The Birds

The Birds (1963) was the first film Alfred Hitchcock made after Psycho. Drawn from a Daphne Du Maurier story as well as contemporary newspaper reports of bird attacks in California, The Birds featured the icy blonde Tippi Hedren in her first starring role. A film about anxiety, sexual power, and the violence of nature, it is quintessential Hitchcock. Camille Paglia, in a virtuoso study, draws together the film's aesthetic, technical and mythical qualities, and analyzes its depiction of gender and family relations.--From publisher description.