The Birds (film) Maurier's title and concept of unexplained bird attacks. In 2016, "The Birds" was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in its National Film Registry. Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), a young socialite, meets criminal defense attorney Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) in a San Francisco pet shop. Mitch wants to purchase a pair of lovebirds for his sister's eleventh birthday, but the shop has none. He recognizes Melanie from a court appearance, but she does not know him; he plays a prank by pretending to mistake her for a saleswoman. Melanie
Gilbert Taylor as near to black and white as possible, with its grey, misty landscape". Taylor received BAFTA nominations over two consecutive years for the first two collaborations. Hitchcock requested Taylor work on his penultimate film "Frenzy" (1972). Despite a claim in Ronald Bergan's obituary of the cinematographer that Hitchcock was unaware the two men had worked together forty years earlier, it seems they had stayed in touch, according to Taylor's own account. Hitchcock never looked through the camera, because of his use of storyboards, leaving decisions to Taylor. The tracking shot, up and down a flight of stairs and then into