The Birds (1963)

You know how snakes crawling around are inherently creepy? Moving around without any limbs, somehow pushing across the landscape in a frictionless manner. It’s not quite right, and for whatever reason, it’s just creepy. It’ probably because we as humans can’t do it so we just assign “creepy” to snakes, like we do so many other things we don’t immediately understand. That’s right humans. Now I’m judging you.

In The Birds, Hitchcock has made groups of birds creepy. I actually like birds. Ducks (both dabblers and divers), song birds, owls, crows. I guess I don’t really like seagulls, so I can get behind Hitchcock’s criminalization of those particular birds. Anyway, I think there’s a similar principle happening in The Birds as what happens with snakes. Birds en masse are unpredictable. You see flocks moving in a fluid way, all together, as if linked telepathically. I can see how that could be creepy. I mean ultimately, one the reason The Birds is effective is because there seems to be little or no reason for their attacks. They all just assemble, then go for your eyes. No reason for it whatsoever. Our suspicious lizard parts of our human brains can’t seem to ignore that those shifty birds with no regard for our social norms could be hungry for the softest parts of our bodies.

I liked The Birds for a couple of reasons. When the birds are all assembled, they make an amazing backdrop for the film. Apparently they’re all trained birds as well. That was impressive. As was the technology used to show the flocking crazy bird attacks. I don’t understand it, but it looked better that I expected it to, so I googled it assuming it would be a blue screen/green screen thing. It was a unique technology for the time. It’s called SVP (Sodium Vapor Process) and they needed it because other techniques didn’t work. Birds flap their wings too fast.

I also did find myself laughing out loud occasionally. There were funny moments, interesting moments, and even some clichés, that might not have been back in the day (and actually some are still used today, so maybe that doesn’t matter). I actually wonder if the mother in the Café got it all right. Maybe she figured it all out. Accusing the main character (Melanie) of being evil, and that nothing was wrong until she showed up.
I did not like how long it took for the first bird attack. I know why Hitchcock did it, but to me it felt like the movie went too long. Too long chasing this other story, that no one really cares about, only to be stopped short at the end with what felt like a too abrupt and too soon ending without any resolution at all. In fact it seemed like the bird angle was just starting to gain massive momentum, then the film was over. Again, I get why this was done. I can imagine my mother leaving the theatre in 1963 being totally freaked out because there was no resolution. It could really get into your head. On the other hand, my Mom was probably too young to have seen it in the theatre, so my argument holds no water.

Also worth noting: The Birds has no musical score. If only Rush could have gone that route. Sorry Brazil. This Canadian dislikes your favorite band from Canada.

So,

 Did I like The Birds?    

Yes. If only the library copy of the disk didn’t freeze multiple times. This didn’t help in the slow development of the film.

Would I watch it again?         

Probably not. It develops too slowly.

Would I recommend it to others?  

No. I think most people I know would not enjoy The Birds. It just develops too slowly.