The Birds (1963)

As Hitchcock’s “The Birds” is seen as an all-time classic, I was immediately intrigued by the film and I enjoyed the 1960 film “Psycho” (also directed by Hitchcock) so I had high expectations for it. After watching it, I can see why it is an absolute classic! Even though the film was released in the early 1960’s, the technology that was used is amazing for the time. I particularly liked the use of green screens when the characters are driving, even if they do look unrealistic.

The plot follows Melanie Daniels who encounters a mysterious man and ends up following him to the small, quaint town of Bodega Bay. With her, she brings along two lovebirds as requested by the man, Mitch Brenner. Daniels lies to Brenner about where she is staying however thankfully, she meets the local school Teacher Annie Hayworth who has a room to rent. At first, Melanie gets pecked on the head by a seagull, but things take an ugly turn as a children’s party is infiltrated by hundreds of seagulls. This leads on to more attacks by different types of birds, eventually taking the lives of two characters within the story. No explanation is given as to why there is a sudden onslaught, but it certainly changes the minds of people living in Bodega Bay.

Although the film is slow at first, the plot is quite easy to follow if you’re really paying attention to it. The way that Hitchcock creates a constant tense atmosphere, on screen and in audiences is very clever as I felt on the edge of my seat throughout the whole film. It also creates a sense of claustrophobia whenever the group of birds increases. As I previously mentioned, I really enjoyed the film because it was cleverly shot and written. One of my favourite scenes was where Melanie waited outside the school of Cathy and the crows started appearing one by one on the playground equipment behind her. The way this was edited together was very interesting as the shots were quick between Melanie and the birds. There was a longer held shot of Melanie and when it flicked back to the equipment, there were hundreds of crows. This creates the sense of claustrophobia, which becomes more and more prevalent as the film goes on.

The main downside to the film was the fact that it was quite slow to begin with and this was the case in a few more scenes. For example, the café scene where Melanie calls home and talks about the recent bird attack at the school. I felt that this scene was unnecessarily long and boring because it was the same information being repeated to many different characters. Another slight downside was how the character of Lydia Brenner seemed to change within a matter of minutes. At the beginning on the film, she was described as an overbearing and jealous mother but suddenly changes to a weepy, clingy woman. However, these are my only real negative points about the film.

If you’re a fan of Hitchcockian films or a horror/thriller fanatic, I 100% recommend this film to you! But be warned: you’ll look at birds with a whole new perspective...