It Just Could Have Been Better

Rating: 9/10 (7 May 1999)

I don't know exactly why, but "The Birds" sometimes leaves me a little cold. I admire the sense of threat, some of the signature scenes (the playground, the service station, Tippi Hedren going into the attic, the broken glass in the phone booth), but the pacing just seems slow. The pacing, however, seems slow. There is a lack of economy that I am used to in my favorite Hitchcock movies. Nevertheless, it is still a very good film. I love the premise it is based on. The DuMaurier story is more bleak and hopeless, the Hitchcock more open ended-still, the threat is there. My criticisms may seem petty, but spending less time on exposition may have made this a much tighter production. Also, I have nothing against romance, but the relationship between Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren takes up too much time from the issue at hand--THE BIRDS!!!!