Birds - Cuckoos, Live Foods, Owls, First Aid 
Product Description: - 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 Ratings: - Another classic Hitch. Hitchcock was always an innovator. Having created the first slasher movie with Psycho two years earlier, The Birds features yet another blonde (following on from Grace Kelly, Kim Novak and Janet Leigh), in the graceful and fur-swathed shape of Tippi Hedren as the film s central character, the heiress Melanie Daniels. So, in the wake of Paris Hilton s arrival in our lives, what better time to reappraise one of Alfred Hitchcock s best and most enigmatic films? Melanie s father owns a San Francisco newspaper and she is clearly a woman used to getting what she wants, as well as being somewhat renowned in the scandal sheets as a socialite and prankster. For those who think Hedren s peformance was rather vague and wooden, perhaps the comparison with Ms Hilton shows her to have, in fact, captured the aloof poise and intense self-belief that the priveleged wealthy seem to possess. A chance encounter in a pet store with principled lawyer Mitch Brenner(Rod Taylor), who knows all about Miss Daniels pranks and disapproves of them, cleverly sets the film up for the events that unravel in the sleepy costal town of Bodega Bay, where Mitch s widowed mother (Jessica Tandy) and young sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright) live. Mitch is trying to buy a pair of lovebirds for his sister s birthday that weekend, but there are none in stock. Melanie, piqued at finding herself outmanouevered by Mitch when he pretends to mistake her for a shop assistant, uses her contacts at daddy s paper to track him down, orders a pair of lovebirds for delivery to her next day and sets off for Bodega Bay to surprise Mitch and Cathy. She arrives at BB in her expensive little sports car, all fur, gloves and high heels, with hair piled high on her head, but proves adept at commanding a boat as she crosses the bay to secretly drop off the birds at the Brenner house. She waits long enough to be spotted by her intended quarry, Mitch Brenner. Then she heads back across the bay as Mitch drives round to meet her, the seduction unfolding nicely, only to be violently struck on the head by a seagull as she is about to dock. And so the horror begins to unfold.
What follows is pretty well known - the birthday party, the devastating birdstrike on the gas station, Melanie sitting outside the school, unaware of the number of crows landing in groups on the playground climbing frame as she smokes a cigarette and the children sing inside the school house. Still be shocked by Mrs Brenner s discover of the poultry farmer s body slumped in his bedroom and Hitch s innovative, silent series of short, sharp cuts from long-shot to mid- to close-up. The final claustrophobic attacks, while all the while the lovebirds sit peaceful and serene in their cage. Perhaps too much has been made of Hitchcock s fascination with blondes, and the suffering Hedren endured at times in this film - she had five days on set having birds thrown at her at one point. Apart from throwing birds at people, the oustanding special effects were achieved with multiple images, matte and an electronic soundtrack of bird squarks. Some may find the pace of the film s first half too slow for modern tastes. I say savour the quiet, still unfolding of the film (there is no music to the fim, a landmark decision which which lends the film a very eerie feeling). The whole film is set up beautifully - surely a young Steven Spielberg learnt some valuable lessons here which he used to good effect in Jaws to conjure up the detailed and believable depiction of a quiet holiday seaside town where nothing much happens. Watch for the initial frosty confrontation with Mitch s mother: herself elegant, hair piled up high and immaculately dressed for Bodega Bay, the symbolism is clear and she is clearly threatened of being usurped by a young woman for her son s affections, someting confirmed later by schoolteacher Annie. (In fact, sexual tension runs through the film - mother versus son s girlfriend, Melanie s attraction to a man who initially infuriated and repulsed her, the current and the cast-off female objects of Mitch s affection).
The film is often described as enigmatic. It is so from the very start - listen for the sound of seagulls over downtown San Francisco in the film s first few moments. Is the unresolved ending a cop-out? Well, in this respect it apes the original Daphne du Maurier short story. We never know why the birds attack, or where it will all lead, but the radio is reporting birdstrikes at other coastal towns as the film ends. Are the lovebirds the focus for the attacks or is this merely a red herring? What about Melanie herself? Mitch s mother goes to see the poultry farmer because her hens havent been laying for weeks - are the roots of the attacks in fact set earlier than the events portrayed, and therefore nothing to do with Melanie or the lovebirds? To have had a successful resolution to the crisis (and the Mitch-Melanie relationship) would have made for an inferior film, demoting The Birds to the status of a fifties SF B-movie at once. Hitchcock once again made some bold and unconventional moves with his film-making, which led to unfavourable reviews from the critics at the time (think also of the furore surrounding having killed off his heroine halfway through Psycho, and the charges of voyeurism that damaged Rear Window s reputation for so many years until its rediscovery in the eighties). The Birds is another Hitch classic - watch it before the reported remake comes out. Close the curtains, shut the door and if you hear some noises from the chimney, well, it s probably only the wind.
- A Must For Hitchcock Fans. I think the best thing about The Birds is that it is directed by Alfred Hitchcock, to me anything with his name fronting it is scary.
Tippi Hedren stars as an attractive woman who moves to a small town somewhere in the U.S. For no given reason the birds start behaving wildly, pecking people s eyes out & doing all those things we know birds are capable of but don t expect them to do.
Amongst all this there is a blossoming romance between Hedren & Rod Taylor.
In contrast with most horror movies made in this era it is quite scary, there is more blood than most cinema goers of that decade would have been used to.
What I didn t like about the film was that there is no real reason for the birds acting so bizarrely, why all of a sudden do they start praying on children, lining up on the climbing frame outside of school? These questions are unfortunately never answered.
I like the film because its easy to watch & it is mildly scary, I mean we see birds every day, they re so unassuming, who would think up their turn in character, only the horror genious Alfred Hitchcock.
All in all a great film. Hitchcock fans will be much more appreciative of it though. - Hitchcock s most teasing, tantalising film. Stark, strange, and a little spooky. Based on a short story rich in symbolism and psychological in style, this movie builds the tension well, and Tippi Hedren is the right choice for the part as the woman who is seemingly attracting these unwelcome visitors. She brings mystery and the sense of a troubled past to her character. I didn t particularly like the (non) ending, the same as many others, but this is one film where this type of ending works. The film of this story could have been made by other directors to great effect, but Hitchcock got there first, and stamped his signature all over it.
- Quick Reviews!. Hitchcock does it again, by taking a seemingly preposterous situation and turning it into one of the most impressive, intelligent, and tense movies ever. Tippi has often been accused of not being the greatest actress, but in this she is suitably mysterious as the outsider, at the same time seductive and vulnerable. For reasons unknown, Melanie Daniels s arrival at a cosy seaside town heralds the attack of countless birds, ending in death and chaos. It is often assumed that the birds come as a warning about overt female sexuality, as Melanie travels to Bodega pursuing Mitch Brenner (Taylor). Whatever the reason, what ensues is a gripping finale as the remaining townsfolk hide in their house, wondering when the next attack will be. After a rather slow and uneventful build up, the film shocks the viwer with successive and quick assults on the senses. The scene in the café, as the town argues over whether a recent bird attack is real or fake, quickly followed by a full scale bird assault is a famous example. We are ominously told that birds vastly outnumber people. While people fumble around, trying to escape incompetently, the birds work as an unstoppable group. If you kill one, there s a thousand more.
The stand out scenes are obvious, the birds gathering on the playground, the attack on the school children, the `don t open that door scene , and the final scene, as the humans leave, defeated. The birds themselves are truly remarkable, again making CGI seem very very stupid. Never underestimate the powers of live action, suggestion, and good old matte painting. Perhaps too slow for some modern movie lovers, especially those expecting a fully blown gore and shock fest, but for everyone else-this is another must see from The Master.
Most DVDs of The Birds contain good extras- trailers, commentary, and a suitably long and incisive documentary. The stories about the bird trainer, and the one bird which took a personal dislike to Rod Taylor are entertaining. - why oh why oh why?????. The Birds was filmed in widescreen: this offering is pan and scan.junk version of a great film. Get the region one version instead.
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Birds - Cuckoos, Live Foods, Owls, First Aid (ID: B000056QAZ)
