The Birds (1963)
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/
I really enjoyed this. The fact that it takes nearly an hour for the titular villians to start attacking in force, and has still been a very interesting movie up until that point says a lot about Hitch's skill. The leads were excellent, which is typical of a Hitchcock movie of the time. In fact, just about all the acting is terrific, save for the children who are fairly unbelieveable, but what are you gonna do.
There are some terrific shots in this one. This has some of the best looking color cinematography of that era, and the film is full of iconic shots (such as the crows gathering on the playground). Another great thing about this movie is the special effects. They hold up remarkably well, and while some look a tad dated, on the whole they are still pretty believable, which is incredible when one considers the relative difficulty of pulling off the effect of a flock of birds attacking people for no good reason in 1963. Also the farmer with the eyes plucked out must've been a pretty daring move at the time.
An interesting thing about this movie is the complete lack of a score. Hitchcock's movies have some of the greatest and most memorable scores, but he completely forgoes the use of one with The Birds, but it works to great effect, it seems to emphasize the seriousness of the problem the people of Bodega Bay have.
I can see that this movie must have had an influence on one of my personal favorite directors, George A. Romero. It has all the great characterization dystopian and distressful feel that is typical of Romero's work. Basically, if you swap the birds for zombies, The Birds would be a fine zombie flick. One of the great successes of these films is they spend an ample time acquainting you with the characters before the shit hits the fan, so you are more emotionally invested in them.
All in all, this is another of Hitch's masterpieces and is an example of him at the top of his game.
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/
I really enjoyed this. The fact that it takes nearly an hour for the titular villians to start attacking in force, and has still been a very interesting movie up until that point says a lot about Hitch's skill. The leads were excellent, which is typical of a Hitchcock movie of the time. In fact, just about all the acting is terrific, save for the children who are fairly unbelieveable, but what are you gonna do.
There are some terrific shots in this one. This has some of the best looking color cinematography of that era, and the film is full of iconic shots (such as the crows gathering on the playground). Another great thing about this movie is the special effects. They hold up remarkably well, and while some look a tad dated, on the whole they are still pretty believable, which is incredible when one considers the relative difficulty of pulling off the effect of a flock of birds attacking people for no good reason in 1963. Also the farmer with the eyes plucked out must've been a pretty daring move at the time.
An interesting thing about this movie is the complete lack of a score. Hitchcock's movies have some of the greatest and most memorable scores, but he completely forgoes the use of one with The Birds, but it works to great effect, it seems to emphasize the seriousness of the problem the people of Bodega Bay have.
I can see that this movie must have had an influence on one of my personal favorite directors, George A. Romero. It has all the great characterization dystopian and distressful feel that is typical of Romero's work. Basically, if you swap the birds for zombies, The Birds would be a fine zombie flick. One of the great successes of these films is they spend an ample time acquainting you with the characters before the shit hits the fan, so you are more emotionally invested in them.
All in all, this is another of Hitch's masterpieces and is an example of him at the top of his game.
posted by will at
9:59 PM
