We follow the fortunes of Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), a rich socialite with a penchant of seemingly weak practical jokes. We meet her in a pet shop where she is awaiting the delivery on a myna bird which she hopes can speak and upset her auntie. She is mistaken for an assistant by lawyer Rod Taylor who is after a pair of lovebirds. After some awkward flirting he reveals that he knows Melanie isn’t an assistant and just wanted to show her what being at the wrong end of a practical joke felt like. What a dick.
Not to be outdone, Melanie learns of Rod’s identity from her newspaper editor father and resolves to prank him by delivering the two lovebirds to his Bodaga Bay house for his sister’s birthday - that’ll show him. After a long bit of exposition in which Melanie meets local teacher Suzanne Pleshette and buys a nightgown, she delivers the birds, only to be spotted by the ever alert Taylor. Taylor was 33 at the time of filming, the same as Hedren, but he looks about 50.
Anyway, he spots her bird delivery and intercepts her at the harbour only to witness her being pecked by a seagull. This causes mild unrest but she agrees to return to have dinner with Taylor and his mother Jessica Tandy, and presumably her copper kettle. She also takes a room at Suzanne’s guest house despite not having a change of pants.
Through the night a seagull attacks their door and things quickly escalate as the birds start a full on pecking offensive which results in a gas station exploding and Melanie getting a lot of kisses from Rod.
Who will survive the onslaught of The Birds?, why are they attacking? and can a peck really be that sore?
I enjoyed this film less than I’d remembered it and it seemed a bit drawn out and silly on a second viewing. You can’t really feel the pervading sense of menace that was intended by director Hitchcock, who can be seen with his dogs in the opening scene, due to some ropey effects and some poor bird motivation. I felt that the birds lacked a bit of menace and despite the first victim appearing with his eyes pecked out, you have to wonder why he didn’t just hide under the duvet.
The build up is slow, with things layered and gradually escalating, such as the hens not eating their feed. There wasn’t however any attempt at explaining why the birds went mental and something like a mad scientist or environmental concerns may have made the whole thing a bit more engaging.
I did like the shot of the birds hovering over the gas station explosion which had an eerie ‘We did that' feel. The effects were however somewhat limited with the sparrow invasion down the chimney looking fake as did the attack on the children fleeing the church - some of those stuffed birds were held on for grim death!
The film does look dated with it’s rear projection driving and boating scenes but that’s fair enough given its 1963 origins. Tippi does well in the lead, although I bet that green twin set must have reeked by the end. Rod was less good as the square jawed hero with no answers, but I liked Pleshette and Tandy as the sultry school teacher and bitchy mother respectively.
I didn’t feel that the birds were much of a threat and the lack of motivation for them left me somewhat unengaged. It was however a decent thriller. and although a big net would have saved the day, there was enough to keep me watching for the full two hours.
THE Tag Line : Where’s the burds? Arrgghhh! 70%
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