Director
Alfred Hitchcock
Leading Actors/Actresses
Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette
Genre
Suspense thriller
Language
English
Awards
Academy Aeard Nomination: Best Special Visual Effects
Date of Release
1963
Producer
Alfred Hitchcock
Setting and Context
Small California fishing village in the late 1950s/early 1960s
Narrator and Point of View
The perspective is mostly Melanie Daniels'
Tone and Mood
Threatening and suspenseful, disturbing, menacing
Protagonist and Antagonist
The humans are the protagonists and the birds the antagonists
Major Conflict
The major conflict is between the birds that try to kill the people, and the people as they struggle to survive. There is also conflict between Lydia Brenner and Melanie Daniels, chiefly over Mitch; Lydia is a dominant maternal figure in the mold of Mrs Bates in Psycho and their conflict lies in Lydia's determination to prevent anything developing between Melanie and her son.
Climax
The final overpowering of the village by the birds is the film's climax
Foreshadowing
The small groups of birds that gather in slowly increasing numbers foreshadow the full-blown invasion and takeover that follows
Understatement
A good example of understatement is when Melanie remarks that the behavior of the birds is unusual
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
There were innovations in special visual effects and there were over 300 one-off individual shots capturing the birds. The most innovative technique Hitchcock employed was the introduction of abrasive and taut music that was written with the intent of grating on the viewer's nerves
Allusions
The movie alludes to the original Daphne du Maurier novel in the invasion of the birds in a gothic horror style. It may also allude the threat of nuclear attack.
Paradox
The lack of explanation of the birds' behavior and their objective is a paradox because it makes the movie far more disturbing than it would have been had there been an explanation.
Parallelism
No specific examples in the movie