Hitchcock: Not just for the birds

Saturday was a mild summer night, perfect for a couple of hundred people to sit on the edge of a parking lot and watch an outdoor screening of Hitchcock’s “The Birds.” Such summer shows happen all over the country. In Spokane, those shows occur at The South Perry Summner Theatre (924 S. Perry).

Even after 40 years, Hitchcock’s adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier ‘s short story still has the power to entertain. “The Birds” is campy, especially the clumsy attempts to portray a romance between Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor. And it’s fakey, especially the scenes in which running children are ostensibly being attacked by obviously fake birds. But it does have moments, one in particular featuring Hedren smoking a cigarette in a schoolyard as, one by one, a murder of crows gathers behind her .

But there are two things about “The Birds” that I especially like. One is Hitchcock’s straightforward, patient storytelling. No flashbacks, no meandering subplots. Just a direct revelation of the plot. The other is the open ending, which reflects how Du Maurier ended her story. There is no easy resolution, no phony twist that would be exactly what the typical Hollywood film of today would insist on shoving down our collective filmgoing throats.

No, Hitchcock had respect for his audiences. He treated us like the adults he presumed us to be. All these years later, that refusal of Hitchcock to provide easy answers still drives some film fans crazy. Others of us like him, and his movies, all the more for it.