Hitchcock cast his “discovery” of The Birds, ‘Tippi’ Hedren; and there is something almost brutal in the way he ruthlessly drives his inexperienced leading lady at the hurdles of this far from easy part.

Hitchcock's elegant cinematic style, evident here and there, seems wasted in a melange of banal dialogue, obtrusively phony process shots, and a plot that congeals more often than it thickens.

Psychologically resonant, visually transcendent ...

A Hitchcock melodrama that starts off with a certain psychological suspense as it builds its mystery with a solid performance by Tippi Hedren, but which, strangely, becomes hopelessly dull. [Full review in Spanish]