Notable cast/crew: Tippi Hedren as Melanie Daniels. Suzanne Pleshette as Annie Hayworth. Rod Taylor as Mitch Brenner. Jessica Tandy as Lydia Brenner. Veronica Cartwright as Cathy Brenner. Costumes Designed by Edith Head. Sound Consulting by Bernard Herrmann.
Running time: 120 minutesDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
MacGuffin: Why are the birds attacking?
Hitchcock cameo: Walking his dogs out of the pet shop
Hitchcock themes:
- Blondes
- Birds
Verdict: This is an entertaining film if you don't think too hard about a lot of the characters' decisions. Rod Taylor looks the part of the rugged hero, but Tippi Hedren remains pretty annoying throughout the film. In fact, most of the women throughout the film are pretty annoying with the exception of Suzanne Pleshette who unfortunately gets killed off. All in all, not Hitchcock's best film, but still enjoyable for suspense, cheap thrills, and fine special effects for its time.
The technical aspects are particularly impressive. The movie features 370 effects shots. The final shot is a composite of 32 separately filmed elements as well as painted elements. The shot filmed above the town as the gas station burns is again a mixing of a central shot of the people and fire which is composited with a second painted matte. The entire town surrounding the activity in a strip in the center of the screen is a painting. The angle was considered a "God's eye view" shot by Hitchcock because it is a done from an objective angle looking down on the town that no person could have. The shot looking back on Bodega Bay from across the bay is all done with matte paintings of the town composited with film of the bay.
There is no musical score for the film except for the sounds created on the mixtrautonium, an early electronic musical instrument, by Oskar Sala, and the children singing in the school. The sound of reel-to-reel tape being run backward and forward was used to help create the frightening bird squawking sounds in the film.
Rod Taylor claims that the seagulls were fed a mixture of wheat and whiskey. It was the only way to get them to stand around so much.
Out of five bananas, I give it:
The technical aspects are particularly impressive. The movie features 370 effects shots. The final shot is a composite of 32 separately filmed elements as well as painted elements. The shot filmed above the town as the gas station burns is again a mixing of a central shot of the people and fire which is composited with a second painted matte. The entire town surrounding the activity in a strip in the center of the screen is a painting. The angle was considered a "God's eye view" shot by Hitchcock because it is a done from an objective angle looking down on the town that no person could have. The shot looking back on Bodega Bay from across the bay is all done with matte paintings of the town composited with film of the bay.
There is no musical score for the film except for the sounds created on the mixtrautonium, an early electronic musical instrument, by Oskar Sala, and the children singing in the school. The sound of reel-to-reel tape being run backward and forward was used to help create the frightening bird squawking sounds in the film.
Rod Taylor claims that the seagulls were fed a mixture of wheat and whiskey. It was the only way to get them to stand around so much.
Out of five bananas, I give it:
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