The Birds - Will's Review.

I've noted before how important en ending is; a mediocre ending can drag down a great film, and a brilliant ending can elevate an average one. But what of a superb film with literally no ending?

It ruins it.

I've seen The Birds twice before; the first time I saw it it was on commercial TV; I blinked and missed the copyright card which appears at the 2 hour mark (the movie has no closing credits) sat through the adverts (this was when you used to generally watch things as they aired, and fast forwarding wasn't an option) then was most dismayed when another program started!

The second time I saw it, it was because my girlfriend wanted to see it; I had told her of my experience but she must have though I was exaggerating, as she asked what I was doing when the film had ended and I pressed backup to go to the planner (it was years later and Sky+ had been invented by then).

Never the less I sat down tonight to watch it for a third time, and found that the pain of wasting 120 minutes on a film missing a final act had not been diminished by the lack of surprised people in the room.

There was an ending planned (some say filmed) in which our heroes return to the mainland to find the Golden Gate Bridge covered in birds; the epidemic had spread and the world was doomed, and I'm sure if that we had a bigger or more active readership someone would be along in the comments section to point this out as some kind of defence had I not mentioned it here. That is no way to defend a movie; we cannot judge a film by what it could or should have been; only by what it is.

Up until the ending, things are going well; being a Hitchcock movie the direction being superb is a given, as are great cinematography and acting; Hitchcock was not only a superb purveyor of suspense, but not one to surround himself with inferior talent.

Tippy Hedren particularly puts in an amazing performance, made all the more so that she was working under constant harassment by the director (when she refused to be his sex toy, Hitchcock kept Hedren under contract for two whole years, paying her to keep the contract legally binding, while refusing to cast her in anything, or allow her to star for anyone else, thus ruining her promising career).

The birds themselves are made to be ominous and frightening through sheer numbers (and clever musical cues) even when they aren't attacking, and the attacks, when they happen, are horrendous (I always thing dozens of small animals is far more terrifying than one large one).

Alas, for all its splendour it is utterly ruined by the lack of a climax of any kind.

This is probably the best made film I will ever hate; I can't tell you to avoid it exactly, as it's 90% of a masterpiece, but I can no way recommend a movie that can't even be bothered to have an