily delivering the birds to Mitch’s house. An old man is found dead in his home with his eyes seemingly pecked out. Then Cathy’s party is thrown into chaos when a whole swarm of birds comes raining down upon the heads of the children and guests in a relentless airborne assault.
But these are only the beginning as the strange occurrences intensify, the entire town thrown into turmoil by confusion and fear for their community as the previously harmless birdlife seems to assume demonic intentions. It may all sound silly and remote, but of course in Hitchcock’s hands another classic thriller is born with a riveting take on the idea of nature gone wrong which has been explored before and since in cinema, like the classic Australian film Long Weekend (1978), for example.
Schoolyard tormentors descend from on high!
Evan Hunter’s screenplay takes ample time to build suspense as the main players are fleshed out in the first half with back stories and a reason to empathise with them once the reign of terror descends. Hedren in her first role does well as the ice-cool Melanie and she’s more than matched by Taylor in his biggest role since his breakthrough in The Time Machine three years earlier. Tandy and Pleshette are very good support; only the children are a bit weak though Cartwright's performance seems to become more convincing as the film goes on (she was to later feature prominently as an adult in two of my favourite films of all time, both horror classics from the 70’s - Alien and Invasion of the Body Snatchers).
Victim No.1
One of the more effective elements of the film, especially in the last half hour is the work of electronic sound composers/manipulators Remi Gassmann and Oscar Sala who imitate the chilling sound of the predators as they hone in on their victims. Regular Hitchcock composer at the time, Bernard Herrmann, was asked to forgo a traditional score and oversee the work of the other two men.
The sprinkling of blood may be less than convincing and you could write an entire psychological thesis on the disturbing subtext present in the mother/son relationship between Mitch and Lydia, but there is so much to admire and enjoy, so that even if The Birds does lack the scope or sophistication of Hitchcock’s best works like Rear Window and Vertigo, it remains a classic, highly memorable film, still capable of provoking chills with its unexplainable phenomena and many graphic – for its day - scenes of children in peril. No true fan of cinema should neglect this one, even after 4 or 5 screenings throughout the years I still loved every minute of it.
Taylor, Hedren and Tandy waiting in terror
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