A Great Film, But Not Hitchcock's Best

Rating: Null/10 (7 October 2002)

I had previously watched Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' (1960), and absolutely loved it, and was looking forward to viewing future Hitchcock films, so I rented this one. I did enjoy it.
It tells the story of Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), the daughter of a rich head of a newspaper, who is in a bird shop after minor birds, when she meets Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor), a lawyer who remembers seeing her in court after she supposedly jumped into a fountain. He is after love birds for his little sister Cathy, as a gift for her 11th birthday. He pretends to think she works there, and waits until she makes a fool of herself, and lets birds out of their cages. There are none in stock, so Mitch heads elsewhere. Melanie's minor birds aren't going to be in yet, so she goes after him, and sees his license plate, and calls it in, and gets his address.
Melanie gets some love birds and takes them to his apartment, only to learn that he has gone up to Bodega Bay, about an hour and half from San Francisco, where he and Melanie live, where he goes every weekend to visit Cathy and his mother. Melanie decides to drive up there personally to deliver the love birds. But when she arrives, birds of all sorts, from gulls to black birds and crows, thousands of real birds and about 400 trick shots, swarm Bodega Bay, and Melanie and Mitch must put their differences aside, and fight for their lives.
The film has plenty more good acting, with Jessica Tandy playing Lydia Brenner, Mitch's and Cathy's mother, who has a distaste for Melanie, and any woman associated with Mitch, as she is afraid of being abandoned, like she was when her husband died, and Suzanne Pleshette playing Annie Hayworth, the Bodega Bay School Teacher, who is in love with Mitch, though denies it to Melanie.
I did enjoy this film, but it is very far from Hitchcock's best, which would most likely be Psycho (1960), or Rear Window (1954). It is in full colour, which would most likely lower the suspense level, but I enjoyed it all the same.
Beau's Rating: **** out of *****