The Birds

Audio problem: When the uptight mom asks how to get to San Francisco the guy at the bar that offers to take her lifts his glass up to take a drink and then we hear the overdub of the ice jangling in the glass. The jangling continues into the next shot after the glass is stationary and no longer near his lips. (01:22:10)

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Audio problem: In the restaurant when Mitch says, "We can get Cathy at Annie's now" his lips are out of sync with what he is saying. (01:28:10)

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Audio problem: As the cameraman moves in on Mitch and the birds in the kitchen, listen very closely and you can hear his wheels squeaking on the floor. (01:38:00)

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Audio problem: As Mitch hammers the mirrored cabinet to the front door they overdub a second hammer sound over the actual sound to make it more intense. If you listen closely they don't get them all right and they miss the very first swing. (01:43:50)

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Audio problem: When Mitch turns on Melanie's car radio he turns the tuner knob and stops on the station that he eventually tunes in, goes a little bit forward and then back again to the same spot. The over-dub is not correct as we would have heard the announcer speaking the first time he landed on the station. (01:53:55)

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Audio problem: At the end of the movie when they're walking out of the house you hear a door open, but the doorway is empty - it's just an open space, with no door. (01:56:40)

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Audio problem: That is not a Martin outboard motor sound when Melanie is on the bay; it is a two-cylinder OMC outboard motor running (in neutral).

optimax225

Visible crew/equipment: As Melanie drives up to have dinner at Mitch's, the reflection of the cameraman on the inside of the window can be seen moving in the upper-left hand portion of the screen. (00:32:10)

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More mistakes in The Birds

Mother in Diner: Why are they doing this? Why are they doing this? They said when you got here, the whole thing started. Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from? I think you're the cause of all this. I think you're evil. Evil!

More quotes from The Birds

Trivia: When we see the school children running away from the birds, they were actually running on a treadmill with Bodega Bay footage added in the background.

More trivia for The Birds

Question: When the birds attack the town a gas station attendant is hit by a bird and drops the gas hose he is using to fill a car. The gasoline flows down the street and under a car; a man drops a match and lights the gas causing an explosion. Why didn't the gas pump shut off when the man dropped it?

michael g

Answer: The movie takes place in the 1960s, so presumably gas pumps worked a bit differently back then. This is also a small town and probably the gas station had not modernized. There may not have been automatic shut-offs, or if there was, it was faulty.

raywest

The automatic shut off is in the handle of the hose. When a person grips the handle they have to lift a levered switch to allow gas flow; the lever is spring loaded so that if it is released the gas will stop flowing. I have looked at older antique gas pumps and they are all the same; even the visible glass gravity flow ones. If that hose was dropped the the gas should have stopped flowing.

michael g

More questions & answers from The Birds

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