I was about 14 years old and this movie was playing on WGN – channel 9 in Chicago.  I thought “cool”, I had never seen this movie, and it was supposed to be a classic Alfred Hitchcock film.  I was all geared.  My mom asked me what I was doing and I casually mentioned that “the birds” was on, and I was going to watch it.  I could not possibly have prepared for her reaction.  “No.”. No?  what the hell?  I just laughed at first and sat down in front of the TV.  Then she started to persist.  She was actually serious.  I couldn’t believe it.  I’d already seen “everything there was to see” on the screen (trust me), and my Mom wasn’t going to let me see “the birds”?  and it was edited for television no less.  I eventually saw the movie. As far as the “scare factor” goes, it was nothing.  In fact, I thought it was a bit silly. Perhaps it was scary in 1950, but by today’s standards?  It was like watching Disney. As for a movie in more general terms? It was decent, but didn’t blow my mind or anything. I think that’s the case with a lot of old movies. Filming techniques have advanced so much that what was once groundbreaking work by a genius like Alfred Hitchcock is now what everybody does… so it shines less. Too bad, but that’s just how it goes, I suppose.