Tippi Hedren
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Birds
icaptainchaos — 9 years ago(June 19, 2016 07:22 PM)
Okay, I sort of enjoyed the film (I loved the documentary when they were all talking about making it) but one bit totally left me jolly frustrated.
Towards the end, when Tippi Hedren walked upstairs, opened a bedroom door, walked in & then gets attacked by everything that had come in through the roof, she opens the door about 4 times & the door just kept closing magically, as if she was closing it herself!
No.
If you were being attacked by seagulls & crows etc. and you feared for your life, your hand was on the door handle and you opened it? Would you REALLY let them put so much pressure on your body that you had to keep closing the door with you still inside?
No. Me neither. -
otter — 9 years ago(December 26, 2016 07:37 PM)
Why didn't she take one look at the hole in the roof and massed birds and back quietly out the door? Why didn't she yell for help? Why was a film made about a damn fool who was worthless in a crisis?
Hedren believes that Hitchcock shot the scene the way it was because he wanted to hurt her for personal reasons, and I suspect that she's correct because that's
the only way this scene makes sense!
It's foolish for Melanie to enter that room at all, and having her step into that dangerous room and close the door is a decision that a director interested in believability and sound characterization wouldn't make. I also suspect his issues with Hedren led to him making Melanie so broken and useless at the end of the film, because if he had put the needs of the film first, he wouldn't have spent all that time on a protagonist who goes from useless to broken, without learning anything along the way.
Seventy-seven courses and a regicide, never a wedding like it! -
Forlorn_Rage — 9 years ago(January 01, 2017 09:45 PM)
Hedren believes that Hitchcock shot the scene the way it was because he wanted to hurt her for personal reasons, and I suspect that she's correct because that's the only way this scene makes sense! It's foolish for Melanie to enter that room at all, and having her step into that dangerous room and close the door is a decision that a director interested in believability and sound characterization wouldn't make. I also suspect his issues with Hedren led to him making Melanie so broken and useless at the end of the film, because if he had put the needs of the film first, he wouldn't have spent all that time on a protagonist who goes from useless to broken, without learning anything along the way.
Interesting that you say that (I fully agree with you and Tippi Hedren btw). I watched a clip of Hitchcock's
Sabotage
a while back with Sylvia Sidney. This woman was an intelligent, relatable woman who gradually pieced together that
her husband is a dangerous man who's killed innocent people. She manages to defend herself and kill him without any outside help or sense of helplessness whatsoever.
Other proactive Hitchcock heroines (who aren't exploited sexually) also include
The 39 Steps, Lifeboat, The Lady Vanishes, Spellbound.
It's not really until the 50's when Hitchcock gets a handle on his American films and comes across "Ice" blonds like Grace Kelly that he starts objectifying his actresses and deliberately puts his actresses in perilous situations. But, even Grace Kelly still manages to retain some form of character and proactiveness in her glamourous roles.
It gets even worse after Kelly leaves Hollywood. In
Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, Marnie, etc.
, the woman become completely dehumanized and unable to fend for themselves in anyway shape and form. There's even a sense of sadistic pleasure with these women being placed in peril, completely defenseless; as opposed to the dread and empathy that used to placed in the earlier films when the heroines were in trouble.
It's disturbing, but also interesting to see the evolution of the female characterizations in Hitchcock films. -
antnash — 9 years ago(November 11, 2016 05:14 PM)
I thought about that too. My feeling was that she was too psychologically overwhelmed by what was happening that she wasn't able to focus on opening the door and getting out of the room. It also resonates with the idea that the events of the film are outward manifestations of the inner states of the characters. Her being drawn to that room and, in a sense, surrendering to the birds' onslaught could be seen as her surrendering her emotional defenses and letting Mitch love her.
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PrometheusTree64 — 9 years ago(December 25, 2016 07:07 AM)
Tippi Hedren was perfectly cast she literally looked like a bird and even her name was "Head Wren" when she did, indeed, have wrens on her head for much of the movie.
It's always notable to me how much the ornithologic assault in the attic room near the end of THE BIRDS feels like the shower scene in PSYCHO, while the nocturnal bird attack in the house feels like the night visitation in Claire Bloom's room in THE HAUNTING (also 1963).
LBJ's mistress on JFK: -
LorqVonRay1999 — 3 years ago(October 12, 2022 02:51 PM)
I have no problem with that scene. She was being attacked relentlessly. The birds were also hitting the door to keep her inside. She was panicked at first and people who panic usually do not react rationally. And at some point she basically gave up.
Brilliant scene.