Sorry for the delay in wrapping up my Star of the Month on Alfred Hitchcock, but it is finally here now!
During my Freshman year at South Cobb High School, this writer was exposed to the film The Birds (1963) through my English/literature class. This was after reading various excerpts from Daphne du Maurier novel of the same name "The Birds". This was one of my favorite parts of the entire semester. Most people were probably more excited that semester because we got to read Romeo and Juliet and my teacher at the time let us watch not only the 1968 Romeo and Juliet, but the 1996 Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. This writer was personally more excited about The Birds. I love Hitchcock. There is just something about the way he made films that is not done today. That can of course be noted in the awful remake of Psycho (1998). The sad part? Gus Van Sant re-shot the film frame for frame and it did not work. It did not have the same affect as the original. That is part of the reason why this writer is beyond upset they plan on remaking The Birds for a 2013 release. Then again this is a protect that has been talked about since 2007 and the only people who have been attached are Naomi Watts, George Clooney and Casino Royale (2006) director Martin Campbell. While some might feel the update is needed, when critics, David Thomson in particular, calls the feature the "last unflawed film" why would there be such a desire to remake the film in the first place? This is probably why people have been so up in arms about it in the first place. Before delving more into the film, a few more facts must be given. The film was debuted at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival and then as part of an invitation-only screen at the Museum of Modern Art during a 50-film retrospective. At the time the feature cost an estimated $2,500,000 to make. This makes sense seeing the various effects that went into the film. This of course helped produce the earnings of $11,403,529, which is a success in my book, but not one of his most successful films in terms of box office draw. One of the most interesting articles I have found recently, "Alfred Hitchcock Movies-Best to Worst-Including Box Office Results with Inflation", discusses the various results and the success they would have been in today's society. Regardless of The Birds not making the list it still remains one of Hitchcock's most popular films.
The basic synopsis of The Birds is about a socialite by the name of Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren). While in a pet shop Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor), Mitch decides to play a practical joke on her. Deciding to return the favorite, she drives into Bodega Bay because she knows Mitch spends his weekends there with his mother, Lydia (Jessica Tandy), and his younger sister, Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). Soon after her arrival, she begins to realize that the birds in the area are beginning to act rather odd. In fact, as Melanie is crossing the bay, she is attacked by a seagull who strikes her head. By the time she gets to her location, she discovers that Lydia has found her neighbor dead and obviously another victim of a bird attack. Not knowing what is truly going on, they soon realize that hundreds of thousands of birds are beginning to attack anyone in the area outside. While many people begin to explain that birds are not going to viciously attack anyone, various instances happen that insist on proving otherwise. What makes everything worse is the fact that there is no explanation for why nature has decided to start attacking the various people of Bodega Bay in the first place. As they birds continue their vicious attacks, everyone realizes that their survival is of the utmost importance. There is something interesting about nature turning on humans in my opinion. Maybe that is part of why I enjoy The Happening (2008) as much as I do. Either way, I think both features give viewers something to think of in terms of what they would do in the same situations if push came to shove, despite the hatred out there for The Happening. Personally, this writer has no idea how I would handle such circumstances, but The Birds has definitely made me think about that more so than I probably ever should have in this lifetime.
Furthermore, in terms of acting the film is phenomenal. Part of what makes this so successful is with the amounts of pauses and glances that take place between the various actors within the feature. On more than one occasion, they tend to look at each other without speaking a word of dialogue. In a lot of ways, people believe that others can communicate more so with their actions than their words. This is just one of the simple ways of being able to demonstrate there is not only something to the saying, but some form of truth to that old saying as well. Plus when one adds the fact that there is such anger toward Melanie within the film when she has seemingly done nothing but merely bring lovebirds, that Mitch was hunting for in the first place at the pet store, there is something even more interesting being played upon within the film. In many ways, the film focuses on what can happen when paranoia within a group takes over. This is a social commentary about how people are far more willing to blame the outsider than to blame those already within the community. After all, the attacks did not start to occur until after Melanie arrived so why not place the blame on her? With such passion that is brought up from these attacks taking place, especially those that take place against the various school children running down the street, one can easily see the passion, fear, and paranoia coursing throughout the character's very souls. By not answering many questions by the end of the film, this further indicates that the people should continue to fear the situation. This further states that these birds should be feared and taken seriously, because it would be far easy for them to out number the humans and take completely over.
In conclusion, The Birds is by far one of the best horror films of all time. This is a film that should be viewed at least once in a person's lifetime and one of the better films to introduce someone into the horror genre in general. In many ways that is what Hitchcock can do now for many younger viewers now. The only problem is that a lot of younger viewers are not willing to appreciate the likes of his work or even that of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980) because the films want people's minds to be challenged. With the various features that have been released, a lot of youth feel that they should merely be entertained. There is no point in providing such an intricate background information. The fact of the matter is if these films are viewed at a younger age the desire to continue to do so when they are older will continue. This was honestly the case for me. This film made me want to explore other works by Hitchcock. To be honest, I am not entirely sure how it would not make others want to explore his work as well. While this writer has yet to make it through all the features that I desire to see in Hitchcock's filmography, the fact of the matter is The Birds started my obsession. The Birds continues to be a film that needs to be explored, and that people want answers for at the end of the day. When a film can do such a thing almost fifty years later there is something to be said about how well the film has held up. Granted, a lot of people are more than willing to comment on how fake some of the shots look not, but at the time the film was revolutionary and the fact that despite this people still flock to video stores in hopes to rent The Birds will always continue to mean something of the legacy that is Alfred Hitchcock.
If you are interesting in renting The Birds, make sure to check out this title through your local Austell Blockbuster, Videodrome, Movies Worth Seeing, Netflix, or movie channels based upon your cable or satellite provider around Halloween. To purchase any Blu-rays or DVDs mentioned in this review please check out your local Austell Best Buy, Walmart, Target, or Kmart.
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