Melanie Daniels travels to Bodega Bay with two love-birds to woo Mitch Brenner who is there to see his family for the weekend. Unexpectedly, the local birds in the area begin to attack all of the human inhabitants of the area after her arrival.

The Birds is one of those films that everyone has heard of, whether they’ve seen it or not. My first introduction to the film was through Terror In The Aisles as it contained clips from the film. There was also an interesting clip of Alfred Hitchcock explaining that something shocking suddenly happening on the screen will shock the audience briefly. But if you show the audience what is about to happen you can build suspense and make the audience go wild in the cinema aisles! This was illustrated by the clip from The Birds that occurs at the petrol station with the leaking fuel.

The Birds is one hell of a film. I still can’t believe that this is Tippi Hedren’s first film. Her performance is amazing. Hedren and Rod Taylor make for one of the best leading couples I’ve seen in a film and one of the best looking. Their chemistry is fantastic!

Not only is The Birds scary as hell, but it’s also full of mystery. No one knows or discovers why the birds suddenly decided to attack all humans. Was it the arrival of the lovebirds? Was it the arrival of Melanie? The ending is just as mysterious. The couple just leave very slowly whilst surrounded by hundreds of the flying foes. This is another master stroke by The Master- audiences were used to explanations and answers. Hitchcock ripped apart that rule and showed that this isn’t necessary at all. In reality, the ending was so ominous because Hedren had had enough of the actual birds attacking her and said ‘No more!’ To get the birds to peck at her violently, the birds were actually tied to her and so they’d attack her to try to escape. One bird almost pecked her eye out.

The Birds is also possibly the most beautiful film I’ve ever seen. It’s almost as if each frame has been lovingly hand-painted. It’s breathtaking.

In fact, the only criticism I have of the film is whether to pick it as my favourite Hitchcock film over Psycho or Strangers on a Train or North By Northwest. But that’s criticism that any great film director would be more than happy with.

5 out of 5 stars