The Birds (1963)
Country: US
Technical: col 119m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette
Synopsis:
A city girl is invited down to the coast by her new boyfriend, and gradually reports come in of birds behaving in unusual ways.
Review:
Hitch's adaptation of Du Maurier is a free elaboration transferred to California. It featured some mechanical and visual effects for the birds, as well as trained animals, and Herrmann's contribution eschewed musical instruments in favour of electronic sounds. Hedren's unpleasant experience has been well documented, but there are several strokes and sequences in the director's best manner, including the attack on the town centre, the gathering of crows on the climbing frame and the departure by stealth. It would be his last great film: it takes an idea and builds and builds on it until there is nothing left to do with it. And so it ends. Few would have had the nerve to do that, or been allowed to!
Country: US
Technical: col 119m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette
Synopsis:
A city girl is invited down to the coast by her new boyfriend, and gradually reports come in of birds behaving in unusual ways.
Review:
Hitch's adaptation of Du Maurier is a free elaboration transferred to California. It featured some mechanical and visual effects for the birds, as well as trained animals, and Herrmann's contribution eschewed musical instruments in favour of electronic sounds. Hedren's unpleasant experience has been well documented, but there are several strokes and sequences in the director's best manner, including the attack on the town centre, the gathering of crows on the climbing frame and the departure by stealth. It would be his last great film: it takes an idea and builds and builds on it until there is nothing left to do with it. And so it ends. Few would have had the nerve to do that, or been allowed to!
Country: US
Technical: col 119m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette
Synopsis:
A city girl is invited down to the coast by her new boyfriend, and gradually reports come in of birds behaving in unusual ways.
Review:
Hitch's adaptation of Du Maurier is a free elaboration transferred to California. It featured some mechanical and visual effects for the birds, as well as trained animals, and Herrmann's contribution eschewed musical instruments in favour of electronic sounds. Hedren's unpleasant experience has been well documented, but there are several strokes and sequences in the director's best manner, including the attack on the town centre, the gathering of crows on the climbing frame and the departure by stealth. It would be his last great film: it takes an idea and builds and builds on it until there is nothing left to do with it. And so it ends. Few would have had the nerve to do that, or been allowed to!