FILM · 1963 · USA
The Birds
- Directed by
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Runtime
- 119 min
- Studio
- Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions
102 archived facts 8 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
Thousands of birds flock into a seaside town and terrorize the residents in a series of deadly attacks.
102 Interesting Facts About The Birds
Interesting Facts (17)
- #001
Sir Alfred Hitchcock saw Tippi Hedren in a 1961 commercial aired during the Today (1952) show and put her under contract. In the commercial for a diet drink, she is seen walking down a street and a man whistles at her slim, attractive figure, and she turns her head with an acknowledging smile. In the opening scene of this movie, the same thing happens as she walks toward the bird shop. This was an inside joke by Hitchcock.
- #002
Several endings were being considered. One that was considered would have shown the Golden Gate Bridge completely covered by birds.
- #003
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.
- #004
Tippi Hedren's age was listed as 28 in press releases when the film came out, an unsurprising fabrication considering 33 was especially old for a Hollywood starlet making her acting debut. 1935 would be her commonly reported birth year for the next four decades until Hedren herself put a stop to it by coming out with her real age.
- #005
The headline in the August 18, 1961 edition of the Santa Cruz Sentinel screamed "Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes" and detailed how "millions" of migrating birds crashed into cars and buildings, broke television antennas, streetlights, and actually tried to enter houses. When residents went outdoors at 3 a.m. to investigate, the birds flew at the flashlight beams and drove residents back into their houses. Although Hitchcock had optioned the DuMaurier story in 1955, he began filming this movie shortly after reading about the 1961 attack.
- #006
at the start of the movie, man walking two dogs out of the pet shop. The dogs were actually his white terriers named Geoffrey and Stanley.
- #007
Melanie wears the same green suit throughout the movie, so Tippi Hedren was provided with six identical green suits for the shoot.
- #008
The famous poster art for the movie where a woman is pictured screaming was not Tippi Hedren, but was Jessica Tandy taken from the scene where the birds come down the chimney.
- #009
Although there is no musical score for this movie, composer and Sir Alfred Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Herrmann is credited as a Sound Consultant.
- #010
The film does not end with the usual 'THE END' title, because Alfred Hitchcock wanted to create a sense of unending dread. He intended for the audience's unease to persist even after the credits rolled.
- #011
By offering no rational explanation for the birds' behavior, Hitchcock knew how to create a far greater anxiety in the viewer. His aim was to evoke a universal sense of fear, chaos and helplessness; that is why he also removed the classic 'The End' title at the film's conclusion, ensuring the unease continued after viewers left the cinema.
- #012
In the scene where Lydia finds Dan Fawcett's body, a drawing of the gas station explosion signed by Albert Whitlock hangs on the wall behind her.
- #013
A subplot of the film involves Melanie bringing a lovebird to Cathy Brenner as a gift. 'Lovebird' is the common name for nine species in the genus Agapornis; its scientific name comes from the Greek words 'agape' (love) and 'ornis' (bird). These Old World parrots of African origin are known for their monogamous pair bonds and the behavior of pairs sitting side by side for long periods.
- #014
Melanie notes the license plate of Mitch's departing car and calls her father's newspaper to have his address traced. The California Department of Motor Vehicles no longer fulfills such requests after actress Rebecca Schaeffer was killed in 1989 by an obsessed fan who obtained her address through a private detective.
- #015
In the film, Mrs. Bundy uses the word 'crow' as synonymous with the species Corvus brachyrhynchos. However, the term 'crow' covers all species in the genus Corvus. Corvus brachyrhynchos, meaning 'short-billed crow,' is commonly known as the American crow and lives across much of the United States, in Canada, in northern Mexico and on various islands in the Caribbean.
- #016
Mrs. Bundy's line 'It is mankind that insists on making life difficult on this planet' appears, in its Spanish-dubbed form, in Fangoria and Lemon Fly's remix 'Abriendo la puerta del mal' of Alaska y Dinarama's 1983 song 'Cebras.' This remix is found on the duo's 1998 album 'Vital.'
- #017
Contains a major spoiler — show
This movie does not finish with the usual "THE END" title because Sir Alfred Hitchcock wanted to give the impression of unending terror.
Production Story (27)
- #018
Several endings were being considered. One that was considered would have shown the Golden Gate Bridge completely covered by birds.
- #019
There is no musical score for this movie except for the bird sounds created on the mixtrautonium, an early electronic musical instrument, by Oskar Sala, Tippi Hedron playing Debussy's Two Arabesques on the piano (at about 35 min), and the children singing Risseldy Rosseldy (a cappella) in the school.
- #020
The famous poster art for the movie where a woman is pictured screaming was not Tippi Hedren, but was Jessica Tandy taken from the scene where the birds come down the chimney.
- #021
This was not the first dramatization of Daphne Du Maurier's short story. It was previously adapted for radio at least twice, once starring Herbert Marshall, and again in 1954. Furthermore, it was adapted by writer James P. Cavanagh for a half-hour episode of the television series Danger (1950). Cavanaugh also wrote at least five episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), including two directed by Sir Alfred Hitchcock, and was the first writer to adapt Robert Bloch's novel of "Psycho" for Hitchcock's production. However, his script was jettisoned in favor of the Joseph Stefano adaptation.
- #022
There was originally going to be an attack scene that took place inside of a pet store, but it had to be scrapped when production was unable to obtain the amount of macaws Hitchcock demanded.
- #023
Daphne Du Maurier's story "The Birds" was originally purchased for use on Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955).
- #024
Since this movie never had an original score, Fenton band and orchestra teacher Andrew David Perkins composed an arrangement of music to be played during a showing of this movie.
- #025
Screenwriter Evan Hunter had to write additional lyrics for the school children's song in order to pad for time. Because of this, he received royalties every time the movie was shown.
- #026
Much of the production team and scriptwriters, were interested in making a sequel, however the studio was totally against it, it was not until 1994 when The Birds II: Land's End was released.
- #027
The headline in the August 18, 1961 edition of the Santa Cruz Sentinel screamed "Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes" and detailed how "millions" of migrating birds crashed into cars and buildings, broke television antennas, streetlights, and actually tried to enter houses. When residents went outdoors at 3 a.m. to investigate, the birds flew at the flashlight beams and drove residents back into their houses. Although Hitchcock had optioned the DuMaurier story in 1955, he began filming this movie shortly after reading about the 1961 attack.
- #028
When audiences left the U.K. premiere at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London, they were greeted by the sound of screeching and flapping birds from loudspeakers hidden in the trees to scare them further.
- #029
Sir Alfred Hitchcock approached Joseph Stefano (screenwriter of Psycho (1960)) to write the script, but he wasn't interested in the story. The final screenplay (from a Daphne Du Maurier short story) was written by Evan Hunter, best known to detective story fans under the pen name Ed McBain.
- #030
Originally, a scene took place between Melanie and Mitch after Lydia Brenner left for the Fawcett farm. This scene was shot, but ultimately cut from the movie. All that survived are the script pages and some production photographs. The script pages and photographs appear as a bonus feature on the DVD.
The Birds (1963): Melanie Daniels and Mitch Brenner in a street full of birdsImage: Wikimedia Commons · Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions, Universal Pictures, Public domain - #031
Also attending the London premiere were two flamingos, fifty red cardinals and starlings, and six penguins.
- #032
Sir Alfred Hitchcock considered Sean Connery for the role of Mitch Brenner, but preferred him for Mark Rutland in his next film, Marnie (1964).
- #033
Suzanne Pleshette wanted to play Melanie, but settled for the role of Annie just to get to work with Sir Alfred Hitchcock. The part was originally written as a middle-aged schoolteacher who just lived in the community, but Hitchcock revised the script specifically for Pleshette, making the character much younger and adding backstory and depth. Hitchcock enjoyed her so much that he asked her to play Sean Connery's sister-in-law in his next film Marnie (1964). Pleshette, who thought of herself as a leading lady rather than in supporting roles, quipped, "Is the sister's name 'Marnie'? I don't think so! I don't think that's the lead!"
- #034
According to Tippi Hedren, she signed a seven year contract with Sir Alfred Hitchcock to work on this movie before she even met him. She thought he meant to feature her in his television show, but he flew in Martin Balsam to do screentests of her in scenes from Rebecca (1940), Notorious (1946), and To Catch a Thief (1955).
- #035
This picture was a departure from Hitchcock's usual suspense film. He recognized it as a horror film. He said, "I was interested in making the film because it was a horror film - horror coming from a different quarter. It wasn't science fiction at all. I treated the subject naturally and quite straightforwardly."
- #036
According to Norman Lloyd, it was Bernard Herrmann's idea not to use music.
- #037
The film is based on a highly pessimistic horror short story, "The Birds" by Daphne du Maurier. In the original short story, Nat Hocken (the protagonist) eventually realizes that he is the sole survivor of the bird attacks in Cornwall, and that he is unlikely to survive the next attack. His reaction is to smoke his last cigarette, and calmly wait for his inevitable death.
- #038
Sir Alfred Hitchcock briefly considered Cary Grant for the role of Mitch Brenner, but decided against using the hugely expensive actor, because he felt the birds and the Hitchcock name were the big attractions.
- #039
In Northern Monterey Bay in Northern California in 1961, the region found itself inundated with crazed birds. They flew into buildings, seemed disoriented, and the ground was littered with their carcasses. Alfred Hitchcock heard of this "attack" when he was developing this movie, and incorporated much of this incident in his film. The same region experienced the same problem in 1991. Turns out that single celled algae will occasionally become toxic. It works its way up the food chain to the fish that the sea birds eat. None of the other animals are bothered by this toxin, but it has a devastating effect on birds. It causes disorientation, seizures and even death. The dead birds in 1961 weren't tested, but a lab had a sample of a small organism that fed on algae from 1961, so that specimen was tested. It was rife with the toxin.
- #040
Alfred Hitchcock's legendary attention to detail was evident during research and preparation for this movie. He had every resident of Bodega Bay photographed for the costume department. The restaurant scenes were filmed inside an exact reconstruction of the real one in the seaside village. The interior of Dan Fawcett's farmhouse was also an exact replica of a nearby farm. Hitchcock also sent a camera crew to the San Francisco landfill to film seagulls diving, perching, and feeding so he would obtain the most realistic results for the bird attacks and build-ups in the movie.
- #041
Mitch Zanich, owner of the Tides Restaurant at the time of shooting, told Alfred Hitchcock he could shoot there if the lead male in the movie was named after him, and Hitchcock gave him a speaking part in the movie. Hitchcock agreed: Rod Taylor's character was named Mitch Brenner, and Mitch Zanich was given a speaking part. After Melanie is attacked by a seagull, Mitch Zanich can be heard saying to Mitch Brenner, "What happened, Mitch?"
- #042
Sir Alfred Hitchcock kept a graph in his office, charting the rise and fall of the bird attacks in the movie.
- #043
Although it was never shot, another ending was scripted by Evan Hunter and sketched by Harold Michelson. The script and sketches appear as a bonus feature on the DVD.
- #044
This movie and the original story by Daphne Du Maurier share no characters, and in fact have only in common the bayside town setting, the birds' bizarre behavior, their inexplicable tendency to launch frenzied attacks then fall dormant, only to attack again later, and of course the title. In Du Maurier's story, the main character discovers that this pattern is directly related to the rise and fall of the tides and uses this to their advantage, as opposed to this movie, which seems to follow the same pattern, but never makes a direct connection. Also, the original story takes place in Britain, and centers around a man protecting his wife and two children at their isolated cottage, as opposed to this movie, which centered on the spirited but troubled city dweller Melanie Daniels, who travelled to the California coast on a whim.
Behind the Scenes (32)
- #045
Melanie wears the same green suit throughout the movie, so Tippi Hedren was provided with six identical green suits for the shoot.
- #046
Two versions of the scene where Melanie brings Lydia tea in bed were filmed. For the first, Sir Alfred Hitchcock instructed Tippi Hedren to play it in a very shrewish manner. This didn't sit well with Jessica Tandy when they watched it in the screening room, so the set was reassembled and they re-shot the scene with Hedren acting in a more compassionate way.
- #047
Tippi Hedren's daughter Melanie Griffith was given a present by Alfred Hitchcock during filming: a doll that looked exactly like Hedren, eerily so. The creepiness was compounded by the ornate wooden box it came in, which the young girl took to be a coffin.
- #048
The first time Tippi Hedren looked at herself in the mirror after the injuries make-up was applied, she reportedly said to the make up artist, Howard Smit, "Pardon me, Howard", walked out of the trailer and threw up.
- #049
This movie featured 370 effects shots. The final shot is a composite of 32 separately filmed elements.
- #050
The use of standard bluescreen techniques for doing matte shots of the birds proved to be unacceptable. The rapid movement of the birds, especially their wings, caused excessive blue fringing in the shots. It was determined that the sodium vapor process could be used to do the composites. The only studio in America that was equipped for this process was the Walt Disney studio. Ub Iwerks, who had become the world's leading expert on the sodium vapor process, was assigned to this production.
- #051
In one of the first scenes, Tippi Hedren can be seen crossing the street to the pet shop. As she does, she disappears behind a sign for a moment and reappears on the other side. Sir Alfred Hitchcock so hated working on-location that he used this moment to seamlessly cut to a studio shot.
- #052
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.
- #053
The audio special effects included the use of spring and plate reverb units, as well as an Echoplex - an endless loop tape recorder with a fixed record head and a playback head that slides on a rail. This arrangement of record and playback heads creates an echo that can be time-adjusted. By turning up the record volume you can create an echo that repeats endlessly. Typically this would only be used for limited lengths of time because the hiss from the magnetic tape would build up to the point of creating a whirling wind-like sound. In order to create the density of bird sounds without amplifying the wind effect, they used a separate recorder and many takes from the Echoplex, layering the result while adding other types of bird sounds to produce the final result. There are a few moments at the end of an attack that the bird sounds drop in pitch and speed. This is created by sliding the playback head away from the record head. In some rock recordings in the 1970s this was used for UFO sounds.
- #054
During the birthday party attack, in order to ensure that the gulls could pop the balloons, pins were placed inside the birds' mouths and their beaks were taped closed. One of the gulls, with its mouth still taped, flew away, and the trainers spent hours looking for it because it would've died if it couldn't open its mouth. Their efforts paid off, and they found the bird.
- #055
The schoolhouse in the movie, Potter schoolhouse, is actually in the small town of Bodega, 5 miles from Bodega Bay. Alfred Hitchcock used some movie magic to combine the locations. In the scene where Melanie is driving the boat to the Brenner's and we see a panoramic view of Bodega Bay with the schoolhouse in the background, that is actually a scenic matte painting.
- #056
The crow that sits on Alfred Hitchcock's shoulder in all of the promotional photos was not in the movie. It was purchased after the movie had wrapped. A studio staff member bought it when he spotted the tamed bird on the shoulder of a twelve-year-old boy walking down the street. The boy was offered around ten dollars, but was hesitant until he discovered why it was needed.
- #057
(May 26, 2012) The green suit worn by Tippi Hedren in this movie was showcased at Ireland's "Museum of Style Icons" in Newbridge (Co. Kildare) as part of the permanent collection at the center. In Ireland for the first time, Hedren made a personal appearance at the event for the special occasion.
- #058
Alfred Hitchcock revealed on The Dick Cavett Show (1968) that 3,200 birds were trained for the movie. He said the ravens were the cleverest, and the seagulls were the most vicious.
- #059
One bird, named Archie, really seemed to dislike Taylor, who played Mitch Brenner. The feathered star went out of his way to attack the actor, even when the cameras weren't rolling. "Every morning, if we were on the set together, he'd come over and bite me," Taylor revealed, "I hated him and he hated me."
- #060
Costume designer Edith Head referred to Tippi's suit's shade of green as "Eau de Nil" (Nile water).
- #061
When the children are running down the street from the schoolhouse, extra footage was shot back on the Universal soundstages to make the scene more terrifying. A few of the children were brought back and put in front of a process screen on a treadmill. They ran in front of the screen on the treadmill with the Bodega Bay footage behind them while a combination of real and fake crows were attacking them. There were three rows of children, and when the treadmill was brought up to speed, it ran very fast. On a couple of occasions, several of the children in the front fell and caused the children in the back to fall as well. It was a very difficult scene to shoot, and took a few days to get it right. The birds used were hand puppets, mechanical, and a couple were trained live birds.
- #062
While the studio spent an estimated $200,000 on creating mechanical birds for the film, the majority of the birds seen on screen are real.
- #063
The schoolhouse in Bodega, California has been known to be haunted, even back during filming. According to Tippi Hedren, the entire cast was spooked to be there. She also mentioned how she had the feeling while there that "the building was immensely populated, but there was nobody there." When Alfred Hitchcock was told about the schoolhouse being haunted, according to Hedren, he was even more encouraged to film there.
- #064
Tippi Hedren was cut in the face by a bird in one of the shots.
- #065
Most of the birds in the huge long shots, were fake. The birds on the swing set in the schoolhouse ambush scene for example were, according to Veronica Cartwright (Cathy Brenner) in a recent interview, paper or cloth or dolls, with one or two real ones scattered in there to fool you.
- #066
The use of standard bluescreen techniques for doing matte shots of the birds proved to be unacceptable. The rapid movement of the birds, especially their wings, caused excessive blue fringing in the shots. It was determined that the sodium vapor process could be used to do the composites. The only studio in America that was equipped for this process was the Walt Disney studio. Ub Iwerks, who had become the world's leading expert on the sodium vapor process, was assigned to this production.
- #067
Tippi Hedren's daughter Melanie Griffith was given a present by Alfred Hitchcock during filming: a doll that looked exactly like Hedren, eerily so. The creepiness was compounded by the ornate wooden box it came in, which the young girl took to be a coffin.
- #068
Contains a major spoiler — show
The scene where Melanie (Tippi Hedren) is ravaged by birds near the end of the movie took a week to shoot. The birds were attached to her clothes by long nylon threads so they could not get away.
- #069
Contains a major spoiler — show
Near the end of the movie, when Mitch carries Melanie down the stairs, it is actually Tippi Hedren's stand-in being carried by Rod Taylor. Hedren was in the hospital recovering from exhaustion after a week of shooting the scene where Melanie is trapped in the upstairs room with the birds.
- #070
Contains a major spoiler — show
The climactic scene, in which Melanie (Tippi Hedren) is attacked in the bedroom, took seven days to shoot. Hedren said, "It was the worst week of my life." The physical and emotional tolls of filming this scene were so strong on her that production was shut down for a week afterwards and Hedren ended up in the hospital.
- #071
Contains a major spoiler — show
In the end, when Melanie is carried outside, Mitch opens a door. There was no door used in filming, and it was all done with light effects to make it look as if Mitch opened the front door.
- #072
Contains a major spoiler — show
When Lydia goes to Dan Fawcett's house and suddenly discovers his dead body, eyes pecked out by murderous birds, Hitchcock first gives the audience a semi-long shot view of the body, followed quickly by a semi-closeup, followed quickly by an extreme closeup, all in a matter of a few seconds. This cinematic device was first used by director James Whale in the film Frankenstein (1931) as the audience gets its first look at the monster.
- #073
Contains a major spoiler — show
Allegedly, according to Hedren she was the victim of harassment by Hitchcock. For example, during the recording of the last scene in which the birds attack, Hitchcock forced her to replay the scene numerous times while real and wooden birds were thrown at her. One of them hit Hedren's eye, causing a retinal bleed. The blood and injuries with which the actress appears in the scenes are real. The dislike with which Hitchcock made Hedren work stemmed from Hedren's refusal of the director's sexual advances. After the scene, Hedren was so exhausted that she sat in the middle of the set and began to cry. She had to be taken to the emergency room. However, according to Hitchcock's secretary Suzanne Gauthier (in regards to a fan enquiry) on May 15th 1963, shortly after the film was released, "Miss Hedren was not injured in the shooting of the picture, however she had to take a three day rest after working so strenuously during that sequence."
- #074
Contains a major spoiler — show
Before filming the final attack scene when Melanie goes upstairs, Tippi Hedren asked Sir Alfred Hitchcock, "Hitch, why would I do this?" Hitchcock's response was, "Because I tell you to."
- #075
Contains a major spoiler — show
For the scene in which Annie (Suzanne Pleshette) is killed, Pleshette told Sir Alfred Hitchcock it would look good if her ear was all bloody and hanging off, so he sent her to the Prop Department. When it came to shooting the scene, Hitchcock had Annie facing the other way, so the viewer never sees the ear, which Pleshette recalled "was part of his delicious sense of humor."
- #076
Contains a major spoiler — show
A scene in the movie shows a service station where a bird knocks over an attendant filling a car with gas. The gas flows across the street where a man lighting his cigar proceeds to drop the match igniting the gas. The fire follows the gas stream back to the pump and explodes. The service station was located across from "The Tides" restaurant and pier. In reality, this service station did not exist at the time of filming. However, several years later, a service station was built, and is still located at the spot shown in the movie.
Characters & Cast (3)
- #077
Alfred Hitchcock said he based the character of the drunken philosopher in the bar, played by Karl Swenson, on his friend Seán O'Casey.
- #078
The final draft of the screenplay describes Melanie Daniels as "mid-twenties" and Annie Hayworth as "thirty-two." Ironically, during filming in 1962, Tippi Hedren was 32 and Suzanne Pleshette was 25.
- #079
Cathy Brenner says in her line that she cannot tell the sex of the lovebirds. In reality, determining the sex of these birds is difficult; physical and behavioral differences are very slight. A definitive result can only be obtained through DNA testing.
Easter Eggs & References (15)
- #080
Toward the end of the film, Mitch goes to his car and listens to the news. The numbers on his radio are backwards, beginning with 14 instead of ending with 14.
- #081
An overhead shot of Tippi Hedren trapped in the phone booth outside the restaurant in Bodega Bay echoes a similar overhead shot of Janet Leigh's shower scene in Psycho (1960) 3 years earlier.
- #082
The song the children are singing at the school as the crows mass outside is known as "Risseldy Rosseldy", an Americanized variation of the Scottish folk song "Wee Cooper O'Fife".
- #083
at the start of the movie, man walking two dogs out of the pet shop. The dogs were actually his white terriers named Geoffrey and Stanley.
- #084
The character Melanie spent the previous summer in Rome. Ironically, so did Suzanne Pleshette when she filmed Rome Adventure (1962), which was playing in theaters while The Birds (1963) was filmed in spring of 1962.
- #085
When Lydia discovers Dan Fawcett, on the wall behind her is a drawing of the gas station explosion by Albert Whitlock.
- #086
Three copies of the same book, "The Locked Stable" by Alan Chatterton, are visible on the shelves in the Brenner home's living room. The books were props that were created for, and previously appeared in, a bookstore scene in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, S7.E27, "Act of Faith".
- #087
Melanie notes Mitch's license plate number as he drives away, and then calls her father's newspaper to have someone obtain his address. The California DMV no longer complies with such a request, as actress Rebecca Schaeffer was murdered by an obsessed stalker in 1989 after he obtained her address by hiring a private investigator who contacted the DMV.
- #088
During the birthday party at the Brenner home, there is a shot from a hill overlooking the home, dock and bay. It is clearly seen that the tide receded considerably leaving little or no water around that part of the bay for at least a few hundred yards from the shore.
- #089
The city park where Mitch first sees Melanie going to the pet shop was shot in San Francisco's Union Square, the same park where Scottie (James Stewart) takes his lonely walk at dawn after rejecting Midge's portrait of herself in Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958).
- #090
Sir Alfred Hitchcock saw Tippi Hedren in a 1961 commercial aired during the Today (1952) show and put her under contract. In the commercial for a diet drink, she is seen walking down a street and a man whistles at her slim, attractive figure, and she turns her head with an acknowledging smile. In the opening scene of this movie, the same thing happens as she walks toward the bird shop. This was an inside joke by Hitchcock.
- #091
Just before the scene where Lydia leaves for the Fawcett farm, Mitch is shown at a distance raking something by the bay in front of the Brenner home. Though never made evident, he was supposed to be burning the dead bodies of the sparrows that attacked the house the night before.
- #092
When audiences left the U.K. premiere at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London, they were greeted by the sound of screeching and flapping birds from loudspeakers hidden in the trees to scare them further.
- #093
Contains a major spoiler — show
Doreen Lang plays a panicked woman in the diner scene who hysterically, and mistakenly, blames Tippi Hedren's character for the bird attacks on the Bodega Bay community. Years earlier, Lang appeared in another Hitchcock film, The Wrong Man (1956), playing a high-strung secretary who mistakenly blames Henry Fonda's character for her earlier victimization by a robber who resembles him.
- #094
Contains a major spoiler — show
While Mitch is trying to pull Melanie from the bedroom, several birds clearly escape from the room.
Deeper Meaning (5)
- #095
Hitchcock deliberately omitted any rational explanation for the behavior of birds. He knew that this created much greater concern in the spectators, his purpose was only one: to instill fear, chaos and defenselessness in a universal way. He also deleted the classic "The End" at the end, to ensure that the public's discomfort continued even after the film was finished.
- #096
(At around twenty-nine minutes) Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) holds the cotton ball against her wound. The way her hand and forearm are positioned makes the appearance of a bird and the ring on her pinky represents the eye. Tippi Hedren confirms this and said that Alfred Hitchcock wanted to put subtle meanings throughout this movie about the upcoming bird attack.
- #097
Although the film never explains why the birds attack, the trailer offers an important clue: in his usual inimitable style, Hitchcock delivers a 'lecture' on the relationship between birds and humanity. He lists countless examples, from cave paintings to the mistreatment of chickens on farms to duck hunting; the implication is that indifference and cruelty toward nature come at a price.
- #098
Contains a major spoiler — show
In the film Hitchcock uses the colors pale green and reddish orange many times to match the colors of the "lovebirds" that Tippi Hedren delivers to "Mitch" Rod Taylor. First, Hedren's dress and lipstick. Then the shutters on the schoolhouse behind Suzanne Pleshette in her red sweater, also, the green color of Mitch's truck parked in front of the barn, also the green sign on the "Tides Restaurant", and lastly, Tippi's green dress while she is making tea, as Rod Taylor steps up behind her, and as she turns and kisses him, a reddish, orange vase appears on the sink behind them. Of course at that moment, "they" become "lovebirds"... Years later, American actor/screenwriter Beau Dare, who once had a chance meeting with Tippi Hedren in Hollywood, also used this theme from the film, in one of his film scripts, (2023), as a tribute to Hitch.
- #099
Contains a major spoiler — show
While it is never revealed why the birds started attacking people, the film's trailer provides a clue: it features a typically deadpan Hitchcock providing insight into a forthcoming "lecture" of his about birds and their relationship with humanity. He then goes on to provide numerous examples of humanity's ill treatment of birds, including everything from violent cave drawings to the abuse of chickens on farms to duck hunting. The implication is that the birds are attacking due to humanity's indifference/cruelty towards nature.
Career & Awards (2)
- #100
When this movie aired on NBC in the U.S. on January 6, 1968, it became the highest rated movie shown on television up to that point. The record held until Love Story (1970) overtook it on October 1, 1972.
- #101
Shortly before he died, Japanese director Akira Kurosawa created an unranked, chronological list of the movies he considered the one hundred greatest of all time. (However, because he deliberately limited himself to only one movie per director, it is actually more of a "greatest directors" than a "best films" list.) The single Alfred Hitchcock movie that he chose to include was this movie. In his accompanying commentary, he noted that the sight of so many birds massed together caused him to feel "dread" and wondered how Hitchcock had managed to shoot those scenes.
Life & Family (1)
- #102
Tippi Hedren's age was listed as 28 in press releases when the film came out, an unsurprising fabrication considering 33 was especially old for a Hollywood starlet making her acting debut. 1935 would be her commonly reported birth year for the next four decades until Hedren herself put a stop to it by coming out with her real age.
Related pages
- Resident Evil: Extinction — The Birds comes up in the facts on that page
- Working Girl — The Birds comes up in the facts on that page
- Dunkirk — The Birds comes up in the facts on that page
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work