The Birds [DVD]

One of my most favorite movies of all time. I think I’ve watched it well over 10 times. Alfred Hitchcock was a genius in his generation. Well made movie. Scary too !

What a great movie. I have watched this over and over when it was available since its release in 1963. I was little but I remembered.

A 1950s scary movie to watch, birds attacking humans, unnerving images Great Movie to watch!!

In 1960, Hitchcock turned a corner from making suspense films into psychological horror with Psycho. Two years later he followed that with "The Birds", while not really in the horror genre, (no monsters, mad killers, zombies, etc...after all, they're just birds...we see them every day...) manages to make an everyday object terrifying. As a kid growing up in the '60s,.those films earner him the reputation of a horror film maker, an impression that wasn't corrected until I became familiar with his earlier masterpieces. Great set up, he never explains why the birds attack or gives us a clear resolution. To do either would likely put the film into sci-fi or horror genres. Rod Taylor, often underrated, is great as Mitch, a guy dealing with a semi-crazy (al!st) stalker, a domineering mother, a far too young little sister, and a woman suffering from a bad case of unrequited love. In many ways, birds are the least of his problems. The role doesn't need a Cary Grant, and Taylor was under plays the part, trying to be an everyman. Despite his youth and fitness, he's no action hero here, instead he's an average guy in an unknown situation. Well crafted, well shot with great effects, Hitchcock gives us spooky chills when required in an otherwise setting of eerie calm. Hedren does okay, she's not my favorite Hitchcock blond, it would be interesting to dwell on whay a better or more experienced actress could have done with the role. Nice to add this to my collection. I recently bought "Rear Window" and it seems to have the same DVD application.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS> I TRIED TO KEEP IT TO A MINIMUM BUT THERE"S NO OTHER WAY TO DISCUSS THE FILM. I have to say that Amazon's streamed picture is absolutely beautiful in its clarity and color, a demonstration-worthy image. Streaming has come a long way. Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds has over time, become a classic among classics. Along with Psycho it is one of the two films most associated with him. It's scenes are still remembered. It does not matter if he made some better films, this will be one of his most immortal. Ask someone what Rebecca was about or even North by Northwest or Vertigo. Hitchcock was at the top of his form in the early 60's Since 1954's Dial M for Murder he had made a succession of films that were artistically superb and mostly very popular with audiences. He had been smart enough to work relatively independently and not be assigned films by some studio head. Both Psycho and The Birds were closer to horror than anything he had previously done and both broke cinematic norms. The Birds was slightly disappointing in it's day in terms of box office. Though it made five times its cost and was one of the ten biggest films of 1963 (grossing 11.4 million), it paled in comparison with Psycho, the number two box office film of 1960 that made an astounding 32 million or 40 times its cost. Psycho had been a national sensation in the fall of 1960. It was a major topic of conversation and even kids like myself were aware of it even if our parents wouldn't let us see it. Everybody kept the secrets of the film, too. It was kind of like a new thrill ride: people dared each other to see it. Psycho violated a major unspoken rule of films by killing off its ostensible heroine mid-film. But it was a satisfactory film for the audience because in the end things were resolved and justice was served. The Birds was something else. It violated cinematic norms in a much greater way than Psycho. It had no psychologist at the end to explain everything to the audience, and most of all The Birds had an open and unresolved ending. So unresolved was it that when the group slowly pulls away in Melanie's Aston Martin there was no traditional title saying "The End". This truly disturbed people in a way that Psycho didn't (some people are still disturbed by it). Technically The Birds belonged to a long chain of sci-fi films where some kind of monster disrupts normal life (Frankenstein and Dracula farther back or any number of atomically mutated, gigantic creatures in the fifties). No matter what, the source of the trouble is found and the menace killed, often only when a sudden hunch or discovery shows a way. The Birds didn't do this and the word of mouth was that people were confused by it. Thus it didn't catch on as big with the general public. But over the years its reputation has grown and its scenes have become famous. Who can forget Melanie sitting outside the playground while the schoolchildren sing "Rissedy Rossity" or the birds pecking through the back door after Mitch has boarded up the house? The Birds was quite prophetic in its way. It came out in early 1963, before the Kennedy assassination that forever changed the country. Up to then, since the mid 50's the country was full of an optimism and a feeling that everything was going to work out beautifully. (This, of course was not true for everyone but it was the general tenor of the times). In Bodega Bay everybody leaves their doors unlocked. But beneath that all kinds of problems were lurking that would eventually break out. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring had just been published. Until then no one had any idea of environmental problems, and that's just one example. Looking back from today's vantage point it seems a remarkably prescient film: the birds have, in fact, come home to roost. Within the film reasons were only guesses and unsatisfactory ones at best. In the famous restaurant scene Mrs. Bundy, the ornithologist (and great plot device) suggests, "It's mankind, rather, who insists upon making it difficult for life on this planet." while the town drunk quotes Ezekiel and offers a theological explanation as God's wrath. But neither suggestion sticks and they are abandoned. It's not that Hitchcock was himself socially prophetic. He had been inspired by a 1961 incident when thousands of seagulls had crashed into homes on the Monterey Coast; in that case because they had eaten small fish tainted by poisonous plankton. He remembered that he had already bought the rights to du Maurier's short story with the intention of using it for an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Everything works in this film, even the things that some people criticize. The actors, thrown into a typical Hitchcock stew of psychological issues, are all perfect in their roles. Rod Taylor's Mitch is supposed to be emotionally distant. Tippi Hedren was supposed to be somewhat aloof and buttoned down. She did not have much of a career due to her problems with Hitchcock, but she owns this role forever. Jessica Tandy seems a bit old to have an eleven year old daughter in Cathy (Veronica Cartwright), but the ages do work out. Suzanne Pleshette is great as Annie Hayworth, Mitch's old fling and current town schoolteacher. Even the small roles handled by character actors are memorable. The special effects are a little apparent at times, especially during the bird attacks but they were state of the art in their day and still mostly hold up. In a film this good you don't question things like that. The schoolhouse is actually miles inland from Bodega Bay but you'd never guess that from the film. That final shot where they pull out of the driveway? That's a composite of 32 separately filmed parts. And the lack of music is brilliant. It's the first thing you notice as the film begins, that something is odd about this opening, even if you don't quite figure out what it is. Later on the silences are deafening.

Enjoyable old movie.

This movie was amazing. I can see why it is so beloved.

The movie "The Birds" is a Hitchcock classic! The movie film location, Bodega Bay, in Northern California, is memorable and beautiful. But the film is more than great scenery, as Hitchcock weaves a story around personal attractions, emotions of fear and dependence, contrasts of rural and urban living, and ultimately, how individuals come together to support one another during crisis. All of this interpersonal testing, growth, reconciliation, and bonding ... fostered by some unexpected bird behavior!

Einfach ein Klassiker, den man gesehen haben muss! Vor allem für jene, die mal bei der Hollywoodtour im Phantasialand waren :-P

Premessa: per film, cd musicali e simili, non rilascio mai una recensione sul contenuto artistico, non è questa la sede. Dirò solo che "Gli uccelli" è un capolavoro assoluto del cinema mondiale - e su questo difficile non essere d'accordo - e segna l'esordio della grande Tippi Hedren, la cui carriera fu stroncata proprio da Hitchcock per non nobili motivi. Il film è molto datato, siamo nel 1963, ma questa rimasterizzazione non lascia nulla a desiderare per colori, definizione, audio. Buono il contenuto degli extra, che comunque per il film non possono essere abbondanti (allora non usava...). Prezzo giusto, confezione buona, tempo di consegna ottimo. Va a sostituire una vecchia copia in VHS

Classic movie

有名な作品、アニマルパニック(ホラー)映画の元祖。ひたすら、無数の鳥が襲ってくる。シンプルに怖い。 ヒロインの美貌、ヒーロー役のイケメンぶりが黄金時代のハリウッド映画ですね。 子どもの頃から知っていたが、ちゃんと観たのは、50年後になった。こんなお話だったんですね。 車オタクの私としては、ヒロインの愛車が、名車アストンマーチン DB2ドロップヘッドクーペだったのが、さすがヒッチコック、センスいい、と思いました笑笑

Arrived in excellent condition and in time and works perfectly, Great Movie!