Filmmaker reacts to The Birds (1963) for the FIRST TIME!
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2022
- Hope you enjoy my filmmaker reaction to The Birds. :D
Full length reactions & Patreon only polls: / jamesvscinema
Original Movie: The Birds (1963)
Ending Song: / charleycoin
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Gang of birds jump your mom..what you finna do?
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RE-Watching THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012) Friday/Saturday! Enjoy the day!
I think The Miracle Worker would kick ass as reaction videos, just like some of these other older movies. It's got some very powerful stuff, in my opinion.
We finna throw hands
I will spit gasoline that I will syphon from the nearest car at the birds and throw a lighter...
only thing is i forgot to save my mom😅
Hey James, I looked up to see if you have watched ROSEMARY'S BABY but it seems you have not. PLEASE DO ! It is a MASTERPIECE with gorgeous cinematography, acting, editing, directing, score. And to see NYC in the late 60's is simply ICING ON THE CAKE !
This movie is two films into one. The first half feels like a romance film that has interesting ideas, but when the birds attack the party, the whole tone changes. It's very well done without even giving an explanation on why these birds are attacking.
It feels like the birds quite literally invade and entirely different film. Haha. Loved how this story unfolded!
@@JamesVSCinema such a great film. The part where the birds show up at the school is awesome as well. Loved your reaction!
@@JamesVSCinema It's kind of like Audition in that way, the story structure I mean.
Birds and sexual repression themes
@@yvonnesanders4308 Sexual repression themes in a Hitchcock film? Get outta here.
Did you like the score? Did you notice there isn't one? Yet the tension is all there. In fact, the silence is positively eerie. And once the attacks begin, the sound of birds is enough to perk your attention like a good score would. Hitchcock absolutely knew what he was doing.
Music directs our emotional energy in movies and tv. It can elevate the emotion in a scene, but it also contains our emotions. Without music we’re left to feel whatever we feel. It can get really uncomfortable because we’re not experiencing the typical emotional flow we’re used to. Hitchcock definitely knew that and used it in this one. I had a similar experience watching China Syndrome.
But longtime Hitchcock composer Bernard Herman was still involved as 'Sound Consultant'. So the bird sounds itself was 'music'
A little piano music at Mitch's house and the school kids' song.
I think the sounds of the birds are enough. Creepy in of itself.
The ending with Tippi Hedren getting attacked by birds in that room took 7 days of intense filming. She was emotional and mentally drained that filming was shut down for a week and she was in the hospital.
Hitchcock was weirdly fixated on Tippi Hedren and really tortured her, not just in the final scene. He then destroyed her burgeoning career. He was even cruel to her children (Melanie Grifith). Dakota Johnson is Hedren's grand daughter.
The Little girl in this, later in her career, was also in "Alien", "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978) and "The Witches of Eastwick". Her sister played "Penny" in the 60s TV show Lost in Space.FYI - The original script ending, They drive away from the house, we follow them on their way to San Fran. Rounding the bend to the Golden Gate Bridge reveals The Golden Gate Bridge covered in Birds... The End.
You left out the best part. She also played Violet Rutherford on Leave it to Beaver (a personal favorite of mine). A few of Beaver's other classmates are in the school and party scenes here as well. And, Richard Deacon (the guy in the apartment building hallway) who played Mr. Fred Rutherford (Lumpy and Violet's dad).
I was hoping James noticed how she killed that scene where she was crying in the car.
@@jillk368 and Beaver himself, Jerry Mathers, was in Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry.
@@AtomicAgePictures In the movie (as opposed to the clips James used) you'll see that there are a few other LITB classmates and guest stars around. Karl Swenson (known primarily to genxers as Lars Hanson on Little House on the Prairie) also played Eddie Haskell's father, in one, possibly two, early episodes. Later on, there was a different actor playing this role. Also Chucky and his real-life younger sister, sitting in the diner. There are probably more. I haven't seen this in a bit.
That voice !! I’m it’s been with her forever 👍🏼
My man! It is so refreshing to watch a reaction to an older film that doesnt waste time pointing out the lack of tools these movies had at their disposal at the time such as criticizing the lack of cgi or modern technology to make the bird attacks "look" better.
Love the reactions man!
That's the one thing I actually love about some lower budget, independent films. They spend more time writing a good story and even if it seems like just a copy of a copy of another movie, they way they do it and film it, just something about it, makes it feel more original. I don't bother going to the theater and have a hard time watching newer movies because they're always somewhere right in the middle. 2 1/2 to 3 stars. I have a bunch sitting in my wishlist...probably too many...and when I get a chance to watch them, I just can't be bothered.
Too many people think that older movies were rudimentary or something like that. Movies made a century ago were very sophisticated already.
@@tentsio Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator." Loved him since I was a kid, glad I didn't watch that movie until a few years ago after learning a lot more about WW2.
@@user-hx5dn1dt8f Great movie. I love "Modern Times" too.
Buster Keaton was another genius and fascinating figure from the silent era.
This movie is so open to interpretation, it’s almost like an art peice on the wall at a museum. The more you stare at it, the more questions you have about it.
I am not so sure about that. Hitchcock used symbolism very systematically I think. I would consider someone like Lynch for example being more open to interpretation by design.
the mother is played by the great Jessica Tandy. a real lady to the very end. my dad was in love with Suzanne Pleshette for decades. i think her performance as the teacher along with all the performances were so nuanced and complicated that you really believed everything that happened. you become so invested in the characters that you are willing to go along with them where ever they would have gone. Hitchcock was a master. maybe not a very nice man, but a master storyteller. as an aside, i think the phone booth scene where the birds attacked the town was brilliant.
Jessica Tandy was indeed a great actor and a great lady. And I think we all were in love with Suzanne Pleshette for decades.
Honestly, that reveal of the man with his eyes poked out is so much scarier without the music. And the fact that Hitchcock forces you to look at it closer and closer... very effective.
Jessica Tandy looks like she's about to throw up after seeing that, and when I first watched the film as a teenager I felt like I was too! So shocking and unexpected.
@@melanie62954 I was probably eight or so when I first saw this film on tv, and that shot terrified me! It was probably one of the shots I remembered most until I saw it again as a teenager; that and any shot where the birds were heavily congregated on telephone wires or the house at the end.
This was my first Hitchcock film. I was between 7 and 10 yrs old. That scene shook me!
That scene with the old guy with the poked out eyes is the only thing that really freaked me out as a kid watching this movie. Always loved this movie from the first time i saw it as a kid.
I saw a Hitchcock interview once where he said something like, "The audience should suffer as much as possible."
Tippi Hedren is mother to Melanie Griffin,who is mother of Dakota Johnson.Tippi was in two Hitchcock films:The Birds and Marnie(co-starring Sean Connery).Veronica Cartwright,the daughter grew up to be a busy actress.You might remember seeing her in Alien.Jessica Tandy (the mother) was married to Hume Cronyn and they were is several movies together :Cocoon,Batteries Not Included.
Yeah more Hitchcock reactions please. A lot more interesting to analyse on a technical or storytelling level than most mainstream movies today.
Its creepy that the whole thing with the birds is left unsolved at the end, but its always been creepier to me that Melanie sort of reverts back to a child and is left shell shocked by the final attack in the attic.
^^^ this sucks
There's now James Vs Cinema bots
@@kaylons what makes you think I'm a bot?
@@Superior_Productions Oh you weren't here when a Telegraph bot of James left an autoscripted comment trying to scam people.
So yeah.
I think hands down the most underappreciated thing about Hitchcock films is the dialog.
Also you mentioned the mother's cold response to Melanie. Some theorise that the birds are her anger and jealousy manifested. Notice that she is relatively unharmed throughout the film while Malenie, Annie and even Mitch are.
I really like this..! Thanks for the comment!
And notice how similar the mother and Melanie look? I think the mother is jealous of Melanie's youth and capacity to take her son's attention away from herself
Nothing better than respectful reviews of classic films. Thank you!
When the female lead was entering the pet store a the very beginning of the film, that was Alfred Hitchcock and his dogs exiting right in front of her.
I've loved this movie since I was a little kid, but as an adult I gained a deeper appreciation for how brilliant it is.
I'm so excited to see more people reacting to The Birds. I feel like a lot people think Hitchcock and gravitate to Psycho, North By Northwest, and Vertigo/Rear Window, and The Birds sort of gets pushed to the wayside. I love the atmosphere of this movie and I love the evolution of the character's relationships, especially Melanie with Annie and Mrs. Brenner. I hope you enjoyed it!
The Birds is not on the level of those films you name, to most. May not be as dark or thematic or as interesting as the films you name (minus north by northwest which is basically self-parody) but the ‘best’ Hitchcock film, as in the most perfect execution of his style, is Notorious
@@helvete_ingres4717 Thanks for sharing your opinion!
@@helvete_ingres4717 I don't know if I would put it at the level of Rear Window, Rope, or To Catch a Thief but I prefer this to Vertigo (which IMHO is the most overrated Hitchcock film) or Psycho (Psycho you just have to worry about one maniac killing you. Here you have to worry about millions of maniacs killing you.).
@@helvete_ingres4717 Hitchcock's black and white films in general are under-watched IMO. Notorious and Rebecca are my favorites but Strangers on a Train, Lifeboat, Shadow of a Doubt are all really good too.
@@helvete_ingres4717 A lot of people seem to forget "Rebecca" 1940 .... It did win Best Picture!
This is one of my favorites from Hitchcok, along with "Rear Window" and "Vertigo". Some people see a parallel between Melanie arriving at the town and "disrupting" the routine of the relantioships between the characters and the Bird attack disrupting the town's routine.
In the end, after passing by all these tribulations and this unexplained terror, the characters leave their petty differences behind and are finaly united as a familly, and you can see that when the Mom takes Melanie's hand between hers, finally accepting her as a new "daughter" and Melanie finally founds a mom figure to replace her bilogical mom that abandoned her and her father when she was a kid.
Legendary costumer Edith Head did the wardrobe for this film. She is probably the most famous and award-winning costume designer of all time.
Such a classic - the concept could have ended up so goofy under the wrong hands, but was done so well here.
I think we could do with more horror films made these days with the subtlety and world building like this.
I think what really makes this movie all the more intense is that there's no soundtrack or any form of music whatsoever, and I think that really works because, not to bring up the obvious or anything, but it makes a lot of the scenes in the movie not only more eerie and suspenseful, but it also makes the build to when the birds are on screen feel all the more terrifying and intimidating
So glad that you do the older films. Films like the Defiant Ones and Heat of the Night, Cool Hand Luke and The Great Escape along with Patton and The Dirty Dozen are so good and fun to watch.
Honestly, a Lovecraftian horror makes about as much sense as anything else.
You have this film, and then you have "Birdemic": the 2 greatest killer bird movies ever made. 😉
Birdemic is one of the worst movies ever made.
@@thrummer1953 The RiffTrax of it is outstanding, though.
@@thrummer1953 bad movies are good too
I’m beyond happy people like you are starting to make videos about this film. It’s one of Hitchcock’s great late periods films that is not talked about as much as rear window, vertigo or Psycho.
Thanks for this!
The movie is based on the 1952 novel of the same name with the same basic plot, but it takes place in Britain. The ending is much more dark and twisted. They are barricaded in their home like the movie and they gather from listening to the radio that the birds are slowly attacking the entire world and eventually the radio even goes silent because they were killed off too. They listen to airplanes crashing in the distance because the birds are even attacking and taking down planes lol. The book ends with it being implied that the entire family eventually starves to death in the house.
I don't know if you've seen Strangers on a Train, but it's my personal Hitchcock favorite. I love the story, and it also happens to have one of my favorite innovative shots of his, which I won't spoil for you in case you do watch it!
Me too have strangers on a train on laser disc and signed by the victim in the film
The movie that started my love of thriller and horror. Saw it as a pretty small kid and it planted the seed. I still watch it a couple times a year.
@@MsAppassionata not at all I love birds! I’m not one who gets a phobia over something that’s fictional.
@MsAppassionata I saw this as a small child and I grew up to be an animal rights supporter 😅
This was the first scary movie to give me a nightmare after I saw it as a child. I've been embarassed to admit that as an adult but, after re-watching it with you, I realize I've got nothing to be ashamed of. That really was a scary movie!!!
Alfred Hitchcock is the OG of cameo appearances. He makes a cameo in every one of his films.
He's the guy walking the two dogs out of the pet shop early in the film.
And those were his real life pet dogs too.
Bodega bay is so beautiful❤❤❤ I took my son there a couple years ago, I couldn't wait to show my mom the pictures, this was one of her favorite movies, RIP Mama❤❤❤
Something you said about the characters & their story, and the "horror" happening alongside them, made me think about the original Night of the Living Dead. I'd highly recommend checking that out if you haven't already. Really fantastic movie that goes so far beyond its sort-of creation of the modern Zombie film.
The conversation in the diner after the school attack reminds me EXACTLY of conversations we were all having at the start of Covid.
Is this an existential threat? What precautions should we take? What should we do if we have to leave town quickly? What if society cease to function? Are we overreacting?
Hitchcock is the GOAT. The dialogue and deeper themes throughout this movie make it more than just some lame horror movie. I still remember watching this as an 8 year old and getting freaked out when I saw the dude with his eyes pecked out! Keep up your excellent reactions!
The film is based on a book by Daphne DuMaurier. She didn't like Hitchcock's take on the story. I took a Film and Literature class and we saw/read DuMaurie's Don't Look Now with Donald Sutherland in 1973. It's very scary and a cinematically beautiful movie. When you get a chance, you should check it out.
I think you're 100% spot-on with the "cosmic horror" reading of this film - especially because of the ending! Not only do we NOT get a resolution, we also don't get an explanation of any kind. The event tearing the world apart is LITERALLY beyond our comprehension. And that earlier conversation in the diner further underlines the idea that human logic and conventional scientific reasoning are useless in the face of this event - whatever's causing it to happen, it's bigger than anything we can grasp. Doesn't get more cosmic horror than that!
Probably why I love it so much, Cosmic Horror is my favorite
The movie was inspired by a novelette by Daphne Du Maurier. Good book, I think Hitchcock made it into a better movie. The pharmacy I used to go to had a problem with a pair of blackbirds that nested in one of their trees. During nesting season they would attack anyone who got too close to their nest. You're walking along and something whacks you in the back of the head. I also was once chased by a goose that thought I was too close to his lady friends. After those experiences, this movie is terrifying.
There was originally a longer ending scripted and storyboarded. The reason Melanie had a convertible was that as they drive away the birds start to fly up & keep speed with the car. Glimpsed through the window are the ruins of the town- bodies and things wrecked. The birds start to peck through the fabric roof of the convertible, the script describing how shafts of light from each hole in the roof fall across the face of the group inside the car. Just as the roof is basically in shreds, the car makes it to the end of the curvy road to town and the highway straightens out and Mitch guns the engine away from the birds. There was a last line that was something like "It seems to be all clear ahead". If you search online you may be able to find some of the cool storyboards that went with this scene. The scriptwriter Evan Hunter was very disappointed this was not filmed but the story goes someone at Universal convinced Hitchcock that it would be a redundant attack. Hitchcock said also that he did not want a convenient explanation for the attack, with some sort of scientist all of a sudden saying "this is why the birds are attacking" like so many B sci fi movies of the day.
I am sure you'd love THE HAUNTING (1963). Almost no special effects, just the camera work to bring the tension.
One of my favs as a kid (this and the og body snatchers), so glad you got to enjoy the entire thing. The slow deliberate build up of suspense is masterful, the way the close up shots cut the background until he wants to show you what is there... just so well done. Anytime I see a flock of crows at a playground I wonder.... is it starting? haha
I love your reaction and expose of the movies on your channel. Yours is one of the more intelligent and provoking reactions. I like how much respect you give to movies like “The Birds”. Even though it’s far older than your years. It’s refreshing to agree with your opinion and know that you “get it”. Today’s movies has lost the storytelling aspect. It’s made for the lazy viewers. I’d love to see more reactions to these older films. Great job!
Absolutely! It’s really reassuring to hear others who feel the same way!
I like to see The Birds as a big inspiration for the zombie movies.
James, When this film was in pre-production a lot of movie studio's had closed their special effects dept. the only studio that had'nt was Disney. Ub Iwerks was working on new in camera effects and yellow screens for Mary Poppins. Hitch saw some of the early tests and asked if Walt would loan Ub. and his new effects, for The Birds. Ub Iwerks won an acadamy award for his work on this film. Cheers, Chris Perry.
James, another great reaction. Thank you. Please do more Hitchcock! I think that he, and also Akira Kurosawa, made more masterpieces than any other director. There are so many great films to choose from.
Years later there was a tv movie sequel also starring Tippi Hedren. It was a bomb and she has always said that she regrets to agreeing to be in it.
I love how you grow to care about the characters with so little time. Annie only gets a few scenes but you are heartbroken when she dies.
I like how smoking gives the character a reason to be outside, and fishing out and lighting a cigarette gives the character a finite moment of distraction. Like, she has a task that distracts her attention but then it ends organically, allowing the reveal.
This was the first Alfred Hitchcock movie I saw on VHS back in 1998.
It was released to celebrate it's 35th anniversary. It was also given a PG 13 rating even though it didn't exist in 1963.
The scene where the crows land on the jungle gym was on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
Now, whenever I see anything about this movie, I'm reminded of when my wife & I went to Galveston, Texas a few years ago. We ate on the patio of a seafood place and all was relatively well. Toward the end of our meal, a few birds started circling around, sitting on the fence, occasionally walking across the floor, etc. When we were getting ready to go, my wife was still picking at some fries, but I had to use the restroom. When I got back, she was gone. Turns out, as soon as the door closed behind me, the birds had attacked, landing on the table, ripping the food away from her, and generally causing trouble. My wife and a waitress had tried to drive them away, to no avail, so my wife had gone out to the street to get away from the monsters.
Birds are one of the few forms of wildlife that you still get to see if you live in a big city. You dont see lions or bears walking around the streets of Manhattan or Downtown Chicago, but all major cities still have the prescence of hawks, crows, ravens, eagles. Bird wildlife is everywhere.
What a great movie. The visual storytelling is phenomenal. I never quite realized before how Melanie dropping off the love birds is filmed like a suspenseful scene. That's so cool. I want to dissect that to see how Hitchcock did it. That would make for a great video essay.
I also like when the towns people are talking and suggesting what might be the cause of all the attacks; an act of God, nature's revenge on humanity, etc. I like how there are no conclusive answers, which is probably how such things would actually turn out. Also, note how aside from the piano playing in the background there is no soundtrack to the movie, just the shrill sounds of the birds. In the attack scenes, the bird sounds almost mimic the shrieking violins from Psycho.
When I first saw this as a young kid (my first horror flick) I theorized that the birds were set off by people smoking - everyone smoked in the day - and the fire at the gas pump, etc. Maybe not, but I couldn't figure out why they would do that. Early horror where nature reacts to humanity.
Alfred was patient in his pacing, letting things happen almost in real time. Letting audience be the camera documenting what the character, do, say and feel.
I love everyone’s voices and dialogue in this film, right down to the minor characters. I was like 10 when I first saw this and noticed even then it was on a different level of intense. Can’t imagine seeing this in theatres in 1963.
I think it very definitely qualifies as cosmic horror, and I think that's a great way to classify it. As a matter of fact, now that you have me thinking about it, it is really one of the purest cosmic horror stories ever told. Keep in mind that, at the end, not only do we not know why the birds were attacking, we don't know if they were only attacking in that town or if this was happening everywhere. The protagonists could be just as easily driving to into oblivion rather than safety. And there is no way to even guess or theorize.
I was 11 or 12 years of age when I first saw this film, and it made a lasting impression. It's one of my top nostalgic creepy movies from my past, and I still love to watch it today. 😉♥
I've had a phobia of birds my entire life, even tiny ones, because my mother let me watch this movie too damn young. Like at 6 or 8, around 1970. Fr.
Got into wildlife photography a few years ago and got over it significantly.
You might like this trick that Hitch pulled. This movie made such an impression on me when I saw it as a Kid that on my first visit to California in 2007 I drove up the Coast Road from San Francisco to Bodega Bay just like Melanie, it's a beautiful drive. I asked where the Schoolhouse was and one of the locals chuckled and told me it was 6 miles away in the inland town of Bodega! So Hitchcock filmed the Kids running out of the School down the hill there and then cut to the Kids running down the hill in Bodega Bay! .... Either that or those Kids were Olympic Runners!
A report came out that the actress that got attacked in the attic was shown advances by Hitchcock and she turned him down. He told her that they were going to use mechanical birds for the attic scene, but he ended up using real birds in a way to get back at her.
From an article, "He originally told her that only mechanical birds would be used for the scene, but live animals were brought in when the models apparently weren't good enough. Shooting the scene was terrifying, lasting FIVE DAYS as crew members threw live seagulls, ravens, and other birds at her. She eventually broke down when one almost pecked her eye, and a doctor ordered her to take a week off to recover from the exhaustion of it."
You have to watch Rear Window (1954), which is an American mystery thriller by Hitchcock!
Not really a horror movie but a dark lyric poem about the fragility of life. Many characters have a fear of abandonment. Hitch had them say lines like 'I see' and 'you see' but they see nothing at all so when the birds attack they attack their eyes. Thats Art!
If I saw this movie today I would just know a sequel is coming out soon because of the ending. In the 60's that wasn't really done. I like that it allows the audience to come up with their own theories of how and why this started and what happens after the movie ends.
in the 40's Hitch made several anti-nazi movies; this one is during the Cold War, the birds can be seen as a metaphor for the "Red menace".
ive seen a couple of your reactions,but never had you that excited,great reaction..!
Responding to your video of about a year ago or more. Have heard many theories about this story and having watched this many times, the bird attacks seemed totally connected to Melanie Daniels character. Near the end of the film, Mitch's Mom shows compassion to Miss Daniels as we see her as totally vulnerable. Miss Daniels is no longer able to control a situation and has basically surrendered. The final scene of them driving off it is like the birds are celebrating and have won. Dynamic horror story for sure but also an amazing character study. Loved your reactions as a film maker. Awesome.
Something happened in '61 in California where birds were crashing into houses, ppl, n so on. Residents of the area say it was like being in a horror movie. What caused this to happen is still debated
That's one of my favorite films. I love the characters and their interactions, among other things. Really well written.
I love that Veronica Cartwright is in this. She goes from being in one class horror movie as a child to another horror classic as an adult (Alien). Plus she gave leave it to Beavers first kiss on the TV show.
Go to the beach and with a bag of popcorn feed the gulls. So many flock around, you wonder what they are going to eat when you run out of popcorn.
Hitchcock’s story- boarded ending to “The Birds” included driving through a devastated town, one last acceleration as birds pecked through the rag top, and a final shot approaching San Francisco with the Golden Gate Bridge covered in birds.
I think the brilliant thing they did with this film is not have a soundtrack. It really promotes the suspense. You're always uncomfortable and on high alert.
I remember the first time my wife and I considered watching this with our kids for the first time. We decided to watch it again before doing so, and decided to wait. The next morning our oldest woke us up telling us that a bird was poking its head through a hole in their ceiling and looking to get it.
We dodged a bullet on that one...
Sup man I’ve been watching you for a while now and never commented, I always knew you had attention to detail when it comes to film but when you pointed out the spotlight following the girl with the lantern, that was next level, anyway just wanted to give credit where credits due, keep up the good work bro 🤙🏻😎
I need to go back and watch all of his films. When I was around 8 or 9, my family would watch reruns of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". The stories were great even to me then. His movies would sometimes play on Saturdays after "Creature Feature" hosted be Dr. Paul Bearer.
Alfred was very subtle, and I notice he love it in the dialogue.
When I was in college, I took courses on film making. One of the directors we studied was Alfred Hitchcock. He used this example to explain the best way to build suspense and horror in a movie. "The best way to keep an audience on edge is this... "Let's say there's a room full of people. Let's also say that that there's a bomb in the room and going to kill everyone. Instead of just having the bomb explode and everyone dies, "TELL" the audience that there's a bomb in the room, but don't show them why, where or when it's going to blow up. Focus on character development and mood. Build the suspense by NOT having the bomb explode, but YOU, as the audience, know that it could at any second." That what Hitchcock did with "The Birds". (You knew the birds were going to attack, but you didn't know when or why). He called it psychological horror. Another little fun fact in his book was that EVERY movie he made, he made a cameo appearance in. Sometimes it's a photo on a wall, or a face in the crowd, a photo in a newspaper, etc. To this day I haven't found him in "The Birds".
Did you notice that the Love Birds were not affected?
Also I really appreciate that there was no music score.
Great choice!
When the tides change, so do the birds. When the tide ebbs, you can get out safely. Vice-versa when the tide flows in, that's when the birds go nuts. I don't really understand why, but I still love this movie! Great reaction, bud!
This movie was released one year after the book "Silent Spring" by Rachael Carson was published. That book was all about how we were inadvertently killing off birds through our use of the pesticide DDT. The pesticide was killing insects, the birds ate the insects, and the DDT was making the bird's egg shells thin and fragile so that they would break before hatching. The book is often cited as the beginning of the modern environmental movement. I have always ASSUMED that this movie was Hitchcock posing the question what if the birds realized what we were doing to them and said fuck it, if we're going out, we're taking y'all with us.
When it's on, it's on.
James: these birds, man.
That could be the tagline for the whole movie. These birds, man.
As for reasoning behind the bird attacks, there was none. Even in the book it was never explained.
A lot of people don't realize how good the special effects are in this movie. It's 1963 and the way the birds are composited into some of the shots holds up better than a ton of movies that came out in the decades since. It's already tedious to work on VFX with modern equipment, I can't even imagine what they had to do.
I do know thanks to Dead Meat that the shot of the seagulls swooping in after the gas explosion was a combined shot of real overhead footage of the fire, a matte painting, and that crazy special effect technique to put the birds over top of the background footage.
This movie did for special effects what Jurassic Park would do again 30 years later. It's honestly a marvel how good the effects really are for the time period
James I loved your reaction/commentary. I just liked the way you had great appreciation for the story and the characters outside of the bird attacks. I'm not surprised though, since you're a cinema guy yourself. And just like you I too think the writing, directing, and dialogue are very well done.
Notice how Classy everyone is.
I love your reaction more than any other because you appreciate the storyline and the characters. I commend you for that.
Thanks so much Deborah!
Great reaction, James! I feel like the birds are just like a metaphor for any kinda force of nature/disaster (hurricane, tornado, bombs) and how it disrupts everything that is going on at anytime
NICE. Totally see that.
Thanks for the reaction... good commentary. I read Alfred Hitchcock's explanation of this film in an interview (this is my paraphrase): "The only thing I can say about that film is - 'If you play with Nature, it has a way of making you pay for it' ".
Leave it to Hitch to create a life-long suspicion of birds gathering together. Thanks, dude, job well done.
I loved that you knew about fleshing-out characters and using dialogue to deepen characterization. This was an enjoyable video.
Happy to hear!!
@@JamesVSCinema I worded my comment badly. What I should have written was "I liked that you frequently explained why the use of different scenes, the placement of characters and even the various exchange of dialogue, the choice of words, etc. throughout the movie was very effective and helped with characterization and the forward movement of the plot." The video was a definite learning experience for me. Thank you, James.
Oh hell yeah!! Very excited to see more classics on this channel! I know they probably don't bring in the big numbers like.... idk... Star Wars??? But I really appreciate peppering in these films in between the more popular crowd pleasers.
I used to love this movie a LOT as a child 😆 This was Baby's first horror movie for me.
Oh yeah, we’ve been rocking films like these from the very beginning hahaa. Art is everywhere and so is learning!
Nice reaction😊 Never seen the whole thing, thanks for the experience.
I saw this reaction in my recommended videos listed on RUclips yesterday and decided to watch it later. as I am a big fan of your reactions. I got up and went for a walk in the park and saw a crow trying to attack a woman walking in the opposite direction. My wife and I laughed and said maybe she had a shiny object in her hair. The next think I know, BAM! The same crow hit me in the head with claws open... really hard, then landed on the ground and stared a hole in me. There were a lot of noisy hooligan crows all around and I thought they were laughing at me. It didn't break the skin but it hurt. My hair is long and silver and I guess the crow was attracted to it. My friend mentioned The Birds and how much it scared her and I decided not to watch your review yesterday. But tonight I can't sleep so here I am. Love your reactions!
What a moment, damn! Hahaha happy to see ya on this video!
Thanks, loved the viewing! I've seen the movie several times over the years and what hit me this time was the mother and the age gap between Mitch and Kathy. My brother is 13 years older than I am, and there was a baby who died shortly after birth between us, so I know how the dynamics of family relationships change after the loss of a child. In the film, the close relationship with with the Mother and Mitch, the daughter clung to Melany from the moment that the Love Birds arrived, not to her mother. My guess is that the mother lost at least one child, between Mitch and Kathy. I think that if Mitch had married younger and gotten "out of the nest" (at least stopped calling her "Dear" and "Darling") - the mother would have shown more love and closeness - attachment - to Kathy. When Miss Daniels had her breakdown, the mother found someone who needed her. Melany had lost her mother when she was young, and even with the coldness (probably as cold as her mother had been), bonded with the mother.
A romantic comedy/drama interrupted and take over by crazy birds with no real explanation as to why and no real conclusion, and it's great! Hitchcock knew his stuff. 😁
When I was younger we would go to Bodega Bay all the time...and I remember being in that coffee shop and that phone booth. It's freaky when you have actual memories of locations that are in films this old...and from the exact timeframe that they were filmed.
One possible metaphor can be seen in the cages in the bird store at the beginning.
Later on the humans are ending up in cages - houses, cars, phone booths … basically a reversal of power.
This movie may have also inspired a trand of 'animal revenge' horror movies, that became popular in the following decade - where you got snakes, spiders, ants, etc. attacking whole townships.
He hit it right on the head - the characters, the dialogue, the acting all make you pay attention to the people and you get engaged by them. Therefore, as the birds increasingly take over the plot, you care about the characters and therefore you are paying attention to how the birds are affecting them. And the relationships develop throughout; the obvious one being Mitch and Melanie, but also, Lydia and Melanie. Melanie doesn't have a mother, Lydia starts to assume that role for her, and she accepts that maybe Melanie and Mitch will be a couple, and she's OK with that.
I saw this when I was pretty young. I was a weird kid, though. My suspension of disbelief never kicked in. But the atmosphere and the bird noises through the distortion did get under my skin.
I have seen animal-attack movies starring ants and spiders before.
Plus there are numerous giant animal movies out there.
Yes I am so excited for this!