The Birds is Alfred Hitchcock doing Alfred Hitchcock

Rating: Null/10 (15 September 2010)

The Birds is one of Hitchcock's most well-known movies. It's one of the movies that people identify with him. Hitchcock is known for spellbinding his audience. In Psycho, Marion Crane eats her last supper with someone more neurotic and unbalanced than herself. In Vertigo, Scotty and Judy begin an affair that makes them dizzy, obsessive, neurotic and filled with revelations.
Hitchcock's style uses the camera to imitate a person's gaze and forces viewers to "be there" as an event is unfolding. He framed shots to maximize the audience's anxiety, fear and empathy. He used innovative film editing. He had a love for the technical side of film making. The suspense in The Birds will keep you on the edge of your seat. It is scarier when there are no birds to be seen, but you hear them shrieking and gawking in the distance and in the trees. There is the tension, the silence, and the mystery. This is suspense for the lovers of suspense.
In this movie there is no bad guy, no car chases and no serial murderers. The main plot is Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren); a young rich girl goes to Bodega Bay to pursue her new attraction. She is bringing two love birds to give to Mitch Brenner's (Rod Taylor) 11 year-old sister. She had recently met him in San Francisco and wanted to get to know him better. He spends the weekends in this small town with his mom and sister. The suspense begins to build as you watch the birds standing, watching and waiting. The crows on the monkey bar sitting in a row is very mysterious. Something tells you they are thinking with those little beady eyes. Almost as if they are planning their strategy.
Melanie finds herself trapped with Mitch and his family inside their home. His mother, Lydia (Jessica Tandy) and sister, Cathy (Veronica Cartwright. We see the birds gather and attack in increasing ferocity. The small town is battered and torn. The bird's presence is dark and scary. Sound imitating bird shrieks are so high pitched and awful you can barely hear yourself think. Everyone inside the house is twisting and turning in reaction to their fury and imagining their own horrible deaths at the beaks and talons of these creatures. Melanie goes up the stairs because she hears a rustling noise; we all know what lies on the other side of the door, nothing nice. Melanie is attacked and gets trapped on the other side of the door. Mitch tries to get inside but finds he cannot because Melanie has her back to the door and are too busy fighting off birds. She slumps and surrenders to the birds, her face shows a combination of horror and defeat. If you are wishing for a happy ending-don't watch this one. Final scene, Hitchcock looks and winks at the camera.
The characters are excellent, the support cast who has only a few lines does an excellent job of fighting off birds and screaming. The famous editing techniques by Hitchcock are very obvious in each scene. Overall, this is a great black and white horror movie. It is a perfect example of why Alfred Hitchcock is considered, one of the best in the suspense business.