The Birds: Movie Review

As a technical film, "The Birds" is an instant legend. Hitchcock was masterful in his capability to put on the veil of fear and mayhem with one of the most forgettable things around us - birds. But the film is without its faults. The lack of a solid ending, explanation and the haphazard love story is something that really shook us out of the film's grasping atmosphere.

Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) is a socialite who has had much notoriety in and around San Francisco for her pranks. When she meets a man (Rod Taylor) at a bird shop, she immediately finds herself getting the same dose of her medicine. Enthralled, she finds out more info on the man and finds out that he goes to Bodega Bay every weekend. Wanting to one-up her handsome prankster she decides to go to Bodega Bay. Once there, the two instantly find a connection between each other but the happy times do not last long. Melanie notices that the birds around the bay are growing more and more aggressive by the day and soon the town finds itself under attack.

"The Birds" is considered to be one of Hitchcock's landmark films and watching it, we cannot deny that. The man truly is the Master of Suspense transforming the common bird into one scary entity. Hitchcock works with the visual and the aural senses (and even in some scenes lack thereof) to eke out every drop of scare from a scene. What's even more amazing is that even with its age, the film holds up well. Some of the practical effects may seem crude when compared to more modern standards but there were also key moments that had us literally in awe. One of our favorite scenes is near the end where Melanie tries to go to the attic which was easily the peak of the film's suspense and shows great camera work that even trumps current films. What we didn't like with "The Birds", as controversial as this may sound, is the very anti-climactic ending. The film literally just ends. There's really no concrete resolution, no revelation, no explanation to why the birds have been attacking in the first place. Some may argue that it is by design but we actually like our film's to have even an inkling of resolution. Acting-wise, Tippie Hedren and Rod Taylor were great but we did not like how their budding relationship developed on-screen. It just felt off and rushed. Maybe having a love story this was a requirement to films back in the day but now, it feels totally unnecessary to make "The Birds" work. In the end, we still get why "The Birds" is considered to be one of the greatest films made but we have to be honest that we were left disappointed with its ending.

Rating: 3 and a half reels





Why you should watch it:
- great atmosphere and suspense
- it doesn't really show its true age

Why you shoudln't watch it:
- the ending was abrupt and anti-climactic
- no resolution and revelation to why the attacks are happening