Alfred Hitchcock: Phone Booth Scene from “The Birds”

Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”, released in 1963, is still an amazingly scary (if mystifying) story of birds gone bananas. These were the original Angry Birds long before video games by that name existed. This film features one of the most famous phone booth scenes in all filmdom.

Let’s take a close look at the famous phone booth scene.

It is wise to have a disaster plan in place for the aviary apocalypse. Melanie Daniels (played by Tippi Hedrin) shows us exactly what to do when birds attack: Run into a phone booth surrounded by flames while everyone else retreats to the relative safety of a covered building.

Ms. Daniels does not break a sweat as flames threaten to engulf the enclosed, over-heated structure.

Once inside the trusty and presumably smoldering-hot phone booth our heroine surveys the horrific events taking place outside.

This overhead shot is surprisingly non-claustrophobic considering it was filmed inside a phone booth. Viva la Hitchcock!

Ms. Daniel’s cherry-red nail polish portends the bloody mess about to slam its face against this phone booth.

Her sparkly nails also complement the colorful bloodbath flowing outside.

Easily the most iconic split-second in this most famous phone booth scene, Ms. Daniel’s tender face looks toward the sky, toward the swarming beasts attacking the town, as an image of the feckful flock fills the background.

This placid little vacation town is transformed into a nightmarish hell-hole. The drama seems to revolve around this phone booth.

This image almost looks kitsch but I think it deserves to be seen in museums, if it hasn’t been shown already.

“HELP ME! HELP ME! I JUST NEED TO MAKE A PHONE CALL! LET ME MAKE JUST ONE IMPORTANT PHONE CALL! QUIT HOGGING THE PHONE BOOTH YOU PAYPHONE HOG! CAN’T YOU SEE IT’S AN EMERGENCY!”

“BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”

A number of times throughout this scene Ms. Daniels makes ill-advised attempts to open the phone booth door and escape. This was no mere dramatic flourish. Doors to these Airlight model phone booth were, in point of fact, notoriously difficult to get opened. One need read no further than the famous Bigbee vs. Pacific Telephone and Telegraph to understand just how true this was. Confronted with a recalcitrant path to escape Ms. Daniels might have let heat from flames surrounding the phone booth cloud her sense of judgment. The Birds sense her vulnerability as this one attacks, bursting through the narrow opening. Maybe the bird just needed to make a phone call. Whatever the case — Yikes!. I once lived in a place where pigeons and other fat birds waddled into my living space. That was no fun. But sharing a phone booth with a bunch of apoplectic birds would be worse.

BOOM! This moment in the phone booth scene might not make for an iconic image but it does make an amazing sound. The righteous thud made by this bird is great cinema best appreciated at full volume.

The flames surrounding the phone booth subside and Ms. Daniels, apparently having her fill of needless exposure to extra danger, leaves the enclosed structure. She is escorted under the chivalrous protection of Mitch Brenner (played by Rod Taylor), thus ending what is probably Hollywood’s most famous scene involving a phone booth.

See more screengrabs of this iconic phone booth scene at The Payphone Project Photo Gallery

I do not regard this as the greatest use of a phone booth in movies. I have other ideas in mind for that distinction. In the case of “The Birds” (I know this is a small point but I think it’s a detail worth noting) I simply question the logic of Melanie Daniels’ decision to leave the relative safety of a building for the enclosed confines of a phone booth surrounded by flames. She had no reason to be there.