Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7805 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-10-17
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 115 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Vacationing in northern California, Alfred Hitchcock was struck by a story in a Santa Cruz newspaper: "Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes". From this peculiar incident, and his memory of a short story by Daphne du Maurier, the master of suspense created one of his strangest and most terrifying films. The Birds follows a chic blonde, Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), as she travels to the coastal town of Bodega Bay to hook up with a rugged fellow (Rod Taylor) she's only just met. Before long the town is attacked by marauding birds, and Hitchcock's skill at staging action is brought to the fore. Beyond the superb effects, however, The Birds is also one of Hitchcock's most psychologically complicated scenarios, a tense study of violence, loneliness, and complacency. What really gets under your skin are not the bird skirmishes but the anxiety and the eerie quiet between attacks. The director elevated an unknown model, Tippi Hedren (mother of Melanie Griffith), to being his latest cool, blond leading lady, an experience that was not always easy on the much-pecked Ms. Hedren. Still, she returned for the next Hitchcock picture, the underrated Marnie. Treated with scant attention by serious critics in 1963, The Birds has grown into a classic and--despite the sci-fi trappings--one of Hitchcock's most serious films. --Robert Horton

Special Features
English
Region 2

Synopsis
In THE BIRDS, Alfred Hitchcock's heart-pounding followup to PSYCHO, the director couples a tone of rigorous morality with dark humor to create a thriller that begins as a light comedy and ends as an apocalyptic allegory. Wealthy, reformed party girl Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) enjoys a brief flirtation with lawyer Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) in a San Francisco pet shop and decides to follow him to his Bodega Bay home. Bearing a gift of two lovebirds, Melanie quickly strikes up a romance with Mitch while contending with his possessive mother and boarding at his ex-girlfriend's house. One day, during a birthday party for Mitch's younger sister, a flock of birds attacks the children in what seems to be a random incident. In fact, it signals the beginning of a massive avian assault on the residents of the town--a mysterious assault that no one can explain and from which no one might come out alive. Hedren (Melanie Griffith's mother) carries the picture in her first film role ever, embarking on a career as an icy-cool leading lady. Loosely based on a Daphne du Maurier story and a Santa Monica newspaper story, "Seabird Invasion Hits Coastal Homes," THE BIRDS also features groundbreaking special effects.

Customer Reviews

why oh why oh why?????
The Birds was filmed in widescreen: this offering is pan and scan.junk version of a great film. Get the region one version instead.

NOTE: this review appears under the pan and scan version AND the decent, region 1 version. Not sure hwy but there you go.

WARNING: Pan-and-scan version of widescreen film
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]

Classic Hitchcock
Given that Alfred Hitchcock is probably one of the most discussed and analysed directors of modern cinema, its difficult to find a new slant on his work. Suffice to say The Birds in my opinion is up there with Psycho and North By North West as the very best examples of his work. The casting of Tippi Hedren is inspired and on the Region 2 DVD we see her actual screen tests. The film looks marvellous with crisp colours and crystal clear sound. I am sometimes wary of buying older titles as I have seen some poor transfers onto DVD.
The Birds has the usual mix of small continuity errors often associated with Hitchcock but these are minor grumbles. Its an excellent film with great performances, so four stars .