Les oiseaux

1963 was the year and they are still here, mesmerizing, enthralling, entertaining from beginning to end and no music. The sounds of the birds, the attacks, are the music the movie needs. Tippi Hedren, a Hitchcock blonde, head to toe. We follow her as if we knew her and Rod Taylor, well, we know we know him, so it all moves like a potential romantic comedy but there is something in the air that doesn't allow us that frame of mind. Jessica Tandy introduces another Hitchcockian character, the castrating mother and it's wonderful and suspenseful, her slow surrender to Melanie Daniels. It must be a sign of greatness when you can watch The Birds, 60 years after its debut and enjoy it as if was yesterday.

Another film to prove that Hitchcock really was one of the most gifted film makers ever. His films are more 'fresh' today than any of current Hollywood megabuster.

The screeching bird soundtrack in itself was chilling.

The absence of backgound music added a sense of calm before the storm which made the bird attack scenes all the more intense.

The film builds up slowly and that serves to build up the tension and edginess.

The most chilling scene was definitely when Melanie (Tippi Hedren) was waiting outside the school while the singing was going on in the school. At each loop of the song, a few more crows would perch on the climbing frame. The site of them was truly grotesque. This scene is a lesson to all the "subtle as a sledge hammer" so called 'thrillers' that are churned out today.

By the end of the film, there is no conclusion, no neat result. It is somewhat uncomfortable watching a film like this and not seeing a conclusion. How will it end? Why did the birds attack?

Why spoil the film with an explanation?

I've been listening to a podcast about Alfred Hitchcock in the past few weeks, so I decided to take a look and see which of his films I could watch with minimal fuss. "The Birds" was, of all things, on regular non streaming television (I know!) last week, so I set the recorder and watched it for the first time in a while. I have to say that, despite a couple of flaws, I really rather enjoyed it.

Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) heads to a small coastal town on the west coast of America, to connect with Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor). The pairs awkward courtship is interrupted by moments of unusual and violent behaviour from the bird population of the town. The scale of the violence increases with each incident, causing the Daniels and Brenner to barricade themselves in Brenner's farmhouse.

Interestingly, watching it today what "The Birds" feels most like, particularly once you get to the farmhouse assault is a zombie film, with a mostly unseen force banging on the doors and desperate fortifications that have been hastily assembled. It does take quite a while to get to the bird attacks, but I did enjoy the slightly salacious romantic comedy drama that the film is, prior to the shift into becoming a horror film. Hedren and Taylor are a delightful pair, but there's intrigue afoot with his former girlfriend now the schoolteacher in town and his mother seemingly unhappy about any potential romance.

Admittedly, the composite work on mixing bird footage in with the filmed pieces hasn't aged well and, though I don't need my films to each be tied up in a nice bow, the ending remains one of the most ". . . Wait, what?. . ." moments in all of film. To describe it as anticlimactical doesn't do the term justice.

I still enjoyed it though and, with certain caveats, would recommend it.

There is a kind of theory according to which a horror or thriller film would lose all its frightening effect if it did not have a musical support as a backdrop, and its greater or lesser intensity regulates the viewer's tension levels. And this is true, at least in most of these types of movies. But there is always an exception that proves the rule. In The Birds, an iconic film by director Alfred Hitchock (inspired by the eponymous short story by Daphne du Maurier), such musical intrusion was dispensed with, as the director wanted to give voice to these apparently harmless beings that terrorize the population of Bodega Bay (Bernard Herrmann appears in the credits only as sound consultant). The film, which dates from 1963, continues to promote an intense discussion about its meaning and the most varied hypotheses have been put forward, since the ending is left open, with the birds victoriously watching the removal of humans (of course Hitchcock knew that not giving an explanation would contribute to accentuating the mystery and interest that the film arouses, it is not his best film, but it is certainly one of the most enigmatic). Choosing the blonde on duty (one of my favorites) was also a winning bet. Tippi Hedren, the unlikely heroine, perfectly plays the role of the fragile young woman, who is able to stand up to the bloodthirsty bird though. Her image of scared eyes and disheveled hair covering herself with her hand is memorable. As far as I am concerned, the scene dominated by the couple of lovebirds always comes to mind, swinging along the curves, in the convertible on the way to Bodega Bay, inside a cage, without having the right to enjoy the landscape, as a trigger for the revolt of the birds.

This is one of Hitchcock's most well-known movies. Along with Psycho, it's the movie that most people identify with him. Many pages have been written about it and surely there will be more. I know that the superb technical aspects of the movie have been discussed a lot, so I'll try to focus on something I noticed yesterday when I watched it.

It's scarier when there are no birds on screen. The tension, the silence, the uncertainty, the mystery. That's what suspense is about.

I was amazed of how carefully Hitchcock builds the suspense in this movie. You watch the birds standing there, and they do not move, they are just waiting. Even when you think they are dumb something tells you they are thinking. They are analyzing your moves.

This was possible with the aid of a top-notch screenplay, and great performances of the actors. This was probably the most difficult film for Hitchcock, specially for the technical aspects that were involved, but when you watch it, it really was worth the pain.

The main plot is well-known: Melanie Daniels(Tippi Hedren),a young girl goes to Bodega Bay looking for Mitch Brenner(Rod Taylor),a handsome man she met in San Francisco, when suddenly, the birds start attacking humans by no reason. Pretty straight forward, and by this date very outdated, but Hitchcock adds his magic and the script spices this with the very complex relationships between the characters.

The complex relationship between Mitch and his mother Lydia(played by Jessica Tandy), and the conflict that she has with Melanie is very interesting and brings back memories from Psycho. Also, Melanie's relationship with her own mother and the bond that she creates with Lydia and Mitch's 11 years old sister Cathy(Veronica Cartwright) is fascinating.

The scene when the four of them are trapped inside the house with the birds waiting outside is classic; not only is, as I wrote above, a perfect example of the use of suspense, it is an awesome study of the characters and how their relation grows. I think that this particular movie was main inspiration for George A. Romero's claustrophobic climax in his landmark film "Night of the Living Dead"(1968).

The technical aspects may be the focus of many studies, but the characters deserve to be praised, even the support cast with a few lines develop a personality of their own. The restaurant scene is Hitchcock at his best with witty dialogs that are both humorous and creepy. Very good ensemble.

Overall, this is an awesome movie, many reviewers have said it, I know. But I wanted to point that beyond the technical advances this experimental movie features, it is a perfect example of why Alfred Hitchcock is considered, "The Master of Suspense".

9/10. Classic.