{"id":7814,"date":"2015-09-28T01:26:40","date_gmt":"2015-09-28T04:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/culturedarm.com\/?p=7814"},"modified":"2015-10-19T22:23:58","modified_gmt":"2015-10-20T01:23:58","slug":"the-birds-1963-risseldy-rosseldy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturedarm.com\/staging\/5793\/the-birds-1963-risseldy-rosseldy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Birds (1963): ‘Risseldy Rosseldy’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

A\u00a0couple of early incidents featuring agitated lone gulls \u2013 a\u00a0swift strike\u00a0as Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) prepares to dock her motorboat, and another which annihilates itself in the Brenner front door \u2013 progress into a fully-fledged attack on Cathy Brenner\u2019s (Veronica Cartwright) birthday party, as the youngster\u00a0celebrates turning twelve. Later that evening a swarm of sparrows invade the Brenner home through the chimney. And the following morning Lydia Brenner (Jessica Tandy) pays a visit to her neighbour, Dan Fawcett, only to find the farmer dead in the corner of his room, his eyes all pecked out.<\/p>\n

So Lydia asks Melanie to drive in her top-down Aston Martin to the schoolhouse, to check on Cathy\u2019s well-being. As she pulls up to the school steps, we can hear the schoolchildren inside \u2013 led by\u00a0schoolteacher Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette) \u2013 reciting a folk song. Repetitive, cycling back upon its hook\u00a0which seems filled with nonsense words, the children\u2019s singing continues as Melanie sits smoking her cigarette in the playground, waiting for class to end. But as though enticed by the tune, crows gather\u00a0in the background, readying another onslaught<\/a>.<\/p>\n