The Birds [VHS]

Nice new packaging for Universals 100 years celebrations but this DVD is still pan and scan full frame 1.33:1! Dvd has special features but that wont temp me until it comes out in its correct widescreen ratio.

When Melanie Daniels (Hedren) visits a mysterious man in Bodega Bay, she and the townsfolk are struck by the vicious nature of the local birds.

3 years had passed since Alfred Hitchcock had sat in the director's chair for a horror film and in that time there was outstanding reviews for Psycho, the horror of a lifetime. That 1960 release was widely publicised and so there was a lot to live up to in 1963 when The Birds was released, and as usual for the British director, he knocked us over once more.

Psycho was a shocking wake up to the realisation of human madness and Hitchcock again gains access to a concept of realization in this horror by depicting what many would assume as normal well mannered and beautiful creatures, and adds a horrifying viciousness to the birds to give a sharp and tantalizing story that will grip and shock you right till the claustrophobic and nerve jangling finale.

The film begins, as usual for the legendary director, with a wonderful montage title sequence. We see a flock of birds acting unusually as the credits roll. It is a complete beautiful blur of wings and fighting with the screeches unmistakable and the juxtaposition of sound and motion gears viewers up for the horrific adventure to come.

After another wonderfully cheeky cameo by Hitchcock we are introduced to central character Melanie who, after a flirtatious debate with a strange good looking man, uses her influences to track him down. As the stunning Tippi Hedren makes her way to Bodega Bay with a surprise install for Taylor's Mitch Brenner, Hitchcock delivers a wonderful car driving montage again. If not as springy as those in Vertigo but the feeling of anticipation is nailed down. If you haven't seen the Birds yet and have read reviews, you will feel the same wonderful excitement I felt to, and it is definitely worth it.

Hitchcock after all is known as the master of suspense and one of the main reasons why this film works so gloriously is the fact the tension and surprise is built up in such a constructed free and significantly realistic way. What starts out as a minor attack on a boat turns into a town spread panic that generates tension and horror of the upmost brilliance, the suspense and anticipation is brilliantly priceless.

Of all of Hitchcock's films, The Birds is surely one of the best filmed. To create the shots of the animals sitting on the climbing frames at the school, to have them all swooping down the chimney, it is simply breathtaking filmmaking and as a viewer, you feel rewarded and treated to this suspense and appreciation of horror and the unnatural.

Once the birds attack there is never any let up in suspense as the characters try to find solutions and look for any way to survive and as in true Hitchcock fashion, he delivers a smart horror that generates realism with a swooping and smart depiction of the nature of the winged creatures that will shock and scare right till the end. Excellence.

9/10

For reasons best known to themselves, Universal UK have issued most of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960s/1970s films (The Birds, Marnie, Torn Curtain, Topaz, Frenzy) in pan-and-scan 1.33:1 ratio, although these films were originally shown in widescreen (1.85:1).

This is available via Region 1 imported discs - if your DVD player is multi-region - but surely the UK deserves a better service than this!

Come on, Universal UK - give us the same remastered widescreen versions that are available for the US market!!!

PLEASE NOTE: This review was written referring to the R2 release The Birds [DVD] [1963], but Amazon have also 'attached' it to the superior widescreen R1 release The Birds [DVD] [1963] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]