Movie Review: The Birds (1963)

The Birds (1963) directed by Alfred Hitchchock based on a story by Daphne du Maurier

Tippi Hedrin stars as Melanie Daniels, a spoiled rich girl who is out shopping for birds. She runs into Mitch (Rod Taylor) who seems to mistake her for the shop girl. He asks lots of questions, so many that it is clear he knows she doesn't know much about birds. He is shopping for love birds for his kid sister (Veronica Cartwright). Also, he's a lawyer and has seen Melanie in court where she was a defendant for pulling a practical joke on someone. She is both flustered and attracted to him, so she chases after him, getting his license plate number. She has her daddy's newspaper run down the owner information on the car as she buys love birds for the sister, whose name she doesn't know. Melanie goes to his San Francisco apartment only to discover from a neighbor that Mitch has gone to Bodega Bay for the weekend to visit his mom and sister. The next day, Melanie gets her car and drives up, does some snooping around, and delivers the birds to their isolated farm house across the bay from the small town. As she returns to the town, she's attacked by a gull. Mitch is there to help her out and invites her to his sister's birthday party, where another avian assault takes place. More bird attacks happen, with larger groups of avians attacking and larger groups of humans being attacked.

The concept is a little odd as a natural disaster horror film but it works. The motivation of the birds is never really explained which makes it more eerie as they keep attacking. The film is meticulously crafted by Hitchcock, with very striking visuals, especially when the whole town is attacked. Composer Bernard Herrmann is listed as a "sound consultant" since the movie is entirely without musical scoring. The main sound is dissonant bird calls and crowing, not the sweet twittering of some Disney cartoon birds. The lack of music builds the atmosphere. Without musical cues pointing to big moments, viewers have to wait in anticipation for the bad thing to happen. The editing provides rhythm to the scenes that the music normal would (or would emphasize). Hitchcock's style and expertise make this an exciting film.

Recommended.