I remember reading the DuMaurier story in college. I need to read it again, but I remember it had quite a different feel than the movie. I think the element of isolation was stressed more in the story than in the film.

Like you, I felt the ending was anti-climatic. I read an article in Mental_floss magazine once that suggested that the climax was to encourage a feeling of never-ending terror. If he succeeded in this or not can be easily debated.

One thing that really disturbs me about The Birds is all the accounts of how shabbily Hitchcock treated Tippi Hedren when she wouldn’t respond to his advances. The man was probably a genius, but there’s no doubt he was a creep, too.

Regardless, I would love to hear how your son ends his version of the story. Feel free to send it to me in an email or post it here!

Incidentally, last week, after reading the Daphne DuMaurier story “The Birds”, my son’s high school freshman English class watched the Hitchcock film over the course of a few days. Last Friday, my son told me that class ended with only about 15 minutes left to go in the movie and asked me how it ended. Not one to give away the ending, I told him he would just have to wait until he watched it on Monday. When he came home Monday afternoon, he looked at me and, in a disgusted voice said, “That was the dumbest ending I ever saw!” I remember watching it on NBC’s Saturday Night at the Movies, as a kid, and feeling the same way. As it turned out, his teacher assigned all the students to write an ending that they felt was more satisfying. I can’t wait to read the conclusion my son came up with.

Thanks for dropping by!

good review BTW.

cheers,
– GoldCoaster

This movie had some promise but when it starts falling apart it falls fast! It could easily fit the second bill of a double feature, though.