A Reel 50: THE BIRDS

“It’s the end of the world.”

This month marks the 50^th anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS.

In 1961, residents of a small town in California awoke to find a bird species by the name of the Sooty Shearwater slamming into their rooftops, and their streets littered with dead birds. This was a real event which Hitchcock, fresh off the success of PSYCHO (1960), was inspired by. For further inspiration, he adapted Daphne du Maurier’s novella The Birds, (1952) which also told a story of a community attacked by seabirds in suicide-like missions. This story was also based on a true event.

Hitchcock, known in circles as the Master of Suspense, put together a very strong cast including Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, a young Veronica Cartwright, and in her first role ever, Tippi Hedren. In typical Hitchcock fashion, the film was put together using new methods. The score was very sparse, using only an eerie, electronically-produced soundtrack. The special effects shots were done at Walt Disney Studios utilizing a new compositing process for blending several images in the bird-attack sequences.

The film was a success financially and critically, and was nominated for Oscar for Best Special Effects. Tippi Hedren (who would go on to star in Hitchcock’s next film, MARNIE in 1964), won a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year. Today, THE BIRDS appears on several Top 100 lists by the American Film Institute.

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THE BIRDS place in history would be the template for humans being attacked by insurmountable forces they cannot understand or fight back against. If you are looking to get educated on the influence of THE BIRDS, try watching Hitchcock’s film back-to-back with M. Night Shyamalan’s SIGNS (2002). The similarities are so many it’s nearly the same film. But the thing that separates THE BIRDS from any other invasion/attack film is that the threat is based on something real: birds. Birds which we see every day. Hitchcock clearly knew that he would be invoking fear into anyone strolling down the street or boardwalk where any common bird lurks about. That is part of his genius, and the lasting power of THE BIRDS.

"I have never known birds of different species to flock together. The very concept is unimaginable. Why, if that happened, we wouldn't stand a chance! How could we possbily hope to fight them?"