Filmmaker Irving Nestor discusses an odd musical choice Hitchcock made in the making of The Birds and his opinion on its impact on the film.

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TRANSCRIPT [BETA]:

Cool. Luckily, my segment's going to

Oh, this is the end.

I just got a lot 

of revenues lost.

Now, I'm going to be very quick,

like a big question mark

So I'm going to read introduce the

So welcome back to Mixed Media. 

We just heard from Ben and Nathan

Go back to our podcast list.

We have playlists on YouTube.

We have our different platforms

can possibly think of all the ones

But yeah, if you're

you should have a guilty conscience.

But yeah, you should

because I think both of those

And what I'm about to talk about 

are just random thoughts

So if you're looking for the most

definitely listen to the last

But today, I will be

and the Birds, a film

Then did you end up

I watch every watched

I have not seen the birds.

Or you're just out of curiosity. 

I want to know what you thought

I think it's a really great film. 

You can see how it like

But but it's a different kind

It's kind of cool because I'm going

Bernard Herrmann concert,

And we're doing Duran North

So it's kind of cool to play that,

to play that, too,

Now, it's an interesting it's

And like basically, I don't know, it

Yeah. And as a sneak peek

that I'll probably do,

and maybe even read

if I'll put that much effort

But I'm just personally curious

So, you know, I might

and then just relay

But fun fact about north by northwest

is it might be somewhat

There's some interesting stuff. 

I remember I watched the film

Intelligence Agency

and I lost my mind

I had literally just

I've had it read and like listening

about the CIA's infiltration

interestingly, back 

into what Ben was talking about

I didn't expect that

and I knew nothing

when I went into it,

I just put it on, you know,

I think this might be

enjoyed because of how fun

of what is actually a reality,

But anyway, that's for a that's

This episode, I'm

So I Alfred Hitchcock is kind

of an interesting director for me

well, I've watched four of his four

I only have one film left

all physical copies. By the way, 

I think I will when I understand,

I feel like I understand

because I had heard

his quotes, and like, you know,

But I hadn't actually 

watched him write, which

And I feel like I clicked with a lot

I clicked a lot more

I think, than I expected to,

part of a lot of his stuff,

although north by northwest

The that my favorites

and Vertigo are just tremendous films

to me in a different category

But even The Birds, The Birds is a

And it's I mean,

the bears theriault, as you can see,

or on podcast, this will be

We've got a poor woman

This is this is the plot.

Fairly simple concept. 

It's apparently based

my understanding is that it's

The script is written

Then eventually it just,

um, the the actual

And they just retain the name of

It's an interesting film in the sense

and it's trying to do a lot,

you know, in terms of special effects

And it seems like an experiment,

one of which is the music of which

and this is our Bensley,

There is no music. 

Like when I say none, 

I mean, there's not a single

And I think that

I think it was such a strange feeling

It's just something the pace

you know, I realized

but that can't just be

this just feels completely wrong. 

I've watched plenty of films 

with no music in it

And, you know, those films

they're designed to that way. Right. 

You know, maybe they still

You can make the argument

But, you know, largely speaking,

it still feels like

Whereas here it just feels

He just decided not to put music

films, he has plenty

So I found that strange.

And I want to know why

Apparently, it's exactly what I said.

You just want to know

which kind of goes into like this

experimenting and stuff like that,

So he's trying to get samples like

And this is not a

No, it's easy. They have music,

So some people I notice in reviews,

and letter box and a few analyzes

will say that the lack of music

I don't know if I actually

I mean, Alfred Hitchcock's

Right. Like this tension. 

And there's other films. 

There's plenty of music 

and there's plenty

I mean, if you watch Psycho,

you know, for forever

It's a kind of a white knuckle film.

You know, Vertigo has sections

worse than worse in terms of tension

and how much you're being pulled

then, like, you know, a spy

It's just so intense. 

You know, it's bizarre because people

And I just don't see why. 

And I would like to understand better

that I'm not dismissing it. 

I just want to understand why,

And I think one of the 

biggest differences

that have not as much music

does not feel like it's

not just the music,

doesn't feel like

You know, when you're

you're very multiport

So every tool you've got 

and even the act of choosing

Is an act of trying to tell a story.

And so I want all those decisions

You know, that's one of my critiques 

about like Marvel Marvel movies

It's very sterile and,

It's effective for getting the gist

The gist of the action. 

Right. It's not really

Well, most of that's because 

it's not even practical

I mean, it's already

I can't imagine trying to do

in the middle of the production

that that's just the casualty

Elsewhere, though,

the Hitchcock is cinematography

is dialog extremely,

is a story structure

Everything super deliberate. 

Most of the time. 

And then with the birds, 

he just throws out the music

Right. At least to me. 

So I would like to know

I would like to know. 

But in the comments

mixed media podcast, that Outlook dot

and just tell me

because I think it actually has a

give it credit, because it's kind of

because Hitchcock

But there are certain films

Zio Hitchcock films,

And I'm not sure that it's actually

as universally loved in the way

just by reading reviews

It seems as though people like this

more than they do for it's like,

You know, even today,

this is a interesting film

This kind of goes into 

like you're reading philosophy

into the wider, you know,

That's something

When they you know, when they assess

How much they want to praise it. 

And I can understand that

I mean, when I say insanely,

I mean, they literally had.

Tons of birds on

set trained to attack people.

They put food in people's hair

so that the birds would attack

I mean, they were trained 

that they didn't hurt them,

is my understanding. 

So is this an insanely made film?

And a lot of those scenes 

with with the birds and the bird

has that Hitchcock tension over it

You get some really, you know,

But I think I just was like,

I think the film

and that kind of , you know, hate

I don't hate it at all. 

It's more like I think 

this story could have been

I think it could have been up there

Right. If there was music. 

And I think Bernard does his music

big films or something like that. 

I think every film

Yeah. Yeah. And I think,

I think when I was listening to when

I was noticing a lot more of that

that you're talking that you were

This is why I love this podcast. 

I learn things and then I apply them

So that's awesome.

It was good. It's still good. 

There's nothing wrong with it.

You know, not only excellent,

in a way that the film

The music told its own story

So, yeah, I just thought it was

a failed experiment. 

I found, interestingly enough,

someone who attempted

And of course, this person didn't

or anything like that.

But if you imagine past that, 

you know, if you imagine what

you know, I don't think it was like,

It just was better already

and like these scenes were like 

the two main characters who have this

This, you know, this will 

she won't she will

It's just so weird in those scenes

and you get these long cuts

That sounds like

It's a strange like it doesn't feel

it's such a such a strong love themes

in his other Hitchcock films.

Yeah. No, exactly. Very odd.

And you know, all you're hearing,

and all you're hearing

like the soundscape

which I'm not even sure

I just I just don't get it. Yeah.

But the whole soundscape

So all you're hearing is like the

She's looking across the the bay

or future man across the

And it's shot beautifully. 

The film looks gorgeous, like,

at least the way it was reproduced in 

my copy was pretty freaking gorgeous.

It was very painterly. 

Part of that's because 

they actually use matte paintings

but it blends seamlessly. 

You know, you get these

and you're hearing

It's just kind of takes

If you could hear the

and maybe the Russel's of

the story better, even if you didn't

If the environment could tell you

or their potential thing

this tension there. Right. 

And at least that would help. 

But it's just kind

OK. And scenes that have no terror.

Right. The scenes literally

Why on earth would

I don't want to be creeped out 

in this moment deciding

So, yeah, it's kind of strange.

So anyway, that's my that's my topic.

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