Good Thanksgiving movie...

Rating: 8/10 (26 November 2003)

I watched "The Birds" for probably the fourth or fifth time tonight, the night before the US holiday of Thanksgiving. It was an appropriate choice: I feel gratitude to Alfred Hitchcock for the wonderful body of work he left to moviegoers.
As with some other Hitchcock films, I enjoy "The Birds" more every time I see it, and I notice little things that I didn't notice earlier. Re-seeing a Hitchcock movie is like visiting an old friend, or wearing favorite old clothes. It's a little island of comfort in this increasingly uncomfortable world.
I found myself grinning as I recognized one Hitchcock "trademark" after another: the traveling shot after a horrific event culminating in a bucolic panorama, as if to say, "Look how this horror is only a tiny part of the world--still, it's the world YOU know." The hesitant hand on the doorknob. The magnificent scene beginning in the boat, over five minutes with no words, no music, just the camera telling the story as only Hitchcock knew how to make it do. And so many others...
I'll be the first to admit I think Hitchcock made some crummy films. But he made so many marvelous ones that the poor ones fade into insignificance. And I believe he had a style, a flair, an audacity, that was inimitable. No wonder the French appreciate his work so much. And no wonder this francophile feels the same way.