Beyond Categories; Outstanding Impact

Rating: 10/10 (23 November 2014)

Having seen THE BIRDS, you might take a stroll and accidentally notice crows flying nearby. Nobody around seems to pay attention and you feel a bit at odds with the situation. "Are they going to attack me...?" you think. And it is not merely Hitchcock's intention but the truly outstanding impact of great piece of cinema.
Based on Daphne Du Maurier's story (the author of REBECCA), the film is probably most associated with the Master of Suspense thanks to his splendid rapport with the screenwriter Evan Hunter who adapted the story to the screen. The movie's major strength lies in its flawless storytelling, buildup of tension and study of characters. That makes any viewer emotionally and intellectually involved since everything occurs to be perfectly measured and, yet, surprising. The movie does not display the mainstay themes; there is no McGuffin, there are no explanations, climaxes, explicit references. Nevertheless, it deserves to be called "Hitchcock's last unflawed film" (David Thomson) where, in Hitchcock's very intention to "scare the hell out of people," it still haunts as "a threat of unspeakable horror" (Bosley Crowther, NYTimes). However, what makes it a movie beyond categories is the fact that it does not aspire to thriller but goes far beyond.
If it were not for the credits and the lack of music score (replaced by the sounds of birds that powerfully aid the mood), we would actually assume that we are watching some story that, on the one hand, presents to us captivating characters and, on the other hand, some theme for psychoanalysis. Mitch and Melanie meet in a rather unexpected circumstances at a birds' shop in San Francisco. Just to note that Mr Hitchcock makes his cameo performance quite soon so that we can direct our curiosity towards something else. The action moves to Bodega Bay that supplies the atmosphere with a rather English flair. There, Melanie gets to know people seemingly living together but innerly being quite closed within their angst. Mind you what brings her there to Mitch's house. A gift for his young sister, Cathy (Veronica Cartwright) - two love birds. Crowther nicely defines them as "one of nature's most innocent creatures and one of man's most melodious friends." The hidden meaning of this gift, however, works as a 'contrast' for events to come. And the plot would rather develop in a natural human way where love takes over if it were not for the prophets of doom and messengers of terror, the title birds whose noises shade the chirping of the love birds.
Indeed, much has been said about such effective depiction of the birds' attacks. Those images are simply 'carved' in your memory and appear to create unforgettable emotions. The incredibly lasting effect predominates thanks to no explanation of why they attack. Xan Brooks in The Guardian accurately points out that the movie "provides no answers and no escape." We actually do not know how it all ends. There is no Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco, no trip of the escaper as it was initially planned, no additional thrills; there is as little as and as much as an image, horrifying, gloomy, and pessimistic where the aggressive intruders from the air take sovereign control over the land, over the world, conclusively. However, the horror depicted in those images, including the victims of the attacks, is merely a miniature of what the film really offers to more cautious viewers, cautious to details and analysis. For if the thrill may become dated as more decades pass, this aspect predominates as essentially timeless.
CHARACTERS: The rather uncomplicated nature of the plot goes with a truly sophisticated, complex study of the characters. The movie's triumph are the narrative elements which Crowther labeled as "clear" and "naturalistic" because that provides extraordinary insight into the personalities portrayed. Melanie is, on the one hand, a typical Hitchcock blonde - beautiful, sophisticated, a woman of appeal you might easily be taken with and, on the other hand, a character of naiveness and freshness; an outsider for others not feeling totally at ease in Bodega Bay. That odd feeling is intensified when she meets the teacher Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette) and discovers that she used to be Mitch's girlfriend. Mitch delivers certain features of a mama's boy (Hitchcock's fertile theme) but appears to be sympathetic. What emerges as embodiment of angst and fear of loneliness is his mother, Lydia (Jessica Tandy), a character of constant 'presence' and permanent 'distance.' But for any viewer fond of social significance, one scene is a masterwork.
The TIDES RESTAURANT scene alone is the sufficient reason for seeing the film. A display of various characters at the face of a problem. The true problem, however, lies in the fact that they either refuse to admit a problem or exaggerate it. There is hardly anyone who would offer us something objective, realistic. There is Mrs Bundy (Ethel Griffies), an ornithologist who embodies skepticism of a scientist and pride of human mind ready to give the answer to anything. She builds all her theses on reason. Although she becomes intellectually involved in the possible assumptions, she does not in the possible solutions. On the totally opposite point, there is a religious devout, a distortion of religion's essence whose prophetic affiliations lead him to one condensed utterance: "This is the end of the world." Both of them contribute very little to the situation. In between, amidst the gore of talks, comes a more 'humane' personality of a mother afraid for her kids and a man who finds so simple a solution...In all, some of them resort merely to words, others to deeds and media...highly measured and condensed informing. What occurs, however, is the fact that nature stands above human reasoning. Furthermore, it may indeed scare the hell out of us...
And that thought should, perhaps, accompany us while watching THE BIRDS - an outstanding movie of visual, intellectual, emotional impact beyond categories evocative of something uncommon, scary, memorable.