The Birds (1963)
THE BIRDS (1963)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
On a seemingly typical August morning in 1961, thousands of birds descended on the small seaside town of Capitola, California, causing considerable damage and throwing local residents into a panic. Director Alfred Hitchcock read about this attack while thumbing through his morning newspaper and recalled a short novella he had read years earlier, in which a small Cornish village is ravaged, for no apparent reason, by thousands of deranged birds. The title of this novella, written by Daphne DuMaurier, was The Birds.
Yep. Sometimes inspiration is as simple as that!
San Francisco socialite Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) decides to pay a surprise visit to Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor), a new acquaintance who’s spending the weekend in the coastal village of Bodega Bay with his mother, Lydia (Jessica Tandy) and sister, Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). Unfortunately, Melanie’s arrival in town coincides with an amazing turn of events: birds of all species have started attacking the residents of Bodega Bay. The townsfolk do what they can to defend themselves, yet thousands more birds come flooding into the area with each passing hour. The threat of further attacks looms heavy over this small community, and both Melanie and Mitch come to realize that the only way to ensure their survival is to leave Bodega Bay as quickly as possible.
In directing THE BIRDS, Alfred Hitchcock faced a real challenge: how to turn what are normally perceived as docile creatures of the sky into savage killers capable of frightening an audience. You have to hand it to Hitchcock; he was certainly up to the challenge. Throughout the film, we’re given close-ups of hundreds of attacking birds, their beaks pecking violently at bruised and bloodied hands. At one point, we catch a glimpse of an eyeless corpse, an unlucky victim of some rather hungry birds. Then there’s that ungodly screeching that accompanies every attack, a sound so piercing it forces all other noise into the background. Birds crash into windows, break through ceilings, and even make their way into Mitch’s house by dropping down his fireplace! In short, there is no safe haven; these birds will get you no matter where you hide.
One mystery continues to linger 40+ years after the release of THE BIRDS: exactly why did the birds attack? In Patrick McGilligan’s excellent biography, Alfred Hitchcock: a Life in Darkness and Light, the author recounts how both the famed director and his screenwriter, Evan Hunter, struggled with this very question. Were the birds seeking revenge on the human race, or was it some sort of divine plague sent down from above against the unlucky citizens of Bodega Bay? In the end, both men agreed it was best to avoid any explanation, and keep the reasons behind the attacks a mystery. For my money, this was the best course of action. The unknown is always more frightening, and the puzzling nature of each attack only works to heighten the tension.
Besides, who’s to say the birds themselves know why they did it?
You must be logged in to post a comment.