The Second Master of Suspense Blogathon–“The Birds” (1963)

I first saw The Birds in the 90s when I was in middle school. It was supposedly “very scary” but I didn’t find it scary in the slightest. In fact, back then and even now, I find parts of it very funny. Because of Hitchcock’s known fondness for macabre humor, it’s hard to know whether Hitchcock purposely intended for these scenes to be funny. There are also parts of this film that I find very bewildering. I also love the birds in The Birds and think that they are 100% the heroes of the film.

The peach-faced lovebirds are adorable and need their picture in this article.

The Birds, based on Daphne du Maurier’s 1952 short story of the same name, starts with socialite and known party girl, Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) in a San Francisco pet shop. She seems to just be browsing. The shop proprietor, Miss Inch from The Parent Trap, steps away for a second. While she’s out of earshot, lawyer Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) enters the shop looking for a pair of lovebirds for his sister Cathy’s (Veronica Cartwright) birthday. Mitch recognizes Melanie as the party girl whose picture he saw in the newspaper. It seems she had been arrested for pulling a practical joke and due to her notoriety as a raucous socialite, she made the local newspaper. Knowing that she doesn’t work at the pet shop, Mitch pretends to mistake her as an employee and asks her technical questions about birds. She tries to pretend that she knows about birds, but fails. Mitch tells her that he knows about her and leaves. Resenting that Mitch made her out to be a fool, Melanie purchases the lovebirds and decides to deliver them to Mitch herself.

Mitch and his mother (or lover?) Lydia

Melanie ends up following Mitch to his weekend home in Bodega Bay, about an hour outside of San Francisco. When she arrives in town, she asks around town for the location of Mitch’s home as well as the name of his sister. She’s directed to the home of the local school teacher, Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette) who is Cathy’s teacher. In addition to learning Cathy’s name, she also learns that Annie is Mitch’s ex-girlfriend who broke up with Mitch over his overbearing mother, Lydia (Jessica Tandy). Melanie also earns an invitation to stay with Annie at her home. As an aside, the whole Mitch/Lydia dynamic is odd. First of all, she seems much too old to be Cathy’s mother. It would be more believable if Cathy were Mitch’s daughter. This change in the storyline wouldn’t affect the plot. But aside from that, there are also scenes between Mitch and Lydia, where they oddly seem like romantic partners versus mother and son. I find some of their scenes strange.

Anyway, Melanie ends up renting a boat and rowing across the bay to Mitch’s farmhouse. She breaks into his home and delivers the lovebirds. She then returns to her boat so she can wait for Mitch to enter the home and find the lovebirds. He does and quickly finds Melanie. When Lydia meets Melanie, she is cold to her, because she resents any woman in her son’s life. She is very much the jealous lover even though she’s Mitch’s mother. Anyway, it is after Melanie’s burglary of Mitch’s home is when the birds start attacking!

The birds assemble on the jungle gym, ready to make their move.

Melanie is hit by a seagull upon returning to shore to return the boat. Mitch sees her and tends to her injury. Later, the children at Cathy’s birthday party are attacked by a flock of birds. Throughout the film, there are random bird attacks, which are unexplained. Never once in Hitchcock’s narrative does he try to offer a rational explanation for the bird attacks. The randomness and severity of the attacks is what lends the horror to The Birds. Hitchcock also opted to not use any sort of soundtrack or score, instead choosing to only utilize the sound of the birds to punctuate the action in the film. There are also large chunks of the film where there is no sound at all, except the diegetic and ambient sounds present within the film.

The birds finally do what the audience wanted to do–put an end to that god awful song.

The absolute best example of Hitchcock’s use of silence and specific diegetic and ambient sounds is in the climactic scene when the birds attack the children at the school. To get this off my chest, I have to say that the song that the kids sing is so annoying and so awful, that I don’t blame the birds for attacking. The birds were doing the audience a favor. That song is irritating. I applaud the birds for putting an end to it. This is why they are the heroes of the film. Hitchcock also uses silence and diegetic sound very effectively at the film’s end, when the Brenner family walks an injured Melanie out of the house into the car, while the birds sit perched in silence. It’s very eerie and uncomfortable.

The hysterical mother in the diner.

Earlier in this article, I mentioned there are scenes that I find funny. Some scenes I think are intentionally funny, like the lovebirds leaning into every curve while Melanie is driving. One scene that I doubt is supposed to be funny but is funny is the scene when Mitch and Melanie are trying to find Cathy after the bird attack at the school. They go to Annie’s home and find Annie dead on the stairs, victim of the bird attack. Then, Melanie asks “Where’s Cathy?” Suddenly, Cathy pulls open the curtains and is sobbing in the window. For whatever reason, Cathy’s hysterical crying combined with the dramatic curtain pull makes me laugh. I know that’s probably terrible. Unfortunately, I cannot find a photo of Cathy in the window to support my statement. The other part that makes me laugh is the distressed mother in the diner. I also love that the other diners, like the bird lady, casually discuss the murderous birds. The distressed mother’s children are unaffected by the talk, but the mother is determined that her children are scared to death. I choose to believe that this mother deserves the stress as payback for wrecking Henry Fonda and Vera Miles’ lives with her false accusations in The Wrong Man.

Melanie in the phone booth

One of the highlights of The Birds is the big explosion at the gas station. The birds attack a gas station attendant and he and the other employees run inside. Because of the attack, the gas attendant drops the gas hose on the ground, leaving a trail of gasoline. The birds start to attack and Melanie takes refuge in a phone booth. The scene of Melanie in the phone booth with birds hitting the glass walls is one of the famous scenes in the film. This scene concludes in spectacular fashion with a customer lighting a cigar at the gas station, igniting the massive trail of gasoline. A huge explosion levels the gas station. Melanie returns to the diner. Then, the distressed mother launches into her diatribe, accusing Melanie of bringing about the bird attacks and being evil.

MOTHER: Why are they doing this? Why are they doing this? They said when you got here, the whole thing started. Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from? I think you’re the cause of all of this. I think you’re evil. EVIL!

Doreen Lang as “Hysterical Mother in the Diner” in The Birds (1963)

I love that The Birds does not have a resolution. As far as we know, the birds are still out there, running Bodega Bay.

The birds reign supreme at Bodega Bay

The Master of Suspense Blogathon- “Rebecca” (1940)

“Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”

Joan Fontaine as “Mrs. DeWinter” in Rebecca (1940)

Rebecca, based on Daphne Du Maurier’s novel of the same title, is the devastating gothic thriller that served as Alfred Hitchcock’s first American film. At the beginning of the film, a young woman (Joan Fontaine) whose first name is never learned, stops the wealthy Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) from jumping off a cliff. de Winter is a widower whose wife Rebecca perished some time earlier. Later, the young woman and Maxim meet again in the lobby of a hotel. It turns out that the young woman is a companion to an acquaintance of Maxim’s, Mrs. Van Hopper (Florence Bates). While Mrs. Van Hopper chastises the young woman for not being more grateful of her surroundings, she and Maxim steal glances at one another. Eventually the young woman and Maxim enter a courtship and marry. Maxim brings his new bride, the new Mrs. de Winter, to his estate titled, Manderley.

Shots like this epitomize the creepy, dreamlike quality of the film.

Throughout the film, the new Mrs. de Winter never seems to be able to live up to the standard set by her predecessor. Rebecca de Winter was a prominent member of society, always the perfect hostess, giving the perfect party in her immaculate, ornate home. Despite having just married and presumably still in the throes of newlywed bliss, Maxim is cold to his new wife. He is condescending, such as when he tells her to “eat up, like a good girl” at dinner (ick) and makes a point of telling her what they’re doing, versus asking her if she’d like to do whatever. Mrs. de Winter always seems like a wide-eyed fish out of water in this story, never seeming confident as to what her place is in the household.

Joan Fontaine as “Mrs. de Winter” and Judith Anderson as “Mrs. Danvers.”

Another person in the Manderley estate who makes things difficult for Mrs. de Winter is Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), the housekeeper who took care of the home when Rebecca lived there. Mrs. Danvers almost has a fanatical obsession with Rebecca. It makes you wonder if she was actually in love with Rebecca, versus highly devoted. Mrs. Danvers is terrifying in this film. During filming, Alfred Hitchcock instructed Judith Anderson to refrain from blinking during her scenes. Her continual eye contact, combined with her black Victorian high-necked gown makes Mrs. Danvers an intimidating and frightening villain in the film.

Mrs. de Winter is portrayed as mousy and somewhat plain–a far cry from the glamorous and elegant Rebecca de Winter. Mrs. Danvers makes a point of telling her new boss about Rebecca and how she could not possibly compare. Rebecca de Winter was beautiful, accomplished in everything, popular, intelligent, basically everything that anyone could want in a person. Mrs. Danvers doesn’t hide the fact that she doesn’t think much of the new Mrs. de Winter. At one point in the film, she convinces Mrs. de Winter to dress in a replica of the last dress Rebecca wore at the last costume party she attended before her untimely death. Maxim is absolutely horrified. Oof.

Eventually, we learn the truth about Rebecca and Maxim’s relationship and it makes it even more confusing as to why Maxim is so devoted to this woman. I have to assume that part of his devotion is a response to trauma and sheer heartbreak. That’s the only explanation.

Laurence Olivier as “Maxim de Winter” and Joan Fontaine as “Mrs. de Winter.”

The set decoration of Manderley is fantastic. The set is a massive, cavernous, empty house. As Mrs. de Winter ambles about inside, she looks small and lost. The large set lends to her feelings of isolation and loneliness as she moves room to room and sees no one. The fireplace is larger than she is. The breakfast table looks like it’ll seat 50 people and Mrs. de Winter sits there alone. Many of the exterior shots were just models and many of the unused, but seen portions of the home are matte paintings. The cinematography and use of the matte paintings gives Manderley an eerie, yet ethereal quality. As if Mrs. de Winter is forever in a dream state.

Rebecca was Joan Fontaine’s first starring role and she is excellent. When I first saw her for the first time in The Women, I wasn’t impressed. I thought she was just this namby pampy simpering woman. Then I saw her in Rebecca where her meekness and mousy quality worked to their advantage. Mrs. de Winter is terrified of her new life. She used to be a commoner, working as an assistant to the rich, and suddenly she’s thrust into high society, expected to fill the shoes of a woman who was beloved by her society peers and who seemed to do everything perfectly. Mrs. De Winter is constantly seen with a wide-eyed look of terror, sitting with hunched shoulders, as she tries to absorb her surroundings and her new life. Her feelings of self-consciousness and anxiety leap off the screen. I feel uncomfortable on Mrs. de Winter’s behalf when she has to deal with Maxim and Mrs. Danvers. After seeing Fontaine in Rebecca, she’s now one of my favorites, especially when she plays against type in films like Ivy (1947) and Born to be Bad (1950).

Joan Fontaine as “Mrs. de Winter.”

During the making of Rebecca, Alfred Hitchcock wanted his heroine, Mrs. de Winter, to exhibit those same uneasy qualities described above. Prior to filming, Laurence Olivier campaigned hard for his wife, Vivien Leigh, to receive the co-starring role. However, David O. Selznick didn’t think that Leigh was right for the part and refused to give her the role, instead offering it to Joan Fontaine. Olivier, apparently not above throwing a passive aggressive hissy fit, making it very clear to Fontaine that he preferred his wife for the role. Fontaine was very nervous throughout filming, partially because of Olivier’s cold treatment of her throughout filming. Hitchcock, always one to sense an opportunity, opted to use Olivier’s treatment to make Fontaine even more insecure. Hitchcock made sure to remind her of her inexperience, how much less she was being paid than the other actors, and told her that nobody liked her. Despite this treatment (or maybe because of this treatment), Fontaine ended up turning in an Oscar-nominated performance.

Rebecca has an eeriness about it. The entire film feels like a bad, yet beautiful dream. The set is exquisite as are the performances. I’ve always enjoyed the Gothic thrillers. There is something about the ornate, yet ghostly setting of Manderley, the creepy Mrs. Danvers, and the omnipresent spirit of Rebecca that gives the film a spooky, yet beautiful quality. The black and white cinematography is gorgeous and lends to the creepiness of the film.

The beautiful Manderley estate is its own character in the film.