THE BIRDS (FILM)

'''The Birds''' is a 1963 horror film by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on the short story ''The Birds'' by Daphne du Maurier. The film's innovative special effects, soundtrack, and style influenced later "revenge of nature" and zombie genre films. Unlike many other films, ''The Birds'' did not have music or an ending in the conventional sense.

Contents

Plot summary

Production

Analysis

Awards

The Birds (2009 film)

''The Birds'' in popular culture

Listen to

Notes

External links

Plot summary

The plot involves beautiful young Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), a wealthy socialite whose father is the proprietor of a large newspaper. Melanie visits a pet shop in Union Square in San Francisco, to pick up a myna bird she has ordered for her aunt, which was to arrive at the shop by 3 PM. While she's there, Melanie meets Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor), a lawyer who is looking for a pair of lovebirds to give to his sister. As a playful gag, Melanie pretends to be the shopkeeper and Mitch pretends to believe her, but eventually he reveals that he already knows who she is; Mitch recognizes her from a court appearance and blames Melanie for a prank that shattered somebody's plate glass window.
Furious that Mitch has turned the tables on her, and also intrigued by him, she buys the lovebirds, finds out Mitch's address in the city, and tries to deliver them to his apartment - but a neighbour tells her that Mitch spends the weekend on the family farm, 60 miles up the coast in Bodega Bay, a small coastal village. Melanie drives to Bodega Bay in her Aston Martin DB2 and is directed to the home of Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette), the local school teacher, to learn the name of Mitch's sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). Melanie delivers the birds by sneaking across the small harbor in a tiny boat to the Brenner residence, rather than taking the road where she would definintely be seen. Melanie walks right into the house and leaves the birds on a table with a note. As Melanie is headed back across the bay, Mitch circles around in his car to meet her. Just as she is about to pull up to the dock, a seagull swoops down and gashes her head.
Mitch takes her to a small diner nearby and tends to her cut. While there, Melanie meets Mitch's mother, Lydia (Jessica Tandy), who reacts to her icily. Melanie dines with Mitch and his family during which Lydia complains that their chickens have not been eating and fears they may be ill. Melanie and Mitch continue to flirt with each other, but as Melanie leaves they have an argument where Mitch playfully questions her and suggests that she might be a spoiled rich girl with a reckless streak. She bristles at this and departs in a huff.
Melanie takes a room at Annie's that night and Annie reveals that she and Mitch were lovers once, a relationship that was cut short by the cool reaction she got from Lydia. As the women are talking, Mitch calls to apologize for upsetting Melanie and convinces her to come to Cathy's birthday party the next day. Toward the end of their conversation, the women hear a thud against the front door and discover a dead gull sprawled on the porch.
The next day, Melanie attends Cathy's party, during which she has an emotional conversation with Mitch. Melanie loses her composure when talk turns to her mother, who abandoned the family years earlier. Their conversation is followed by yet another bird attack, this time more vicious than before, as gulls swoop down on the terrified children. Later that evening, birds attack again, this time smaller ones who enter the Brenner house through the chimney.

The next morning, Melanie prepares to leave while Lydia drives Cathy to school and pays a visit to a neighboring farm to call on Dan Fawcett. Getting no answer to her knock, Lydia enters the house and finds Dan dead in his bedroom, the windows broken, debris and dead birds littered about. Dan's body is in a grotesque condition, bleeding and scratched, with the eyes completely missing. In shock, Lydia stumbles out of the house and drives home wildly, alarming Mitch and Melanie when she arrives. Melanie agrees to stay as Mitch goes off to check on things at Dan's farm himself. The local deputy sheriff and Mitch politely argue about the bird attacks, with the deputy unable to accept that birds are capable of what happened. The deputy agrees with the Santa Rosa police, who conclude that Dan was killed by burglars, and then the birds got in and made the mess later.
Melanie makes some tea and takes it in to Lydia, who is resting in her bed. Lydia has a surprisingly honest moment with Melanie, where she admits that she wants to like any girl that Mitch brings home, but she is afraid of being abandoned. Melanie reassures her that Mitch would never leave his mother all alone. Lydia also expresses concern for Cathy's safety ("They have such big windows at the school") and Melanie offers to drive over there and bring her home. Melanie arrives at the schoolhouse just before recess and waits by the schoolyard for the children to finish singing a song inside. As she sits smoking on a bench, crows begin to gather ominously behind her. Melanie does not notice this until she spots a crow circling overhead and watches it land in the playground; she is horrified when she realizes that almost every inch of the schoolyard is covered, the jungle gyms and swing sets festooned with menacing crows. Knowing that the crows could burst through the large windows and trap the children inside, Annie and Melanie lead the students out of the school, but the crows hear their footsteps and attack, swarming all around them. Melanie and Cathy take refuge in a car until the attack subsides, then Melanie leaves Cathy at Annie's house while she goes to the diner to call her father.
At the diner, Melanie attracts a lot of attention with her story of the bird attack. An elderly woman interested in ornithology discredits Melanie's account, claiming that birds are not intelligent enough to launch a massed attack as she described. Mitch arrives and announces that Dan Fawcett was killed by birds, but this too is debunked. As the argument grows, Melanie notices bird activity outside the diner window, and they witness a devastating attack. Gulls swoop down on a gas station, triggering a series of events that result in a massive explosion. Chaos follows, with attacking birds interfering with the attempts to fight the raging fire.
Mitch and Melanie then go to pick up Cathy at Annie's house. As they approach, they see Annie face down on the front walk, dead. Cathy is inside the house, terrified but safe. She explains that the two of them went outside to see what caused the explosion, and were then attacked by the crows. Annie was able to save Cathy but not herself.
The three return to the Brenner house, where they brace themselves for the next attack that they know is coming. They board up all windows, doors and openings. The four of them spend hours in this claustrophobic setting until the sounds of a massive attack surround the house. This onslaught of birds is the most monstrous one of all, seemingly by all types of birds at once. Mitch barely manages to keep the birds from pecking their way through the barricades. The attack subsides and the four drop off to sleep in the living room.
Melanie awakes and hears the disturbing fluttering of wings above them. She goes upstairs with a flashlight to investigate. She opens the door to a bedroom on the top floor and sees a large hole ripped from the roof, and then notices the birds all over the room. Her presence stirs them to attack and they peck and cut her in numerous places. She is overcome and collapses into unconsciousness, when Mitch and the others hear the commotion and manage to pull her to safety.
Lydia and Mitch bandage Melanie's wounds but realize she must get to a hospital. They decide on Melanie's car, because it is faster. Mitch ventures outside to fetch the car from the garage, while Lydia and Cathy get Melanie ready. In a surreal and apocalyptic scene, a sea of landed birds ripples menacingly around them but do not attack. The car radio gives reports of attacks by birds in other communities in coastal California. The sea of birds parts as they slowly proceed toward the road and pick up speed. The film concludes with the sun rising as the four of them drive away from the farm, down the coast road and out of sight.

Production

The film depicts a series of bird attacks on the residents of a Californian seaside village named Bodega Bay. In du Maurier's story, the birds attacked Britain, not California.
Hitchcock was inspired by a report in the 18 August 1961 issue of the Santa Cruz, California ''Sentinel'' newspaper [1] of birds exhibiting strange and sometimes violent behavior. This event was brought up in the film between the town residents in the Tides diner. This behavior may have been caused by amnesic shellfish poisoning of the birds from eating fish containing domoic acid produced by the algae ''Pseudo-nitzschia australis''.[2].
Hedren was told mechanical birds would be used for the terrifying and brutal attic scene. Instead, live birds were hurled at her by prop men for a week. When one nearly gouged her eye she became hysterical, collapsed and spent a week haunted by "nightmares filled with flapping birds". After visiting the set Cary Grant praised her as "one very brave lady".
Instead of a typical film soundtrack, Hitchcock painstakingly had Oskar Sala create bird sounds on his trautonium, which were then scored to the movie by Bernard Herrmann. No natural bird sounds were used. There is a very high-pitched soundtrack of electronic noise through the film which subconsciously adds to the tension experienced by the viewer.
Hitchcock insisted that the film not end with final "The End", which further hints towards the lyrical nature of the movie (quote by Federico Fellini: "An apocalyptical poem"). Another film critic — in the documentary ''All About The Birds'' — described the ending as "self-consciously 'European' in its lack of resolution".
The highly-anticipated film was launched with an elaborate promotional campaign, inaugurated with the Hitchcock-engineered phrase, "The birds is coming!" Hitchcock appeared with birds on his shoulder on the cover of ''Life'' magazine. Hedren appeared on the cover of ''Look'' magazine with the line "Hitchcock's New Grace Kelly."
Hitchcock also released a five-minute trailer that does not use any footage from the film at all. Instead, it features Hitchcock himself making a presentation on his "forthcoming lecture about the birds and their age-long relationship with man". He also gives numerous sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek examples "in which these noble creatures have added to the beauty of the world" such as cavalier hats, eggs, shotguns, and zoos.
A sequel to the film was produced for cable TV in 1994 under the title ''. The sequel starred Brad Johnson and Chelsea Field; Tippi Hedren appeared in a supporting role, playing a different character than in the original film.

Analysis

In the movie, Hitchcock never explains explicitly ''why'' the birds attack humans. The attacks may be interpreted by the viewer metaphorically. Attacks are apparently associated with elements of human behaviour, such as unrequited love, sexual tension, sexual flirtation, the inability to be sincere and honest, or the small town's unfriendliness towards outside visitors. However in the theatrical trailer, Hitchcock explains the history of the bird, which may have explained the motives of the birds attacking in the movie. The motives may have been that throughout history, birds have been abused by humans for ages like getting their feathers plucked for decoration of clothing, or being killed so they could be eaten by humans, etc. So the birds are possibly fed up with mankind treating them badly, so the birds have declared war on humanity.
The attacks only begin when Melanie arrives in Bodega Bay, something directly stated in dialogue by a hysterical mother in a restaurant. Melanie arrived there to pursue Mitch, to whom she is sexually attracted, bringing a gift of lovebirds — ostensibly for Mitch's sister. The caged birds remain conspicuously benign through the entire film as all other birds go wild, and continue to be featured in the story until the closing scene, when they accompany the escaping humans.
Although ''The Birds'' angered and baffled many critics and disappointed some audience members who were expecting another ''Psycho'', the film's reputation and stature have grown to classic status in succeeding decades.

Awards

★ The film debuted at a prestigious invitational showing at the Cannes Film Festival with Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren in attendance.

★ The movie was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Special Effects. It lost out to ''Cleopatra'' (1963).

★ Tippi Hedren received the Golden Globe as the most promising newcomer of 1964. She shared this award with Ursula Andress and Elke Sommer.

★ Tippi Hedren received the Photoplay Award as Most Promising Newcomer.

★ The film topped the list of top ten foreign films selected by the Bengal Film Journalist Association. The Association also awarded Alfred Hitchcock the Best Director Award for the film.[3]

The Birds (2009 film)

According to Hollywood Reporter^[1] , a 2009 remake of The Birds is in the works, rumoured to star Naomi Watts.^[2] It also has an announced release date of July 3 2009. The story will be based on the original short story by Daphne Du Maurier, while the screenplay is being written by Juliet Snowden and Stiles White. The producers are Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Bradley Fuller. IMDb Profile

''The Birds'' in popular culture

★ After the film's release, a famous ''Mad'' magazine parody appeared entitled "For the Birds."

★ In an episode of ''Animaniacs'', the Goodfeathers sign onto the filming of a movie called "The Boids" as extras. The episode includes caricatures of Hitchcock, Hedren, and Jack Nicholson.

★ In an episode of ''That '70s Show'', in a Halloween episode dream sequence, Kitty, while feeding her neighbor's bird, is trapped inside a phone booth that simply happens to appear in the room and attacked by dozens of birds.

★ In Mel Brooks' movie ''High Anxiety'' (1978) he parodies several Hitchcock films, including ''The Birds'', when birds "attack" him by excreting on him.

★ ''The Simpsons'' makes several references to The Birds:

★
★ In "A Streetcar Named Marge", when Maggie is picked from the day-care center, babies are perched all over the building. When Homer and the kids leave, a caricature of Hitchcock is walking his dogs on the sidewalk (a recreation of his cameo; see below).

★
★ In the episode "Itchy & Scratchy Land", Marge wishes the family had gone to the bird sanctuary. However, in the bird sanctuary, the birds have gone crazy, and Hans Moleman is menaced by birds in a phone booth, with birds crashing against the glass.

★
★ In the "Treehouse of Horror XI" segment "Night of the Dolphins", the invading dolphins stand on their tails on the power lines.

★
★ In the episode "Homer vs. Dignity", the citizens of Springfield are attacked by gulls.

★ The film ''Finding Nemo'' has a scene with the seagulls perched everywhere, reminiscent of the birds outside the school house.

★ In '' episode "When Pants Attack", swarms of pants gather and pants are fluttering onto telephone lines, and Jimmy's mother states "It's like a homage to Alfred Hitchcock's movie 'The Birds'!"

★ In the ''Arthur'' episode entitled ''The Squirrels'', Arthur and his friends become paranoid after watching an old horror film about squirrels attacking (and apparently devouring) people.

★ In one of ''The Far Side'' comics created by Gary Larson it shows a small flock of birds hidden behind a tree near an old woman feeding squirrels. One of the birds, presumably the leader, says, 'Hey, I have an idea. How many people here have seen Alfred Hitchcock's ''The Birds''?' and most of the surrounding birds raise one wing.

★ In an episode of ''Roseanne'', an American sit-com from the early-90s, the character of Roseanne's daughter, Darleen, dresses for Halloween as a woman being attacked by birds in an echo of the famous scene with Tippi Hedren.

★ On ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'', the mad scientists sometimes declare "We're Evil! EVIL!" mimicking the diner patron who accuses Melanie of causing the birds' attack. In Episode #603, ''The Dead Talk Back'', a movie character speaking of a murder victim proclaims "She was evil!" to which Mike Nelson adds "''She'' brought the birds here!" In Episode #801, ''Revenge of the Creature'', a scene opens in a lagoon with various wildlife, including birds perched on limbs, and Tom Servo sings a bar or two of the song sung by the schoolchildren in ''The Birds'' ("Nickety nockety now now now!").

★ ''Saturday Night Live'' spoofed the famous school-children/bird attack sequence with a mock movie trailer for a "film" entitled ''The Clams''. It featured dozens of chattering clam shells on the schoolyard jungle gym, and giant clam shells pursuing the school-children.

★ In the ''Code Lyoko'' episode "The Pretender" Xana possesses a bunch of crows so that he can attack the heroes, and nearly kills Yumi. Odd remarks in the episode that he saw a film like this and didn't think it was scary, but quickly changes his mind when he gets chased by the crows.

★ In the computer game ''Zoo Tycoon'', if a guest is named Alfred H, black and white birds fly over the zoo, causing guests to scream.

★ The comic strip "Mother Goose and Grim" once portrayed "Alfred Hitchcock's The Tweety Birds", in which several versions of Looney Tunes character Tweety are seated menacingly on power lines.

Listen to

★ Radio Memories Network: ''Lux Radio Theater'': ''The Birds'' with Herbert Marshall (July 20, 1953)

★ Radio Nostalgia Network: ''Escape'': "The Birds" (July 10, 1954)

Notes

1. The Vine: 'Birds' to fly again in Uni remake Hollywood Reporter
2. Naomi Watts for The Birds remake? Moviehole

External links

★

★

★

★