The Birds Overview:

The Birds (1963) was a Horror - Thriller/Suspense Film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by Alfred Hitchcock.

The film was based on the novel of the same name written by Daphne du Maurier published in 1952.

SYNOPSIS

Hitchcock, the master of suspense, ventures into the realm of horror with the depiction of a world in which nature can go suddenly, terrifyingly mad. When Hedren appears in the idyllic coastal village of Bodega Bay with two lovebirds in tow, the local birds inexplicably begin to wage an all-out war on humans. Hitchcock's follow-up to Psycho tops even that landmark for shock value. Loosely based on a Daphne du Maurier short story.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

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BlogHub Articles:

The Birds - 60th Anniversary in Theaters Tonight!

By The Metzinger Sisters on Oct 23, 2023 From Silver Scenes - A Blog for Classic Film Lovers

Alfred Hitchcock's suspense classic The Birds is back in theaters for one day (this evening, October 23rd) to honor its 60th anniversary. Check out Fanthom event's website to see if it is showing in a theater near you.... Read full article


4K UHD Blu-ray Review: The Birds

By Devon Powell on Jun 6, 2021 From Hitchcock Master

Distributor: Universal Pictures Release Date: May 25, 2021 Region ? 4K UHD: Region Free Blu-ray: Region A Length: 01:59:31 Video? 4K UHD: 2160P (HEVC, H.265) Blu-ray: 1080P (MPEG-4, AVC) Main Audio ? 4K UHD: 2.0 Mono English DTS-HD Master Audio Blu-ray: 2.0 Mono English DTS-HD Master Audio Altern... Read full article


The Birds (1963)

By Beatrice on Nov 21, 2017 From Flickers in Time

The Birds Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Written by Evan Hunter from the story by Daphne de Maurier 1963/USA Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions Repeat viewing/Netflix rental One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die Not my favorite Hitchcock but undeniably made by a master. Melanie Daniels (Tippi... Read full article


The Birds (1963)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Jun 1, 2017 From 4 Star Films

The Birds is about all sort of birds. The ones we are acquainted with initially?are actually a pair of humans. Lovebirds you might call them. Except they don’t know it quite yet, but the moment Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) and Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) meet in a pet shop, the sparks are alr... Read full article


The Birds (1963)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Jun 1, 2017 From 4 Star Films

The Birds is about all sort of birds. The ones we are acquainted with initially?are actually a pair of humans. Lovebirds you might call them. Except they don’t know it quite yet, but the moment Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) and Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) meet in a pet shop, the sparks are alr... Read full article


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Quotes from

Melanie Daniels: [worriedly, as she sees a man from the restaurant window lighting his cigar as gasoline is leaking around him] Look at the gas, that man's lighting a cigar!


Cathy Brenner: Mitch, can I bring the lovebirds in here?
Lydia Brenner: No!
Cathy Brenner: But Mom, they're in a cage.
Lydia Brenner: They're birds, aren't they?


Mitch Brenner: Be able to find your way back all right?
Melanie Daniels: Oh, yes.
Mitch Brenner: Will I be seeing you again?
Melanie Daniels: San Francisco's a long way from here.
Mitch Brenner: Well, I'm in San Francisco five days a week with a lot of time on my hands, I'd like to see you. Maybe we could go swimming or something. Mother tells me you like to swim.
Melanie Daniels: How does Mother know what I like to do?
Mitch Brenner: I guess we read the same gossip columns.
Melanie Daniels: Oh, that. Rome.
Mitch Brenner: Yeah, I really like to swim, I think we might get along very well.
Melanie Daniels: In case you're interested, I was pushed into that fountain.
Mitch Brenner: Without any clothes on?
Melanie Daniels: With all my clothes on. The newspaper that ran that story happens to be a rival of my father's paper.
Mitch Brenner: You're just a poor, innocent victim of circumstances, huh?
Melanie Daniels: Well I'm neither poor nor innocent, but the truth of that particular...
Mitch Brenner: Truth is you were running around with a pretty wild crowd, isn't it?
Melanie Daniels: Well yes, that's the truth, but I was pushed into that fountain, and that's the truth, too.
Mitch Brenner: Uh huh. Do you really know Annie Hayworth?
Melanie Daniels: No. At least I didn't till I came up here.
Mitch Brenner: So you didn't go to school together?
Melanie Daniels: No.
Mitch Brenner: And you didn't come up here to see her.
Melanie Daniels: No.
Melanie Daniels: You were lying!
Melanie Daniels: Yes, I was lying.


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Facts about

The use of standard blue screen techniques for doing matte shots of the birds proved to be unacceptable. The rapid movement of the birds, especially their wings, caused excessive blue fringing in the shots. It was determined that the sodium vapor process could be used to do the composites. The only studio in America that was equipped for this process was the Walt Disney studio. Ub Iwerks, who had become the world's leading expert on the sodium vapor process, was assigned to this production.
When the children are running down the street from the schoolhouse, extra footage was shot back on the Universal sound stages to make the scene more terrifying. A few of the children were brought back and put in front of a process screen on a treadmill. They would run in front of the screen on the treadmill with the Bodega Bay footage behind them while a combination of real and fake crows were attacking them. There were three rows of children and when the treadmill was brought up to speed it ran very fast. On a couple of occasions during the shoot, a number of the children in the front fell and caused the children in back to fall as well. It was a very difficult scene to shoot and took a number of days to get it right. The birds used were hand puppets, mechanical and a couple were trained live birds.
The famous poster art for the film where a woman is pictured screaming is not Tippi Hedren but is in fact Jessica Tandy taken from the scene where the birds come down the chimney.
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