Alfred Hitchcock was a friend of Daphne du Maurier’s father, Sir Gerald du Maurier. The fact that Hitchcock knew father Sir Gerald much better than his daughter Daphne is striking because Hitchcock adapted three of Daphne du Maurier’s works for the screen. Of the 50-odd feature films Hitchcock made, most of which are adaptations of novels, short stories or plays, there is no other writer which Hitchcock adapts more than once, and yet there are three du Maurier adaptations (Sinyard). Hitchcock’s film The Birds is based on the short story with the same name by Daphne du Maurier; there are many striking similarities between the two works yet the meaning behind Hitchcock’s film and du Maurier’s short story could not be more different.