The Birds [DVD]

Watched this when I was young, the best film for me, and one I will always remember. The actors in it where brilliant. This film is worth every penny. I'm 65 and still love it.

'The Birds'(1963)-I recently got a 2012'augmented reality' DVD of this film & was disappointedthe disc was the same one issued in 2005(with a different cover). So I've now purchased a 50th anniversary(2013)bluray edition- I'll give details of what's on the different discs:the DVD -The film(114mins) has clear soundiing English & German (mono) language options with subtitles in those + Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian & Finnish .The films Technicolor print wasn't 'remastered' ,but for the most part still looks good apart from a brief 'in the house bird attack' later on where the picture has some noticiable damage .Although this section is darker ,so the 'wear & tear' on the print doesn't stand out as it would have in some other scenes in the film. The real 'problem' with the picture on this disc is that it's still in old TV 4:3 ratio. The main extra is a very good 'Making of' (80mins) from 1999 (available with subtitles)-This is in 4:3 ratio, but has scenes from the film in 'widescreen'. The documentary has input from the screenwriter(Evan Hunter), many of the production + technical crew, with stars Tippi Hedren,Rod Taylor & Veronica Cartwright + others involved & audio segments with Hitchcock in conversation with Peter Bogdanovich ,& goes into detail about the inspired decision to use a sound collage of amplified & distorted bird sounds rather than a standard music score & much more ,this is very entertaining & it also makes it clear just how complicated a film this was to put together & make 'the fantasy premise' seem all too convincingly believable.The other extras are: A 'deleted scene', that is a few still images + some pages from the screenplay shown in order.The 'original ending'- more screenplay pages + storyboard images. An amusing(10min) Tippi Hedren screen test (with Martin Balsam standing in for Rod Taylor)A(3min) Universal News promotional from1963 for A.H. + 'The Birds'.A photo gallery featuring over 80 images -of promotional pics, on set action, advertising materials, posters ,screen cards etc . With a 5min promo 'trailer'( really a four and half-min A.H. comic set piece followed by 30secs of unnerving trailer) to finish. So a fine film(as you most probably know already) that doesn't seem to age and nearly always appears to have something in there you weren't previously aware of ,in a decent looking print ,a very good documentary + some other worthwhile extras. The BLURAY DISC-mine is an Italian copy(titled Gli Uccelli) but otherwise is the same as the standard UK one & is easy to navigate. To start with, the image is now in 1.85:1 widescreen(1080p Hi-Def) & has clearly been well restored,with the few scratches & blemishes removed. On my (non HD)TV the colours & depth are good + the 'special effects' still look convincing.The English audio is in 'DTS-HD master'2 channel with Japanese,French ,Italian ,German & Spanish options & with choice of 20 different subtitles.The Bluray has all the extras available on the DVD .+ A (14min)'Hitchcocks monster movie' feature ,a 14min audio segment with Hitchcock in conversation with Francois Truffaut(1962), a (9 min) Universal films restoration feature & a 9min Universal films backlot feature with M. Mann, S.Spielberg ,M.Streep & others.Unfortunately unlike some of Hitchcock's other films on DVD/Bluray there isn't a commentary feature ,but the improved image & reasonable prices this is available for make this a very attractive package on Bluray & if you've only got a DVD player the discs can be bought for bargain prices -making this one for your collection.So although having 'The Birds' available in its correct ratio available only on region1 DVDs was frustrating, finally getting the film in 'widescreen' with a nicely cleaned up print led to this Bluray, & I think one of my better purchases...

Hitchcock was always an innovator. Having created the first slasher movie with Psycho two years earlier, The Birds features yet another blonde (following on from Grace Kelly, Kim Novak and Janet Leigh), in the graceful and fur-swathed shape of Tippi Hedren as the film's central character, the heiress Melanie Daniels. So, in the wake of Paris Hilton's arrival in our lives, what better time to reappraise one of Alfred Hitchcock's best and most enigmatic films? Melanie's father owns a San Francisco newspaper and she is clearly a woman used to getting what she wants, as well as being somewhat renowned in the scandal sheets as a socialite and prankster. For those who think Hedren's peformance was rather vague and wooden, perhaps the comparison with Ms Hilton shows her to have, in fact, captured the aloof poise and intense self-belief that the priveleged wealthy seem to possess. A chance encounter in a pet store with principled lawyer Mitch Brenner(Rod Taylor), who knows all about Miss Daniels' pranks and disapproves of them, cleverly sets the film up for the events that unravel in the sleepy costal town of Bodega Bay, where Mitch's widowed mother (Jessica Tandy) and young sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright) live. Mitch is trying to buy a pair of lovebirds for his sister's birthday that weekend, but there are none in stock. Melanie, piqued at finding herself outmanouevered by Mitch when he pretends to mistake her for a shop assistant, uses her contacts at daddy's paper to track him down, orders a pair of lovebirds for delivery to her next day and sets off for Bodega Bay to surprise Mitch and Cathy. She arrives at BB in her expensive little sports car, all fur, gloves and high heels, with hair piled high on her head, but proves adept at commanding a boat as she crosses the bay to secretly drop off the birds at the Brenner house. She waits long enough to be spotted by her intended quarry, Mitch Brenner. Then she heads back across the bay as Mitch drives round to meet her, the seduction unfolding nicely, only to be violently struck on the head by a seagull as she is about to dock. And so the horror begins to unfold.What follows is pretty well known - the birthday party, the devastating birdstrike on the gas station, Melanie sitting outside the school, unaware of the number of crows landing in groups on the playground climbing frame as she smokes a cigarette and the children sing inside the school house. Still be shocked by Mrs Brenner's discover of the poultry farmer's body slumped in his bedroom and Hitch's innovative, silent series of short, sharp cuts from long-shot to mid- to close-up. The final claustrophobic attacks, while all the while the lovebirds sit peaceful and serene in their cage. Perhaps too much has been made of Hitchcock's fascination with blondes, and the suffering Hedren endured at times in this film - she had five days on set having birds thrown at her at one point. Apart from throwing birds at people, the oustanding special effects were achieved with multiple images, matte and an electronic soundtrack of bird squarks. Some may find the pace of the film's first half too slow for modern tastes. I say savour the quiet, still unfolding of the film (there is no music to the fim, a landmark decision which which lends the film a very eerie feeling). The whole film is set up beautifully - surely a young Steven Spielberg learnt some valuable lessons here which he used to good effect in Jaws to conjure up the detailed and believable depiction of a quiet holiday seaside town where nothing much happens. Watch for the initial frosty confrontation with Mitch's mother: herself elegant, hair piled up high and immaculately dressed for Bodega Bay, the symbolism is clear and she is clearly threatened of being usurped by a young woman for her son's affections, someting confirmed later by schoolteacher Annie. (In fact, sexual tension runs through the film - mother versus son's girlfriend, Melanie's attraction to a man who initially infuriated and repulsed her, the current and the cast-off female objects of Mitch's affection).The film is often described as enigmatic. It is so from the very start - listen for the sound of seagulls over downtown San Francisco in the film's first few moments. Is the unresolved ending a cop-out? Well, in this respect it apes the original Daphne du Maurier short story. We never know why the birds attack, or where it will all lead, but the radio is reporting birdstrikes at other coastal towns as the film ends. Are the lovebirds the focus for the attacks or is this merely a red herring? What about Melanie herself? Mitch's mother goes to see the poultry farmer because her hens havent been laying for weeks - are the roots of the attacks in fact set earlier than the events portrayed, and therefore nothing to do with Melanie or the lovebirds? To have had a successful resolution to the crisis (and the Mitch-Melanie relationship) would have made for an inferior film, demoting The Birds to the status of a fifties SF B-movie at once. Hitchcock once again made some bold and unconventional moves with his film-making, which led to unfavourable reviews from the critics at the time (think also of the furore surrounding having killed off his heroine halfway through Psycho, and the charges of voyeurism that damaged Rear Window's reputation for so many years until its "rediscovery" in the eighties). The Birds is another Hitch classic - watch it before the reported remake comes out. Close the curtains, shut the door and if you hear some noises from the chimney, well, it's probably only the wind.

Yes, this is a 4:3 TV version ratio of the film, made more obvious when you see the documentary in special features which shows multiple examples of the original film ratio. As long as you are not troubled by this, you ought to enjoy it. The lead up to the most memorable parts of the story might seem slow to a modern audience, but the perfection of the delivery when it comes is a joy to behold. The dolly shot towards the front door as Rod Taylor leaves the kitchen during a house assault still gives goose bumps. The use of sound also is a revelation. No music, just electronic reproductions of bird noises, but the impact is stunning. [The sound of flocks of birds departing as the beseiged household rise, looking upward, being a particular highlight]. It's a good print, a good film and if anyone wants to know how to put a movie together with enormous skill and invention, here is an ideal place to learn.