The Birds

"The Birds", 1963 Directed by: sir Alfred Hitchcock


"The Birds" is a 1963 horror film which some elements of suspense are added throughout the film. The horror stars Tippi Hedren (this was her breakthrough film) and amongst other stars such as Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette and the then tender Veronica Cartwright. This subtully intense horror film portrays an american women (Tippi Hedren) who was on a quest to look for her potential partner and love interest (Rod Taylor) in Bodega Bay California, however while she is in that area the atmosphere there dramatically changes due to the grotesque attacks on the residents of bodega bay by the most unlikely of creatures-birds.

The motives and incentives behind the attacks in the horror movie  were not proven and remains a mystery throughout the film. The methods and tactics used by the birds were unbelievable, unthinkable and simply "not of their intelligence" as quoted from the elderly actress in the film which her character studied birds and their origins, but she was far from right due to her not thinking that birds could ever do such monstrous things and as i've said before, due to her perception that birds simply did not have the wit to attempt the attacks.

The film marks Tippi Hedren's movie debut and she was commended for her efforts on the film, even though it seems as if there were not any problems during production of the film and about the film,  indeed there was.  There was a quite notable incident which took place during the production of the film; in a particular scene Tippi Hedren was simply told to just go upstairs and enter a room and do nothing-which she in fact did, however not knowingly hundreds of birds were released onto her resulting in her having numerous scars and immediately having treatment. (she was promised that the birds used in the scene will be mechanical ones but in fact they were not). This incident has since scarred her for life-well this is what she has claimed in one of her autobiographies.

However, away from the negative side, the film has been generally commended for the directors use of a soundtrack and the use of animation in the film.

In addition, the film has been regarded as the seventh best thriller of all time by the American film institute, and Bravo awarded it on the 96th spot on ' The 100 scariest movie moments ' for the scene where the birds attach the city. So generally, the film has received very high critical acclaim for its various elements which were used to make the film an outstanding thriller. To add evidence to this point, the movie critic website Rotten Tomatoes has given the film an approval of 95% and it has been described as "Hitchcock's last unflawed film" by film critic David Thompson. This piece of information just further explains that this film,despite what occurred in its production, is generally perceived as a success.