The Birds feels different from most of Hitchcock's films, more spectacle than puzzle, shot mostly in bright daylight, and no villain per se. But in some ways there are some recognizable signatures of the auteur. This might be the best example of his skill for building suspense over time as he crafts long moments of increasing tension out of very little. And the plot is a bit meandering and switches gears suddenly a la Psycho. But overall it stood out for me as I rewatch his catalogue as being an outlier in many ways.
His story starts out in a way that did evoke Psycho for me. There is a rather oddball plot about Hedren's quite quirky character stalking a man she meets in a pet store. This goes on for quite some time, including a long drive she takes on her own which again mirrored Janet Leigh's fateful drive. Then we spend some time with her insinuating herself into the life of a small beach town. Although we know what we are here to see (attacking birds... I mean it's in the title) little happens in relation to that for a long time but Hitchcock keeps reminding us it's coming with his ominous shots of birds just hanging around, and his placement of the animals, just waiting. It was remarkable to me, as a post-modern watcher who should be cynical to these sorts of stories, just how tense I was with each passing reference. The first attack is minor and excusable, as these movies tend to go, which just adds to the vice tightening. Regardless of whether this feels slightly silly or not, the film gets you in its grip quite completely and relentlessly.
And once the attacks start and become more frequent the film gains a sense of hopelessness. The characters express a need to answers, which are never provided, a masterful choice in my opinion. I find some of the best horror doesn't explain why (A Quiet Place being a recent example) and just forces us to live with it. Our need for explanation is often powerful and not delivering that makes it all so much more upsetting. This is one of Hitchcock's gorier films and it sometimes feels like he's trying to mimic the success of Psycho here with the bloody moments. Yes the special effects don't hold up but the story, as thin as it is, is told so well modern audiences can forgive.
I found The Birds to be a very thinly drawn movie that is crafted in a way that elevates it above the material. There isn't much here in characterization or story and the performances by the cast really aren't that good but Hitchcock so cleverly builds suspense and delivers on tapping into our fears that it becomes far more engrossing than it would normally be. This could have easily been a Them! style B movie but instead it becomes something you experience differently.
It isn't one of my favourites of his work but it remains interesting for what it does manage to make out of its story and genre and how well it gets under your skin, including its subtle and ominous, almost anticlimactic ending which just makes you hold your breath.
The Birds
Starring: Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Veronica Cartwright Suzanne Pleshette
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writer: Evan Hunter
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