Amazon.com essential video: Vacationing in northern California, Alfred Hitchcock was struck by a story in a Santa Cruz newspaper: "Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes." From this peculiar incident, and his memory of a short story by Daphne du Maurier, the master of suspense created one of his strangest and most terrifying films. The Birds follows a chic blonde, Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), as she travels to the coastal town of Bodega Bay to hook up with a rugged fellow (Rod Taylor) she's only just met. Before long the town is attacked by marauding birds, and Hitchcock's skill at staging action is brought to the fore. Beyond the superb effects, however, The Birds is also one of Hitchcock's most psychologically complicated scenarios, a tense study of violence, loneliness, and complacency. What really gets under your skin are not the bird skirmishes but the anxiety and the eerie quiet between attacks. The director elevated an unknown model, Tippi Hedren (mother of Melanie Griffith), to being his latest cool, blond leading lady, an experience that was not always easy on the much-pecked Ms. Hedren. Still, she returned for the next Hitchcock picture, the underrated Marnie. Treated with scant attention by serious critics in 1963, The Birds has grown into a classic and--despite the sci-fi trappings--one of Hitchcock's most serious films. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - La cage aux folles
Probably Hitchcock's most famous movie (apart from PSYCHO), THE BIRDS is perhaps best understood as a companion piece to the director's favorite among all his films, SHADOW OF A DOUBT. Like that 1943 thriller, THE BIRDS concerns a visitor to a small town in Northern California bringing evil in his or her wake, which tests the resourcefulness and the compassion of a family that is not so happy as it imagines itself to be. The famous animated special effects (by Disney animator Ub Ewerks) now look ... Read More
Rating: - The Birds
The DVD provided a good tie-in to my sister-in-law's Bird's Barbie Doll. It is still one of Hitchcock's best works.
Rating: - Worth watching, but for a completely different reason
The Birds was the most ridiculous horror movie I've watched (and that includes The Evil Dead and other junk). Not only because of the lousy special effects - let's relegate those to the lack of technology. But the characters' reactions to the bird attacks often are preposterous. Let's pick the final scene when Miss Daniels hears a wing flutter and goes in the room at the top of the house, and see how many things are wrong with it:
1. Why would she go there?!
2. Why, after ... Read More
Rating: - Just As Erie as I remembered
The Birds (Collector's Edition)
I saw this movie when I was just a little girl (probably about 6 years old), I probably snuck out of my room, and what a mistake that was, I was so scared! As a matter of fact, the next day when I heard the birds outside I accidentaly touched the iron and seared my thumb and finger to the iron! So I wanted to see if it was as scary now that I am 46.
Well I was not as scared, but it was still a very erie movie, and kind of strange. The special ... Read More
Rating: - The Birds
I bought this DVD for our 14 year grandson for Halloween as a scary movie but not too scary. I haven't heard yet how he likes it. However the purchasing went smoothly and we got it in the mail quickly and everything else went smoothly
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