Chapter One
Tippi’s Takes Presents:
What Hitch Taught Me About Life
An exploration of life and cinema from the viral sensation
by Tippi Rathbone
Chapter One
The Birds (1963): Feel the Fear
Spawning (irrational?) fears for countless viewers in the years since its premiere, The Birds chronicles the story of what happens when a budding romance is interrupted by terrifying bird attacks.
The film carries many of Hitchcock’s expert touches, from a slow and suspenseful pace to the intentional and ever-changing point-of-view shots, and acts as an ideal bridge between the director’s more demure films from previous decades and his grittier projects in the years that followed.
More recently, the film has become known for its behind-the-scenes drama.
The movie’s leading lady (and my namesake) Tippi Hedren has since come forward with her own frightening accounts from filming, including the very real terror she felt when some of the mechanical crows were swapped out for living birds in the climactic attic scene.
Why are the birds acting so strangely? The answer is never explicitly revealed, and there’s nothing more frightening than the unknown.
This movie, as well as Tippi Hedren’s brave performance, teaches us that sometimes it’s best to lean into what’s scary, embrace the mysterious. Only then, amid a whirlwind of uncertainty and fear, can we begin to reach understanding.