Hitchcock’s other great horror masterpiece, THE BIRDS remains an extraordinarily effective exercise in apocalyptic terror. In spite of a premise that seems ridiculous on paper, it’s astonishing just how much tension the director manages to wring out of the tale. It’s also one of many Hitchcock movies that should be seen on the big screen in order to realise its full potential. Showing at this year’s festival in a restored print, it becomes clear that the use of sound and silence is fundamental to the superbly orchestrated suspense.

Daphne du Maurier’s short story is transposed to America’s west coast, as socialite Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) bumps in to lawyer Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) in a pet shop in San Francisco and they immediately spark off one another. Melanie decides to visit Mitch in his home town of Bodega Bay in order to play a practical joke, but she, Mitch and his family find their lives under threat by a series of random bird attacks in the town.

… Having built up this emotional intrigue, Hitchcock then lets loose his birds …

Once again Hitch throws the audience off the scent with the familiar romantic comedy prologue kicking off the plot. There’s also a good deal of tension between the three women in Mitch’s life: new squeeze Melanie, his very clingy mother (Jessica Tandy), and old flame Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette). Hedren, plucked from obscurity by the director to play the lead role, is a little stiff to begin with but improves as the story goes on, while Taylor is excellent as the capable Mitch.

Having built up this emotional intrigue, Hitchcock then lets loose his birds, with no explanation provided about their aberrant behaviour. He knew well enough by now that audiences don’t need everything explained. Indeed, the lack of explanation increases fear and suspense; so the two characters who try to explain away the curious events – one with a rational scientific view, the other a religious doom monger – are both constantly interrupted or roundly dismissed.

The classic scene where a flock of crows gather on a climbing frame outside the school, with an oblivious Hedren sitting in front, still makes the spine shiver; while the tight close-up shots of birds pecking viciously at people’s faces is as nasty as anything the director filmed. And one staggering shot, literally a bird’s eye view of the town, with a fire blazing and people panicking below, memorably conveys the superiority that our feathered friends have over us should they ever decide to try out such an attack for real. It’s as far as Hitchcock ever went in terms of fantastical or supernatural horror.

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