For this blog, birds make another appearance, however they are not always in a physical manner. Alfred Hitchcock does everything for a meaning, and it is amazing to see him blend in the chaos of the birds in his movies without even showing a physical bird.
In Hitchcock’s film The Rear Window there was one appearance of a physical bird, however the way Hitchcock works he slips in a hidden reference to birds making it sneaky and brilliant at the same time. The plot being a peeping tom, who has a broken leg and watches out of his window for entertainment. James Stewart who plays Jim in this film is the peeping tom. As Jim suspiciously finds out a lady from across the way goes missing, it makes him more and more curious and wanting to figure it out. I find it interesting that there is a scene when the man who supposedly murdered his wife comes back to his room carrying a box that says “Eagle Head Laundry”. However unlike other Hitchcock films that when birds are seen, a murder, or something chaotic happens. Rather in this scene, and other Hitchcock films to come it really just is a huge change in the plot. Once Jim see’s this box, he then knows that the wife was murdered and he was using boxes to move her chopped up body out. This is extremely crazy and disturbing, but that is Hitchcock for you. Also the puppy died.
Next, in the 1954 film of Dial M for Murder, Hitchcock does not waste any time letting the viewer that there is going to be some real messed up occurrences in this movie. From the very beginning, in the opening second of the films the viewer sees a British police officer, with a white morning dove in the background. Following the opening few seconds of seeing this you see Margot Mary Wendice played by Grace Kelly having an affair with Mark Halliday, who is played by Robert Cummings. So right off the bat an affair is happening, but this does not even get into the rest of the plot to come. This this film Hitchcock physically has a physical bird fluttering around in the middle of the street. It makes me wonder if there is a significance of in Hitchcock movies of physical birds meaning something, while other signs of birds mean something else.
Although the picture above is not best quality it is indeed a dove.
Last, in the 1955 film “To Catch a Thief” Hitchcock has a little fun with with placement of having birds. For this one Alfred Hitchcock appears in a cameo role.Hitchcock’s cameo is that of a man sitting next to Cary Grant on a bus opposite a cage of chirping birds. I find this interesting in the sense that Hitchcock puts himself in this scene with birds, because usual when Hitchcock made a cameo appearance it was minuscule and not of very much importance. However being in the scene with birds, and the mastermind himself really pulls in the attention of the audience making them remember this scene for a lifetime.
africk001 