The charismatic daughter of a wealthy San Francisco newspaper magnate, Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) leaves for Bodega Bay with the ostensible purpose of delivering a pair of lovebirds. Gliding across the bay with her delivery, she finds herself attacked by a diving gull.
As part of the University's film festival this year, Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" is being shown in relation to the event's theme of "Animal Attractions." Even today, years after the movie's original 1963 release, the premise continues to haunt those who have seen the movie.
Like many Hitchcock films, the horror stems from a seemingly ordinary fact of everyday life. Who would think birds are capable of fatal attacks en masse? The very idea of birds attacking is preposterous, but when Mitch's (Rod Taylor) mother finds Dan Fawcett, a neighbor, "murdered" by the birds, the reality becomes far too clear.
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The only apparent reason for the birds' war upon Bodega Bay is Melanie's own arrival with the pair of lovebirds. Caught up in their gilded cage and, in actuality, only part of Melanie's practical joke on Mitch, the lovebirds almost seem to incite violence in the rest of the bird population. Hitchcock gives psychological tendencies to these typically unthinking creatures. Chillingly, the birds gather in the schoolyard before they begin to attack the children in the elementary school. This is not senseless violence, but a planned attack.
The scenes with the birds are alarmingly distressing, despite the outdated special effect technology. Viewers can only imagine what Hitchcock would have the capacity to do with the concept today. Mitch himself pushes gulls back through holes they have broken in the windows. Children run towards home, as mechanically controlled birds swoop down at their unprotected faces and legs.
Evan Hunter's screen adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's disturbing short story connects the birds' violence and the psychology behind it to the often animalistic obsession between man and woman. We see this most clearly through the attraction between Melanie and Mitch. Melanie is caught up in a gilded cage. Wealthy, well-traveled, and adored by both her father and the men in San Francisco, she hungers for something else. Mitch is the perfect opportunity for such escape.
Hitchcock certainly knows the definition of "animal attraction," and "Birds" perfectly suits this year's film festival. The very idea of the violence is impossible to ignore. "Birds" has withstood the test of time because its theme hints that deep down, our carnal desires make animals of all of us.
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