Review The Birds (1963)

[High Plains Drifter]

A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people.

On to the next movie.....


MARNIE....

https://www.imdforums.com/threads/marnie-1964.1312/#post-7584


Back to the previous movie.....

PSYCHO....

https://www.imdforums.com/threads/psycho-1960.6035/

 

[Elliot Thomas]

One of Hitchcock’s most intriguing and relentlessly thrilling films- mostly set in a quiet coastal Californian town- sees flocks of birds attack the local inhabitants for no reason. Debutant Tippi Hedren, in a career best role, plays the visiting San Francisco girl caught in the midst of all the mayhem. It’s unclear to me what Hitchcock is trying to say here (leaving it up to the audience, maybe?) but this pic packs a terrifying punch; he definitely put his leading lady through the ringer! One of his very best.

 

[Carol]

Another blood-curdling Hitchcock masterpiece I clearly saw far too young. For years (having never dared to see it again) I thought it was in black and white because we had a b-&-w TV. Same with Marnie. The black and white thing turned out to be true of Psycho though. I think the scariness of The Birds works more because, well, birds are everywhere - whereas American motels aren't in England so I can keep the idea of Mother and son Bates at a safe distance. Also, for a short while we had a rescue budgie that was clearly biding its time... sharpening its beak on cuttlefish and its claws on the sandpaper at the bottom of the cage. It was tiny, but well hard. And don't talk to me about poultry - once I was feeding friends' chickens and the cock went berserk and took a lump out of my leg. And the seagull in Llandudno that nearly had my dad's finger as well as his chips... and people get sentimental about the old Bird woman in Mary Poppins...blah!

 

[TheSowIsMine]

This is an amazing film. The characters are good, great atmosphere and then there is the lack of music, which works so well in this film.
That smoking scene at the school is one of the most awesome scenes in a movie.

 

[ant-mac]

Another blood-curdling Hitchcock masterpiece I clearly saw far too young. For years (having never dared to see it again) I thought it was in black and white because we had a b-&-w TV. Same with Marnie. The black and white thing turned out to be true of Psycho though. I think the scariness of The Birds works more because, well, birds are everywhere - whereas American motels aren't in England so I can keep the idea of Mother and son Bates at a safe distance. Also, for a short while we had a rescue budgie that was clearly biding its time... sharpening its beak on cuttlefish and its claws on the sandpaper at the bottom of the cage. It was tiny, but well hard. And don't talk to me about poultry - once I was feeding friends' chickens and the cock went berserk and took a lump out of my leg. And the seagull in Llandudno that nearly had my dad's finger as well as his chips... and people get sentimental about the old Bird woman in Mary Poppins...blah!

It may interest you to know that the original short story by Daphne du Maurier is set in her native Cornwall in the mid to late 1940s.

And the ending is truly horrific...

Spoiler

The main character runs out of cigarettes.

Oh, the humanity!

 

[Carol]

set in her native Cornwall

I know her part of Cornwall quite well (once had to take a boat across the bay to Fowey (her home town for a while) to buy sausages - I always thought it was amazing that the same person wrote the Birds and Rebecca - then was totally gobsmacked to learn she'd written Don't Look Now as well.

 

[ant-mac]

I know her part of Cornwall quite well (once had to take a boat across the bay to Fowey (her home town for a while) to buy sausages - I always thought it was amazing that the same person wrote the Birds and Rebecca - then was totally gobsmacked to learn she'd written Don't Look Now as well.

And don't forget JAMAICA INN.

Such a shame that both she and Hitchcock were displeased with the end result of his film version.

 

[Carol]

And don't forget JAMAICA INN

Now that's one I haven't read - so decisions, decisions, the old film that even the director didn't like, or the recent TV series that was apparently inaudible - hmmm. Maybe I'll have a massive catch-up of Poldark before I decide - sorry Cornwall, other counties are available.
(In fact, just finished last episode of Broadchurch - (hope it's showered with awards in the fullness of time). What is it with the West Country? And no, I haven't felt any need to see the remake of Straw Dogs!

 

[Doctor Omega]

BBC Planning New Version Of “The Birds”




“Harry Potter” film series producer David Heyman is collaborating with The BBC on a new TV adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s 1952 novella “The Birds”.

Digital Spy reports that rather than remaking the classic Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name, the mini-series will be a much closer adaptation of the original story which is notably different, darker and bleaker than the film and has more of an apocalyptic self-contained under siege tone.

Set in a small Cornish seaside town just after WW2, the story follows a family who begins to notice the birds in their local area behaving strangely and aggressively depending upon the tides. Soon radio reports come in of attacks across the UK and the father boards up the house as the birds aggressively lay siege to their home.

Only the basic premise of the birds attacking, along with select scenes (the chimney, the victim with pecked out eyes) made it into the Hitchcock film.

Playwright Conor McPherson will adapt the work which is unlinked to the Platinum Dunes film re-imagination in development a decade ago, a version that didn’t get off the ground despite repeated attempts.


The original movie can be found here......



https://www.imdforums.com/threads/the-birds-1963.2221/

 

[duzit]

@Doctor Omega,
Thanks for the info, I'm very interested. Please keep us posted...

 

[Doctor Omega]

Lux Radio Theater - The Birds - Old Time Radio - Daphne du Maurier

Daphne du Maurier's novelette about nature striking back, adapted for the Lux Radio Theater.

Lux Radio Theater - Episode #838 - The Birds - aired on July 20, 1953

 

[Doctor Omega]

Thirty years before Daphne Du Maurier wrote the short story on which the movie was supposedly based this book was released, in which London's inhabitants were mysteriously set upon by avian predators.

Frank Baker, the "likeable church organist" who penned it was naturally upset and wrote to Daphne, who "sympathised".

Hitchcock simply ignored him.

Baker then considered suing Universal Studios, but his legal counsel advised him against it, telling him that the two stories were markedly different, but some commentators feel that the Baker story is closer to Hitchcock's style.



From "THE BOOK OF FORGOTTEN AUTHORS" by Christopher Fowler.....