The Birds (film)

The Birds
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Produced by Alfred Hitchcock
Screenplay by Evan Hunter
Based on The Birds
by Daphne du Maurier
Starring Rod Taylor
Tippi Hedren
Jessica Tandy
Suzanne Pleshette
Veronica Cartwright
Cinematography Robert Burks, ASC
Edited by George Tomasini
Production
company
Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • March 28, 1963 (1963-03-28)
Running time
 119 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $3.3 million[1]
Box office $11.4 million[2]
Birds invade the Brenner house

The Birds is a 1963 American horror-thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on the 1952 story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier. It focuses on a series of sudden, unexplained violent bird attacks on the people of Bodega Bay, California over the course of a few days.

The film stars Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren (in her screen debut), supported by Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette and Veronica Cartwright. The screenplay is by Evan Hunter, who was told by Hitchcock to develop new characters and a more elaborate plot while keeping du Maurier's title and concept of unexplained bird attacks.

In 2016, The Birds was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in its National Film Registry.

Plot

Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), a young socialite, meets criminal defense attorney Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) in a San Francisco pet shop. Mitch wants to purchase a pair of lovebirds for his sister's eleventh birthday, but the shop has none. He recognizes Melanie from a court appearance, but she does not know him; he plays a prank by pretending to mistake her for a saleswoman. Melanie is infuriated by the prank—but finds herself romantically intrigued by Mitch.

Melanie purchases a pair of lovebirds and drives to Mitch's weekend address in Bodega Bay to deliver them. Wanting to surprise him, she rents a motorboat so she can approach the Brenner house from the bay instead of the road. She sneaks the birds inside the house and heads back across the bay. Mitch discovers the birds, spots Melanie's boat during her retreat, and drives around the bay to meet her. Melanie is attacked and injured by a seagull near shore on the town side. Mitch treats her abrasion and invites her to dinner; she hesitantly agrees.

Melanie gets to know Mitch, his domineering mother Lydia (Jessica Tandy), and his younger sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). She also befriends local school teacher Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette), Mitch's ex-lover. While spending the night at Annie's house, she and Annie are startled by a loud thud: a gull kills itself by flying into the front door. At Cathy's birthday party the next day, the guests are attacked by seagulls. The following evening, sparrows invade the Brenner home through the chimney.

The next morning, Lydia, a widow who still maintains the family farmstead, visits a neighboring farmer to discuss the unusual behavior of her chickens. She finds the farmer's eyeless corpse, pecked lifeless by birds, and flees in terror. Once home, she expresses concern for Cathy's safety at school. Melanie drives there and waits for class to end, unaware that a large flock of crows is massing in the adjacent playground. Unnerved when she sees its jungle gym engulfed by them, she warns Annie, and they evacuate the children. The commotion stirs the crows into attacking, injuring several of the children.

Melanie meets Mitch at a local restaurant, where several patrons describe aggressive encounters with birds. An amateur ornithologist dismisses the reports as fanciful and argues that birds lack the intelligence to mount coordinated attacks on humans. Soon birds begin to attack people outside the restaurant, knocking a gas station attendant unconscious while he is filling a car with fuel, which spills onto the street. A bystander attempts to light a cigar, igniting a pool of gasoline which incinerates him. The explosion attracts a mass of gulls, which swarm menacingly as townsfolk attempt to douse the fire. Melanie takes refuge in a phone booth, but gulls fly into the glass walls and shatter them. Rescued by Mitch, Melanie returns to the restaurant, where a distraught patron accuses her of causing the attacks, which began with her arrival. Mitch and Melanie visit Annie's house and find that she has been killed by crows while ushering Cathy to safety inside the house.

That night Melanie and the Brenners seek refuge inside the family home, which is attacked by waves of birds that nearly breach barricaded doors and windows. During a lull between attacks, Melanie hears the sound of fluttering wings. Realizing the sounds are emanating from above, she cautiously climbs the staircase and enters Cathy's bedroom, where she finds the birds have broken through the roof. They violently attack her, trapping her in the room until Mitch rescues her. Melanie is badly injured and nearly catatonic; Mitch insists they must get her to the hospital and suggests they drive to San Francisco.

As Mitch readies Melanie's car for their escape, a sea of birds gathers menacingly around the Brenner house. The radio reports bird attacks on nearby communities such as Santa Rosa, and suggests that the military may intervene to quell the unexplained attacks. Cathy retrieves the lovebirds from the house and joins Mitch and Lydia as they carefully escort Melanie to the car past a mass of birds nearby. The car slowly makes its way through a landscape in which thousands of birds are ominously perching.

Cast

Production

Development

Residents in the town of Capitola, California awoke on August 18, 1961 to find sooty shearwaters slamming into their rooftops and their streets covered with dead birds. News reports suggested domoic acid poisoning (amnesic shellfish poisoning) as the cause. According to the local Santa Cruz Sentinel, Alfred Hitchcock requested news copy in 1961 to use as "research material for his latest thriller".[8] At the end of the same month, he hired Evan Hunter to adapt Daphne du Maurier's novella, "The Birds", first published in her 1952 collection The Apple Tree.[9] Hunter had previously written "Vicious Circle" for Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, which he adapted for the television anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents.[10] He also adapted Robert Turner's story "Appointment at Eleven" for the same television series.[9] Hunter later suspected that he was hired because he had demonstrated he could write suspense (with the 87th Precinct novels, as Ed McBain) and because his novel The Blackboard Jungle had received critical acclaim.[11] The relationship between Hunter and Hitchcock during the creation of The Birds was documented by the writer in his 1997 autobiography Me and Hitch, which contains a variety of correspondence between the writer, director and Hitchcock's assistant, Peggy Robertson.[12]

Hunter began working on the screenplay in September 1961.[13] He and Hitchcock developed the story, suggesting foundations such as the townspeople having a guilty secret to hide, and the birds an instrument of punishment.[14] He suggested that the film begin using some elements borrowed from the screwball comedy genre then have it evolve into "stark terror".[15][16][17] This appealed to Hitchcock, according to the writer, because it conformed to his love of suspense: the title and the publicity would have already informed the audience that birds attack, but they do not know when. The initial humor followed by horror would turn the suspense into shock.[14]

Hitchcock solicited comments from several people regarding the first draft of Hunter's screenplay. Consolidating their criticisms, Hitchcock wrote to Hunter, suggesting that the script (particularly the first part) was too long, contained insufficient characterization in the two leads, and that some scenes lacked drama and audience interest.[18] Hitchcock at later stages consulted with his friends Hume Cronyn (whose wife Jessica Tandy was playing Lydia) and V.S. Pritchett, who both offered lengthy reflections on the work.[19]

Soundtrack

Many of the sound effects were created on the Mixtur-Trautonium, an electronic musical instrument developed by Oskar Sala.

Hitchcock decided to do without any conventional incidental score.[20] Instead, he made use of sound effects and sparse source music in counterpoint to calculated silences. He wanted to use the electroacoustic Mixtur-Trautonium to create the birdcalls and noises. He had first encountered this predecessor to the synthesizer on Berlin radio in the late 1920s. It was invented by Friedrich Trautwein and further developed by Oskar Sala into the Trautonium, which would create some of the bird sounds for this film.[21][22][23]

The director commissioned Sala and Remi Gassmann to design an electronic soundtrack.[20] They are credited with "electronic sound production and composition", and Hitchcock's previous musical collaborator Bernard Herrmann is credited as "sound consultant".

Source music includes the first of Claude Debussy's Deux arabesques, which Tippi Hedren's character plays on piano, and "Risseldy Rosseldy", an Americanized version[24] of the Scottish folk song "Wee Cooper O'Fife", which is sung by the schoolchildren.

Special effects

The special effects shots of the attacking birds were done at Walt Disney Studios by animator/technician Ub Iwerks, who used the sodium vapor process ("yellow screen") which he had helped to develop. The SV process films the subject against a screen lit with narrow-spectrum sodium vapor lights. Unlike most compositing processes, SVP actually shoots two separate elements of the footage simultaneously using a beam-splitter. One reel is regular film stock and the other a film stock with emulsion sensitive only to the sodium vapor wavelength. This results in very precise matte shots compared to blue screen special effects, necessary due to "fringing" of the image from the birds' rapid wing flapping.[25]

Premiere and awards

The film premiered March 28, 1963 in New York City. The Museum of Modern Art hosted an invitation-only screening as part of a 50-film retrospective of Hitchcock's film work. The MOMA series had a booklet with a monograph on the director written by Peter Bogdanovich. The film was screened out of competition[26] in May at a prestigious invitational showing at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival[27] with Hitchcock and Hedren in attendance.

Ub Iwerks was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Special Effects. The winner that year was Cleopatra. Tippi Hedren received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress in 1964, sharing it with Ursula Andress and Elke Sommer. She also received the Photoplay Award as Most Promising Newcomer. The film ranked No. 1 of the top 10 foreign films selected by the Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards. Hitchcock also received the Association's Director Award for the film.[28]

It also won the Horror Hall of Fame Award in 1991.[29]

Reception and interpretation

The Birds received mixed reviews upon its initial release. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times was positive, calling it "a horror film that should raise the hackles on the most courageous and put goose-pimples on the toughest hide." Crowther was unsure whether the birds were meant to be an allegory because "it isn't in Mr. Hitchcock's style to inject allegorical meanings or social significance in his films," but he suggested that they could represent the Furies of Greek mythology who pursued the wicked upon the earth."[30]

Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post called it "gorgeous good fun" in the vein of Hitchcock's earlier black comedy The Trouble with Harry, adding, "I haven't had this kind of merriment since King Kong toppled the Empire State Building."[31] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "For all the brilliance of scenes like the attack down the chimney, one rarely has a chance to suspend disbelief," but the review still thought that "there is still a great deal more to enjoy than carp at."[32]

“The theme [of the film], after all, is complacency, as the director has stated on innumerable occasions. When we first meet each of the major characters, their infinite capacity of self-absorption is emphasized. Tippi Hedren’s bored socialite is addicted to elaborately time-consuming practical jokes. Rod Taylor’s self-righteous lawyer flaunts his arrogant sensuality, Suzanne Pleshette, his ex-fiancée, wallows in self-pity, and Jessica Tandy, his possessive mother, cringes from her fear of loneliness.

With such complex, unsympathetic characters to contend with, the audience begins to identify with the point of view of the birds, actually the inhuman point of view...”

– Film historian Andrew Sarris (1998)[33]

Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times was among the critics who panned the film, writing that Hitchcock "was once widely quoted as saying he hated actors. After his 1960 'Psycho' and now 'The Birds,' it must be fairly obvious that he has extended his abhorrence to the whole human race. For reasons hardly justified either dramatically or esthetically, the old master has become a master of the perverse. He has gone all out for shock for shock's sake, and it is too bad."[34] Variety published a mixed assessment, writing that while the film was "slickly executed and fortified with his characteristic tongue-in-cheek touches," Hitchcock "deals more provocatively and effectively in human menace. A fantasy framework dilutes the toxic content of his patented terror-tension formula, and gives the picture a kind of sci-fi exploitation feel, albeit with a touch of production gloss."[35] Brendan Gill of The New Yorker called the film "a sorry failure. Hard as it may be to believe of Hitchcock, it doesn't arouse suspense, which is, of course, what justifies and transforms the sadism that lies at the heart of every thriller. Here the sadism is all too nakedly, repellently present."[36]

With the passage of time the film's standing among critics has improved, and it currently holds a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 96% based on 52 critic reviews with an average rating of 8.2/10, with the consensus: "Proving once again that build-up is the key to suspense, Hitchcock successfully turned birds into some of the most terrifying villains in horror history."[37] Film critic David Thomson refers to it as Hitchcock's "last unflawed film".[38]

Humanities scholar Camille Paglia wrote a monograph about the film for the BFI Film Classics series. She interprets it as an ode to the many facets of female sexuality and, by extension, nature itself. She notes that women play pivotal roles in it. Mitch is defined by his relationships with his mother, sister, and ex-lover – a careful balance which is disrupted by his attraction to the beautiful Melanie.[39]

The film was honored by the American Film Institute as the seventh greatest thriller and Bravo awarded it the 96th spot on their "The 100 Scariest Movie Moments" for the scene when the birds attack the town.[40]

Sequel and remake

Tippi Hedren on the set of The Birds II: Land's End (1994)

An unrelated sequel, The Birds II: Land's End, was released in 1994, with different actors. It was a direct-to-television film and received negative reviews. Its director, Rick Rosenthal, removed his name from it, opting to use the Hollywood pseudonym Alan Smithee.[41] Hedren appeared in a supporting role, but not as her original character.

In October 2007, Variety reported that Naomi Watts would star in Universal's remake of the film, which would be directed by Casino Royale director Martin Campbell. The production would be a joint venture by Platinum Dunes and Mandalay Pictures.[42] Hedren stated her opposition to the remake, saying, "Why would you do that? Why? I mean, can't we find new stories, new things to do?"[43] However, since 2007, development has been stalled. On June 16, 2009, Brad Fuller of Dimension Films stated that no further developments had taken place, commenting, "We keep trying, but I don't know."[44] Eventually, in December 2009, Martin Campbell was replaced as director by Dennis Iliadis.[45][46]

Several shooting scenes from the film are reenacted in The Girl, a 2012 HBO/BBC film that gives a version of the relationship between Hitchcock and Hedren.

In August 2017, the BBC announced they will be making a television series out of 'The Birds' for broadcast in 2018.[47] The series, from Harry Potter producer David Heyman, will bear a closer resemblance to the 1952 Daphne du Maurier novelette than the 1963 film, and rather than northern California, the birds will attack in Cornwall.[48] The pilot for the series is being written by Conor McPherson who adapted the original source material into a stage play in 2009.[49]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Stafford, Jeff. "The Birds". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on October 27, 2011. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  2. ↑ Box Office Information for The Birds. The Numbers. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  3. ↑ McCarthy, Michael (February 5, 2009). "Final cut for Hollywood's favorite dog". The Independent. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Morgan Brittany". IMDb.com.
  5. ↑ "Jeannie Russell". IMDb.com.
  6. ↑ "Darlene Conley". IMDb.com.
  7. ↑ "Dallas McKennon". IMDb.com.
  8. ↑ Trabing, Wally (August 21, 1961). "Alfred Hitchcock Using Sentinel's Seabird Story". Santa Cruz Sentinel. p. 4.
  9. 1 2 Hunter 1997b, p. 26
  10. ↑ Chandler 2005, p. 269
  11. ↑ Hunter 1997b, p. 30
  12. ↑ Hunter 1997a
    This short book was adapted by Sight & Sound in its June 1997 edition.
  13. ↑ Hunter 1997b, p. 27
  14. 1 2 Hunter 1997b, p. 29
  15. ↑ Mcgilligan, Patrick (2004). Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light. HarperCollins. p. 616. ISBN 0-06-098827-4.
  16. ↑ Raubicheck & Srebnick 2011, p. 92
  17. ↑ Gottlieb & Allen 2009, p. 23
  18. ↑ Auiler 1999, pp. 207–9
  19. ↑ Auiler 1999, pp. 209–217
  20. 1 2 Auiler 1999, p. 516
  21. ↑ "The Birds". TCM. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  22. ↑ "Blue" Gene Tyranny. "All Music Guide". AllMusic. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  23. ↑ Pinch & Trocco 2004, p. 54
  24. ↑ Nickety Nackety Now Now Now on YouTube sung by early country music singer Chubby Parker, recorded on Silvertone Records in 1927.
  25. ↑ "Top SFX shots No.6: The Birds". Den of Geek. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
  26. ↑ "Films that are screened Out of Competition are generally those that the Cannes selection committee really wants to recognize but don't quite fit the Competition criteria"
  27. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: The Birds". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved February 27, 2009.
  28. ↑ "69th & 70th Annual Hero Honda Bengal Film Journalists' Association (B.F.J.A.) Awards 2007-Past Winners List 1964". Archived from the original on February 21, 2008. Retrieved March 10, 2008.
  29. ↑ "Eek! Now There's A Hall of Fame For Horror Films". Sun Sentinel. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  30. ↑ Crowther, Bosley (April 1, 1963). "Screen: 'The Birds'". The New York Times: 53.
  31. ↑ Coe, Richard L. (April 12, 1963). "Hitchcock Is Still Quite the Bird". The Washington Post: B11.
  32. ↑ "The Birds". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 30 (356): 127. September 1963.
  33. ↑ Sarris, Andrew (1998) "You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet": The American Talking Film History and Memory, 1927-1949]]. New York: Oxford University Press. p.297 ISBN 0-19-513426-5
  34. ↑ Scheuer, Philip K (March 29, 1963). "'Birds' Pecks Away at Human Beings". Los Angeles Times. Part IV, p. 13.
  35. ↑ "The Birds". Variety: 6. March 27, 1963.
  36. ↑ Gill, Brendan (April 6, 1963). "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker: 177.
  37. ↑ The Birds at Rotten Tomatoes
  38. ↑ Thompson 2008, p. 97
  39. ↑ Paglia 1998
  40. ↑ "The 100 Scariest Movie Moments". BravoTV.com. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
  41. ↑ Tucker, Ken (March 18, 1994). "TV Review – The Birds II: Lands End". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  42. ↑ Graser, Marc; Siegel, Tatiana (October 18, 2007). "Naomi Watts set for 'Birds' remake". Variety. Retrieved June 21, 2009.
  43. ↑ Adler, Shawn (October 16, 2007). "Original Scream Queen Decries 'Birds' Remake As Foul". MTV. Archived from the original on August 8, 2009. Retrieved June 21, 2009.
  44. ↑ ""The Birds" Remake May Not Happen". Worst Previews.com.
  45. ↑ "'The Birds' Remake Gets A New Director?". Screenrant.com. December 3, 2009. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  46. ↑ "Rumor Control: 'The Birds' Remake Begins at the 'Last House on the Left'?". Bloody-disgusting.com. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
  47. ↑ "BBC Planning Adaptation of Hitchcock's The Birds". Screenrant.com. August 16, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  48. ↑ "The BBC is Making a TV Version of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds". Independent.co.uk. August 18, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
  49. ↑ "Because Nothing Is Sacred, BBC Is Set To Remake Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds'". Sciencefiction.com. August 20, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2017.

Bibliography

  • Auiler, Dan (1999). Hitchcock's Secret Notebook. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 0-7475-4588-X.
  • Chandler, Charlotte (2005). It's Only a Movie: Alfred Hitchcock: A Personal Biography. Simon and Schuste. ISBN 0-7432-4508-3.
  • Gottlieb, Sidney; Allen, Richard, eds. (2009). The Hitchcock annual anthology: selected essays from, Volumes 10-15. Wallflower Press. ISBN 978-1-905674-95-4.
  • Hunter, Evan (1997a). Me and Hitch. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-19306-4.
  • Hunter, Evan (1997b). "Me and Hitch". Sight & Sound. British Film Institute. 7 (6): 25–37.
  • Paglia, Camille (1998). The Birds. London: British Film Institute. ISBN 0-85170-651-7.
  • Pinch, Trevor; Trocco, Frank (2004). Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01617-3.
  • Raubicheck, Walter; Srebnick, Walter (2011). Scripting Hitchcock: Psycho, The Birds, And Marnie. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-07824-8.
  • Thompson, David (2008). "Have You Seen…?" A Personal introduction to 1,000 Films. New York: Knopf. ISBN 978-0-375-71134-3.
  • Vagg, Stephen (2010). Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood. Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-511-5.

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