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The Birds (The Alfred Hitchcock Collection) |
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The Birds (The Alfred Hitchcock Collection)
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by Universal Studios
Sales Rank: 5153
Price: $9.98
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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. <i>The Birds</i> 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, <i>The Birds</i> 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 <i>Marnie</i>. Treated with scant attention by serious critics in 1963, <i>The Birds</i> has grown into a classic and--despite the sci-fi trappings--one of Hitchcock's most serious films. <i>--Robert Horton</i>
Viewer Reviews
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 peeking into the room and seeing it chock-full of birds, would she enter and...
3. ... close the door behind her?
4. Why then, when the birds start attacking, does she make all sorts of uncoordinated gestures instead of getting the hell out?
5. Finally, her acting in that scene was just horrendous.
Now, why is The Birds worth watching? For the 60s aura (listen to how word intonation used to be back then) and especially for the chemistry between the two lead characters. Mitch (Rod Taylor) is handsome in the movie, and he knows it; he knows that Miss Daniels is strongly attracted to him, and he calls her bluffs with masculinity and confidence. Their dialogue is humorous and witty, and the power play is well worth watching...
...until about 1 hour and 10 minutes into the movie. After that, the birds march in, and the rest of the film is pretty much a waste of time. As philosophical food for thought, imagine a coordinated global ornithological conspiracy and how mankind would fight back - THAT'd be an interesting motion picture.
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The Birds (The Alfred Hitchcock Collection)
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