The Birds (1963) has returned to theaters in time for the film’s 60th Anniversary! It is directed by Alfred Hitchcock, dubbed the Master of Suspense, his previous film was the classic, Psycho (1960). The screenplay is by Evan Hunter who worked on the teleplay of “Appointment at Eleven” (1959) of the suspense series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It is based on the 1952 short story by Daphne Du Maurier. She also wrote the novel, Rebecca (1938), a later adaptation by Hitch. We hear the fluttering of birds. It does not have a soundtrack, but composer Bernard Herrmann, composer on Psycho, is credited as sound consultant. The threat of the birds is through their squawks and wing flapping instead of symphonic score.
We see a cable car pass by to set the San Fransisco opening and we see a blonde woman (Tippi Hedren) cross the street. This is her first film role. She also starred in the title role of Hitchchock’s drama, Marnie (1964) opposite Sean Connery. The woman, in her fur coat, passes a San Francisco advertisement that fills up the screen. She is about to enter Davidson’s Pet Shop when she sees flocks of birds in the sky. There is a great cameo as Hitch walks with two terriers out of the shop! The woman asks Mrs. MacGruder (Ruth McDevitt), the owner of the shop, about the arrival of a Myrnah bird. This is a gift for her aunt. A well dressed man (Rod Taylor) enters the shop. Taylor was H. George Well in The Time Machine (1960) and his last role was playing Winston Churchill in Inglorious Basterds (2009).
We see a cable car pass by to set the San Fransisco opening and we see a blonde woman (Tippi Hedren) cross the street. This is her first film role. She also starred in the title role of Hitchchock’s drama, Marnie (1964) opposite Sean Connery. The woman, in her fur coat, passes a San Francisco advertisement that fills up the screen. She is about to enter Davidson’s Pet Shop when she sees flocks of birds in the sky. There is a great cameo as Hitch walks with two terriers out of the shop! The woman asks Mrs. MacGruder (Ruth McDevitt), the owner of the shop, about the arrival of a Myrnah bird. This is a gift for her aunt. A well dressed man (Rod Taylor) enters the shop. Taylor was H. George Well in The Time Machine (1960) and his last role was playing Winston Churchill in Inglorious Basterds (2009).
He asks the woman for help finding love birds that he is hoping to get as gifts for his sister’s eleventh birthday. She points out birds which he corrects her are canaries. The woman tries to take out a canary for him, but it flies away. The man tosses his hat to return the bird whom he calls Melanie Daniels to her “gilded cage.” She is surprised he knows her name and he explains he knows her practical joke that led to a broken stained glass window. The man explains his deception is to show Melanie what it is like to be on the other side of a joke. A clever Meet Cute. He leaves and later she runs down to read his license plate. Melanie makes a call to her father’s newspaper to find the identity of the man. Then, she asks for the lovebirds to deliver to Mitchell Brenner.
At his apartment, she is about to deliver the cage, but a neighbor (Richard Deacon) says that he has gone to Bodega Bay. The town is about 67 miles from San Francisco with near by Santa Rosa. Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943) was set in Santa Rosa. Melanie drives at breakneck speed and we cleverly see the lovebirds lean in their cage at the turns in the road. She asks the postal clerk (John McGovern) about Mitchell’s house. He points out a white house across the bay. The secluded, small community is similar to Amity Island in Jaws (1975). Melanie doesn’t want to be seen from the single road to the house so she asks to pilot a boat to the house. She asks about the name of the girl, there is some confusion, and she is sent to ask Annie Hayworth at the Bodega Bay School. Melanie drives over to Annie’s house next to the school. Annie (Suzanne Pleshette) was busy gardening and meets with Melanie. Pleshette was in the “Hitch Hike” (1960) episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. I know of her throaty voice as Yubaba in the English dub of Spirited Away (2001).
Annie’s dark hair contrasts with Melanie. She wears a red coat similar to her mailbox and contrasts with Melanie’s green dress. Annie mentions that the name of Mitchell’s sister is Cathy. There is a touch of jealousy and suspicion for Annie with Melanie. Later, Melanie drives to the dock and pilots a boat across the bay. She sees Mitchell seeing off his sister in a truck. Melanie turns off the motor and instead quietly rows towards the house. Mitchell goes to the barn as Melanie enters the house. She sets down the bird cage and places her note to Cathy before sneaking back to the boat. Melanie rows the boat a bit before she notices Mitchell going into the house. She tries to hide in the boat, but Mitchell sees her with a pair of binoculars and smiles. Melanie starts up the motor to return to the dock. Mitchell has taken his car to race over to the dock ahead of her. He runs up to the dock and then seagull strikes the side of Melanie’s head!
He helps her from the boat to The Tides seafood restaurant. Blood drips down the side of Melanie’s face as he cleans the wound with peroxide. She finds out that he is a lawyer and he says he practices criminal law. He thanks Melanie for the love birds. She says she was in town to see her friend, Annie. Mitchell’s mother, Lydia (Jessica Tandy) enters and acts cautious towards Melanie. Tandy was in three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents including “The Canary Sedan” (1958). He invites her for dinner and she returns to Annie’s house pointing out her Room for Rent sign. Annie looks up and says that it is unusual to see a migration of birds at this time. At Mitchell’s house, Melanie sees the family walking up after checking on their chickens. He apologizes for insulting Melanie and Cathy thanks her for the lovebirds. The two lovebirds are obvious counterparts and also the only innocent, non-violent birds.
We see Lydia calling the feed store in the foreground as we see in the living room, Mitchell getting a drink for Melanie. After the dinner, Melanie is playing piano and Cathy insists that she go to her birthday party the next day. In the kitchen, Lydia tells Mitchell that Melanie is the subject of gossip in the newspapers. He walks Melanie to her car and brings up the scandal that the was naked in a fountain. Melanie says that she was pushed into the fountain in Rome and the rest was slander from a rival newspaper. We hear the croaking of a crow while they talk. There are crows all along the telephone lines. At Annie’s house, Melanie is told that she ended her relationship with Mitchell four years after the death of his father. Annie says that Lydia is afraid of being abandoned. She says she went to the town and stayed just to be friends with Mitchell. The love triangle, protective mother, and relationships are all to invest us into the characters before the birds get vicious.
They hear a thump at the door and see that it is a dead seagull! At the party, Mitchell and Melanie walk up the dunes to share a drink. They return to the party, Lydia watches them as she sets the blindfold on Annie. A seagull dives at Annie! Mitchell pulls off a seagull on the back of a girl! They take the children back to the house, but the attacks continue! The birds are gathering for relentless attacks on a school, the restaurant which has Melanie trapped in a phone booth like a cage!, and also the house to survive the night! The flocks of birds fills the screen while the live action plate is clean. There are screens used with bird puppets in the sodium vapor process that was used in Mary Poppins (1964). This is from original Disney animator, Ub Iwerks, noted as special photographic advisor. It is taking something ordinary like birds or taking a shower and turning them into something threatening. There isn’t an explanation for why the birds attack. There was a tv movie, The Birds II: Land’s End (1994) that also starred Tippi Hedren. The Birds is a masterwork that sets the pattern of the animal attack and horror movies that followed it, the leads played by Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor have chemistry, and there are many scenes to unnerve audiences!
Five+ Bird Cages out of Five!
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