Eric's Grade: B-
'The Birds' is a 1963 horror suspense film from famed director Alfred Hitchcock with a screenplay by Evan Hunter based on short story by Daphne du Maurier. Hitchcock had previously struck Oscar gold back in 1940 with an adaptation of du Marier's 'Rebecca'. 'The Birds' is only loosely based on the short story keeping essentially only the concept of unexplained bird attacks. During the film there was an actual bird attack in Capitola, CA which Hitchcock researched for the film as well. 'The Birds' stars Tippi Hedren, in her screen debut, as well as Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy and Suzanne Pleshette. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Special Effects and in 2016 was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. While it received mixed reviews upon its release it has gone on to be one of Hitchcock's more famous and noteworthy films.
In San Francisco a socialite named Melanie Daniels, played by Hedron, meets a lawyer named Mitch. They have a casual flirtation in a pet store discussing birds although it ends with Mitch taking a jab at Melanie's cavalier socialite persona. She follows him up to Bodega Bay, CA to make amends which leads to attraction and love. Also in Bodega Bay is a schoolteacher played Pleshette who dated Mitch at one time. Mitch is staying on the family farm with his austere mother, played by Jessica Tandy, and his young sister. After this somewhat banal melodrama some isolated incidents involving birds acting erratically and violently start occurring, but before long it starts happening more frequently and with greater ferocity. The number of birds swell until the entire town becomes terrorized by the strange occurrence of nature gone haywire.
While I believe suspense, to some degree, can be a timeless quality horror is a genre that has progressed over time with higher stakes, better special effects, more suspense and, of course, a plethora of gore. Back in the early 60's gore wasn't much of an option so suspense had to rule the genre. Hitchcock does excel in finding pervasive horror in the banal. Birds seem to be an unknowable, unsympathetic creature yet they are natural and, for the most part harmless to humans. So what happens when we take a common thing that we take for granted in daily life and turn that thing on an unsuspecting populace. 'The Birds' explores that mode of hopeless fear as it is scarier when something that should be benign instead becomes a source of terror. It really increases the characters' feelings of confusion and helplessness in the face of something inexplicable. It also goes essentially unresolved. There are no answers to be had, but only escape to be sought. 'The Birds' feel too tame even for the era although it does explore an interesting method of suspense. This comes three years after 'Psycho' which still resonates to this day. 'The Birds' also dwells too long on inconsequential melodrama before getting to the meat of the story perhaps because it realizes it is actually quite thin on plot. It is certainly interesting although I question its status as a film classic.
In San Francisco a socialite named Melanie Daniels, played by Hedron, meets a lawyer named Mitch. They have a casual flirtation in a pet store discussing birds although it ends with Mitch taking a jab at Melanie's cavalier socialite persona. She follows him up to Bodega Bay, CA to make amends which leads to attraction and love. Also in Bodega Bay is a schoolteacher played Pleshette who dated Mitch at one time. Mitch is staying on the family farm with his austere mother, played by Jessica Tandy, and his young sister. After this somewhat banal melodrama some isolated incidents involving birds acting erratically and violently start occurring, but before long it starts happening more frequently and with greater ferocity. The number of birds swell until the entire town becomes terrorized by the strange occurrence of nature gone haywire.
While I believe suspense, to some degree, can be a timeless quality horror is a genre that has progressed over time with higher stakes, better special effects, more suspense and, of course, a plethora of gore. Back in the early 60's gore wasn't much of an option so suspense had to rule the genre. Hitchcock does excel in finding pervasive horror in the banal. Birds seem to be an unknowable, unsympathetic creature yet they are natural and, for the most part harmless to humans. So what happens when we take a common thing that we take for granted in daily life and turn that thing on an unsuspecting populace. 'The Birds' explores that mode of hopeless fear as it is scarier when something that should be benign instead becomes a source of terror. It really increases the characters' feelings of confusion and helplessness in the face of something inexplicable. It also goes essentially unresolved. There are no answers to be had, but only escape to be sought. 'The Birds' feel too tame even for the era although it does explore an interesting method of suspense. This comes three years after 'Psycho' which still resonates to this day. 'The Birds' also dwells too long on inconsequential melodrama before getting to the meat of the story perhaps because it realizes it is actually quite thin on plot. It is certainly interesting although I question its status as a film classic.