How Clueless We Are Against the Forces of Nature.

Rating: Null/10 (7 October 2013)

An absolutely terrifying tale of suspense & horror, an extraordinary achievement in technical filmmaking and a perfect demonstration of how clueless & unprepared we are against the forces of nature, Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds remains one of the most under-appreciated works in cinema history & is amongst my top 3 favourite films from this genius filmmaker.
Beginning on a relaxed note which only serves as a deep breath before the plunge, The Birds concerns a wealthy San Francisco socialite who pursues her romantic interest to his small Northern California town where things soon take a turn for the bizarre as its entire community is suddenly & viciously attacked by birds of all kinds for no specified reasons.
Ingeniously directed by Alfred Hitchcock, the first half is pretty much a romantic tale that nicely introduces & sets up its characters while also slowly but steadily building up its foreshadowing events which ultimately take over the screen like an invading horde and completely changes the mood & atmosphere into a downright terrorizing one.
The screenplay is loosely based on the 1952 story of the same name & although the dialogues don't carry that much weight, the events are penned down brilliantly as almost every scene featuring the birds is a tense one. Camera-work is exquisitely carried out, editing never lets the boredom sets in & although it doesn't feature any score, the sound mixing aspect is a revelation of its time.
The film marks the screen debut of Tippi Hedren plus also stars Rod Taylor, Suzanne Pleshette, Jessica Tandy & a young Veronica Cartwright. And although everyone chips along finely, the real star of the film is the manner in which Hitchcock really builds up its suspense or handles the mystery element by keeping the entire story highly unpredictable from start to finish.
On an overall scale, The Birds is perhaps the final masterpiece to come out from Alfred Hitchcock's cannon and is one of the finest works in the genres of horror & mystery that still hasn't aged a day. It is a remarkable testament to Hitchcock's reputation as 'The Undisputed Master of Suspense' for he effortlessly manages to transform something as beautiful & innocent as birds into one of cinema's most terrifying villains.
Worthy of all the praise it has garnered over the years, certainly in need of an even wider audience & deserving to be ranked amongst Hitchcock's finest films, The Birds is an amazingly well directed, smartly scripted, nicely performed & precisely crafted cinema far ahead of its time that not only promises & delivers a thrilling cinematic experience but, with its ambiguous ending, remains an unsolved mystery even today. Highly recommended.