When birds go bad

Rating: 6/10 (12 May 2006)

One of Hitchcock's favourite recurring motifs gets a thorough run-around here. Birds are a presence in many Hitchcock films, from 'Sabotage' to 'Psycho'. In his 1963 effort, Hitch went all out with his favourite species, and churned out an unusual and decidedly macabre product.
The whole film is unsettling, not just the bird attacks. The love story between Hedren and Taylor is generally not romantic, more strange than anything. His mother (another favourite Hitchcock theme) tends to dominate proceedings, and Hedren's own attachment to Taylor (following him to another town to deliver a pair of lovebirds?!) borders on obsession. The set-up is very flimsy, with the remarkable Jessica Tandy saving the production, acting-wise, in her scenes. Hedren marks a fall in the quality of Hitchcock's blondes; she is an actress of limited talent and unremarkable beauty. One wonders why Hitchcock became so obsessed with her.
However, despite the dodgy plot and wooden acting performances by the leads, there are some very, very good sequences here. The bird attacks are magnificently handled by Hitchcock, and they are disturbingly realistic (apparently Hedren herself was set upon by real-live birds in Hitch's effort for realism- then again, Hitchcoc's leading ladies often got the worst of it terms of violence and ill fate). One wonders at the reactions of a 60's audience towards scenes of a man pecked to death, his eye sockets empty and splattered with blood. The special effects were remarkable in their day, and they hold up pretty well, too. The electronic musical score (composed of bird noises) is chiefly memorable and effectively used here.
Many critics have noted that the sudden, and unwarranted, bird attacks seem to reflect the growing fear of nuclear warfare in the 1960's. Interesting theory.
A friend told me of a childhood memory involving a viewing of 'The Birds'. She was about 8 years old, living in Holland, and had just watched 'The Birds' on television for the first time. It scared her, most notably because great flocks of birds used to come right up to their windows at night, pecking on the glass, as they lived by the lakes. Her brother and herself both slept at the foot of their mother and father's bed that night. Yes, this film does give a person chills, and even made me (usually a cynic when it comes to horror) have a second look at the next crow that I came across. Birds have now been revealed to be a much more intelligent species than initially thought, so 'The Birds' has added significance.
One of Hitchcock's last genuinely good films.
6/10.