I need to watch this one again. Critics didn't think it was Hitchcock's best work. It was definitely outside his typical style in a few ways, so maybe that was part of it. I've read in a few places that the story was inspired by a real event: some years earlier in the coastal town of Santa Cruz where thousands of sea birds were poisoned by a natural occurring toxin in an bloom of algae ("red tide"). The birds flew into town where they crashed into buildings, cars, people. It must have been quite unsettling. However fortunately no pretty blonds were pecked to death.
There is some strange synchronicity in the universe. I stepped outside from a busy cafe I was dragged to by family - the noise and people too much for me and triggering my anxiety - sipped my coffee and checked my emails to find this post pop up. Ive always had an affinity with this movie, the retro-ness of it brought many laughs among my friends: “quick! Cover your eyes with your pants” was a joke cry we made seeing seagulls gathering. I am, in fact also wearing extremely high waisted pants on this particular day. This article was a joy to read and brought me much comfort at a fitting time. Thank you for writing and sharing this story - it’s ripple effect is delightful :)
I have a very clear memory of watching "The Birds" with my dad late one summer evening. My dad was not a movie guy--as a general rule, he could not sit still to save his life, plagued by PTSD and general anxiety as the result of a career in the military and a deeply traumatic childhood--but, nevertheless, we sat there together in our living room and watched it until midnight. He laughed in the moments when I covered my eyes. At the end, when I said "That's it?", he said "That's how this guy's movies usually go." (Did he actually know anything about Hitchcock in general? That seems unlikely, but he wanted to provide an answer to my question.)
All of which is to say that I think of my dad every time I watch "The Birds," which is a weird and wonderful thing. He was the guy who taught me to garden, and to respect both the beauty and the danger of the outdoors--and, apparently, to accept the fact that we don't always get clean answers to the questions life presents. Thank you for reminding me of that this morning.
Well I just added a Bodega Bay visit to my bucket list. I remember The Birds well or at least I think I do, along with several other Hitchcock movies I've seen. Alfred Hitchcock was called a genius, and The Master of Suspense, and I think rightfully so.
I looked him up, and I could hardly believe that he never won an Academy Award for Best Director. I've always liked suspense movies but not horror movies, at least in the way that I define those two terms.
If pressed to name my favorite horror film I think it would be Carrie. The prom scene and the ending are hard to forget.
I'm so glad I read this as 1. I have recently moved from the carefree person with no anxiety to the person with sometimes debilitating anxiety. 2. I watched that movie when I was about 8 and it scared the wits out of me. I dont think mom knew what us kids were watching on a rainy Saturday afternoon until she asked me to go into the ATTIC and get her some hangers! 3. I watched it again as an adult and thought why did this frighten me so as a child? 4. That was revisited when i was sitting in my yard watching my chickens holding a friend's sleeping baby and a large amount of crows began gathering in the fir tree right behind me. Our house sat on a hillside and I could see the crows flying towards the tree from a long ways off, from many different directions. It was super creepy, I immediately thought of the movie, but kind of cool at the same time. They flew singly from many different directions over a 30 min period. I would say there were 100+ crows in the tree, they made a huge racket. I was a bit nervous, what were they going to do next? All at once whoosh, they all flew away at once.
from a technical standpoint it is a singular brilliant achievement. Long before CGI, the film relies of in camera effects to such a staggering degree that the final scene of the film had dozen of overlaid matte shots. There were at least 350 effects shots in it, and then there were the trained birds.
Making them perch on cue required ingenuity; they cut ping pong balls painted dark grey in half and put them over the birds heads. This worked quite well. The crows were the smartest; one in particular took to Tippi but did not like Taylor at all and bit him numerous times.
Hitch also did things like have the crew throw birds at her without her knowledge just to get the right reactions. When she is shown being carried out of the house that was for real, she actually had a medical emergency during the shoot.
No matter what one thinks about it overall, it is a massive achievement in film never to be duplicated...
Really great piece, and as someone who deals with anxiety, this hit home. On another note, though, I struggle with appreciating Hitchcock's work (which I love) and separating the man from his art, knowing how horrendously he treated Tippi Hedren. I know that's not the topic here, but that likely informed her on-screen performance.
This is an astute observation about the movie in particular and the genre in general. Perhaps not many people watch horror to relieve themselves from momentary anxiety or that is not the intended purpose of the script originally, as pointed out. But rather, the sheer volume of such content produced and played out, and the audience it garners is surprising. As mentioned, I belonged to the other side who would ask plainly, why would someone watch horror when there's enough horror in life already. This became a major point of discussion when myself and three other friends who were all fans of horror wanted to know why I wouldn't watch horror. I still haven't gotten a clear answer to that question and never understood why would someone prefer watching horror movies and this post is really helpful in deciphering a psychological role played out while watching a horror movie. This is an interesting proposition worth considering and ponder over to. Beautifully written.
I saw it recently, first time since I was a kid, and the thought came to me that the arrival of the pair of caged lovebirds accounted for it. A rebellion of nature. Particularly of birds, who are a symbol of freedom. Enough's enough! I know that interpretation doesn't get much play. But I remember long ago seeing a promo by Hitchcock, next to a caged bird, and he sticks his finger in the cage and the bird bites it. In a humous way, he hints that why wouldn't the bird bite it? There is much about birds in the elaborate hard-to-get flirting that starts in the bird shop.
I read that Daphne du Maurier didn't care for the film. Her book is set in Cornwall, England, shortly after WWII, and I think an allegory regarding the Nazis was intended. The setting and characters are very different.
I need to watch this one again. Critics didn't think it was Hitchcock's best work. It was definitely outside his typical style in a few ways, so maybe that was part of it. I've read in a few places that the story was inspired by a real event: some years earlier in the coastal town of Santa Cruz where thousands of sea birds were poisoned by a natural occurring toxin in an bloom of algae ("red tide"). The birds flew into town where they crashed into buildings, cars, people. It must have been quite unsettling. However fortunately no pretty blonds were pecked to death.
I think i need to read the book now
There is some strange synchronicity in the universe. I stepped outside from a busy cafe I was dragged to by family - the noise and people too much for me and triggering my anxiety - sipped my coffee and checked my emails to find this post pop up. Ive always had an affinity with this movie, the retro-ness of it brought many laughs among my friends: “quick! Cover your eyes with your pants” was a joke cry we made seeing seagulls gathering. I am, in fact also wearing extremely high waisted pants on this particular day. This article was a joy to read and brought me much comfort at a fitting time. Thank you for writing and sharing this story - it’s ripple effect is delightful :)
Thank you so much!!
I have a very clear memory of watching "The Birds" with my dad late one summer evening. My dad was not a movie guy--as a general rule, he could not sit still to save his life, plagued by PTSD and general anxiety as the result of a career in the military and a deeply traumatic childhood--but, nevertheless, we sat there together in our living room and watched it until midnight. He laughed in the moments when I covered my eyes. At the end, when I said "That's it?", he said "That's how this guy's movies usually go." (Did he actually know anything about Hitchcock in general? That seems unlikely, but he wanted to provide an answer to my question.)
All of which is to say that I think of my dad every time I watch "The Birds," which is a weird and wonderful thing. He was the guy who taught me to garden, and to respect both the beauty and the danger of the outdoors--and, apparently, to accept the fact that we don't always get clean answers to the questions life presents. Thank you for reminding me of that this morning.
Thanks so much for sharing this story!
Well I just added a Bodega Bay visit to my bucket list. I remember The Birds well or at least I think I do, along with several other Hitchcock movies I've seen. Alfred Hitchcock was called a genius, and The Master of Suspense, and I think rightfully so.
I looked him up, and I could hardly believe that he never won an Academy Award for Best Director. I've always liked suspense movies but not horror movies, at least in the way that I define those two terms.
If pressed to name my favorite horror film I think it would be Carrie. The prom scene and the ending are hard to forget.
I'm so glad I read this as 1. I have recently moved from the carefree person with no anxiety to the person with sometimes debilitating anxiety. 2. I watched that movie when I was about 8 and it scared the wits out of me. I dont think mom knew what us kids were watching on a rainy Saturday afternoon until she asked me to go into the ATTIC and get her some hangers! 3. I watched it again as an adult and thought why did this frighten me so as a child? 4. That was revisited when i was sitting in my yard watching my chickens holding a friend's sleeping baby and a large amount of crows began gathering in the fir tree right behind me. Our house sat on a hillside and I could see the crows flying towards the tree from a long ways off, from many different directions. It was super creepy, I immediately thought of the movie, but kind of cool at the same time. They flew singly from many different directions over a 30 min period. I would say there were 100+ crows in the tree, they made a huge racket. I was a bit nervous, what were they going to do next? All at once whoosh, they all flew away at once.
from a technical standpoint it is a singular brilliant achievement. Long before CGI, the film relies of in camera effects to such a staggering degree that the final scene of the film had dozen of overlaid matte shots. There were at least 350 effects shots in it, and then there were the trained birds.
Making them perch on cue required ingenuity; they cut ping pong balls painted dark grey in half and put them over the birds heads. This worked quite well. The crows were the smartest; one in particular took to Tippi but did not like Taylor at all and bit him numerous times.
Hitch also did things like have the crew throw birds at her without her knowledge just to get the right reactions. When she is shown being carried out of the house that was for real, she actually had a medical emergency during the shoot.
No matter what one thinks about it overall, it is a massive achievement in film never to be duplicated...
Really great piece, and as someone who deals with anxiety, this hit home. On another note, though, I struggle with appreciating Hitchcock's work (which I love) and separating the man from his art, knowing how horrendously he treated Tippi Hedren. I know that's not the topic here, but that likely informed her on-screen performance.
This is an astute observation about the movie in particular and the genre in general. Perhaps not many people watch horror to relieve themselves from momentary anxiety or that is not the intended purpose of the script originally, as pointed out. But rather, the sheer volume of such content produced and played out, and the audience it garners is surprising. As mentioned, I belonged to the other side who would ask plainly, why would someone watch horror when there's enough horror in life already. This became a major point of discussion when myself and three other friends who were all fans of horror wanted to know why I wouldn't watch horror. I still haven't gotten a clear answer to that question and never understood why would someone prefer watching horror movies and this post is really helpful in deciphering a psychological role played out while watching a horror movie. This is an interesting proposition worth considering and ponder over to. Beautifully written.
I saw it recently, first time since I was a kid, and the thought came to me that the arrival of the pair of caged lovebirds accounted for it. A rebellion of nature. Particularly of birds, who are a symbol of freedom. Enough's enough! I know that interpretation doesn't get much play. But I remember long ago seeing a promo by Hitchcock, next to a caged bird, and he sticks his finger in the cage and the bird bites it. In a humous way, he hints that why wouldn't the bird bite it? There is much about birds in the elaborate hard-to-get flirting that starts in the bird shop.
I read that Daphne du Maurier didn't care for the film. Her book is set in Cornwall, England, shortly after WWII, and I think an allegory regarding the Nazis was intended. The setting and characters are very different.