ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - March 29th
"THE BIRDS' released in 1963
A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town, where events slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people, in Alfred Hitchcock's cult classic suspense chiller, The Birds!
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Spoiled San Francisco socialite, and notorious practical joker Melanie Daniels, (Tippi Hedren) is shopping in a pet store when she meets Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor), who is looking to buy a pair of love birds for his young sister's Cathy (Veronica Cartwright) birthday. After playing a prank of his own on her, Mitch leaves the store, leaving Melanie planning to get her own back. Tracking Mitch down down to the quiet coastal town of Bodega Bay, where Mitch spends his weekends with his sister and mother, Lydia (Jessica Tandy), Melanie meets local schoolteacher - and Mitch's ex-lover - Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette) who points her in the direction of Mitch's waterfront farm. Hiring a motorboat from the harbor, Melanie sneaks into Mitch's house and leaves a pair of love birds with a cryptic note; but is spotted by Mitch as she makes way back across the harbor. Suddenly, Melanie is attacked by a diving seagull and is later helped ashore by Mitch, who insists she come to his home to tend her wound. During dinner, Melanie befriends Cathy and is persuaded to stay in Bodega Bay for her birthday the next day. However, the festivities the next day take a turn when the children are attacked by a flock of seagulls, and, later that night, rampaging sparrows that came into the house's chimney. The bird attacks escalate in the coming days; Melanie, Annie and the local schoolchildren are attacked by a murder of crows, Lydia discovers her neighbor's eyeless corpse (pecked lifeless by birds), and culminating into a full scale bird attack on the main street of Bodega Bay! Cut off from the inland, Melanie, Mitch, Cathy and Lydia seek refuge inside the family home; but after Melanie is brutally attacked by a mass of birds in the attic, Mitch must now make a desperate effort to save her and escape with his family from Bodega Bay before it is too late!
TRIVIA: According to Tippi Hedren, she signed a seven year contract with Alfred Hitchcock to work in "The Birds" before she even met him. She thought he meant to feature her in Hitch's TV series, but he flew in Martin Balsam to do screen tests of her in scenes from Rebecca (1940), Notorious (1946), and To Catch a Thief (1955).
Top and Above: An interesting love triangle develops between Mitch (Rod Taylor), Melanie (Tippi Hedren) and Annie (Suzanne Pleshette), before events surrounding Bodega Bay begin to take a sinister turn.
Originally based on the Daphne du Maurier novel of the same name, director Alfred Hitchcock was apparently dissatisfied with the plot of the novel, and ended up keeping only the book's bay-side town setting, the bird's bizarre behavior, their inexplicable tendency to launch frenzied attacks, fall dormant only to attack again later, and the title. Having first approached his Pyscho screenwriter Joseph Stefano, Hitchcock then hired Evan Hunter; Hunter having previously written "Vicious Circle" for Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, which he adapted for the television anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Hitchcock and Hunter developed the story, suggesting foundations such as the townspeople having a guilty secret to hide, and the birds an instrument of punishment, even suggesting that the film begin using some elements borrowed from the screwball comedy genre then have it evolve into "stark terror". This particularly appealed to Hitchcock, using the initial humor followed by horror would turn the suspense into shock.
Initially, Hitchcock and Hunter considered Audrey Hepburn for the role of Melanie Daniels, and even went so far as screen testing Sandra Dee for the role, before Hitchcock spotted actress Tippi Hedren in a commercial that aired during the Today Show. In the commercial for a diet drink, Hedren is seen walking down a street and a man whistles at her slim, attractive figure, and she turns her head with an acknowledging smile; as an inside joke, Hitchcock would later include a homage to the commercial in the opening scene of the film, where the same thing happens to Hedren's character as she walks toward the bird shop. For the role of Mitch Brenner, Hitchcock considered Cary Grant, but ultimately deemed Grant to expensive - and the fact that the birds and Hitchcock himself were a big enough box office draw for the move. Hitchcock next thought of Sean Connery for the part, before giving the role to Rod Taylor (although Connery would later work with Hitchcock on his next film, Marnie). Suzanne Pleshette wanted to play Melanie, but reportedly settled for the role of schoolteacher Annie Hayworth because the opportunity of working with Hitchcock interested her. The part was originally written as a middle-aged schoolteacher who just lived in the community, but Hitchcock revised the script specifically for Pleshette, making the character much younger and adding backstory and depth. Hitchcock enjoyed working with her so much that he asked her to play Sean Connery's sister-in-law in his next film Marnie. Pleshette, who thought of herself as a leading lady rather than in supporting roles, quipped "Is the sister's name Marnie? I don't think so! I don't think that's the lead!".
Initially, Hitchcock and Hunter considered Audrey Hepburn for the role of Melanie Daniels, and even went so far as screen testing Sandra Dee for the role, before Hitchcock spotted actress Tippi Hedren in a commercial that aired during the Today Show. In the commercial for a diet drink, Hedren is seen walking down a street and a man whistles at her slim, attractive figure, and she turns her head with an acknowledging smile; as an inside joke, Hitchcock would later include a homage to the commercial in the opening scene of the film, where the same thing happens to Hedren's character as she walks toward the bird shop. For the role of Mitch Brenner, Hitchcock considered Cary Grant, but ultimately deemed Grant to expensive - and the fact that the birds and Hitchcock himself were a big enough box office draw for the move. Hitchcock next thought of Sean Connery for the part, before giving the role to Rod Taylor (although Connery would later work with Hitchcock on his next film, Marnie). Suzanne Pleshette wanted to play Melanie, but reportedly settled for the role of schoolteacher Annie Hayworth because the opportunity of working with Hitchcock interested her. The part was originally written as a middle-aged schoolteacher who just lived in the community, but Hitchcock revised the script specifically for Pleshette, making the character much younger and adding backstory and depth. Hitchcock enjoyed working with her so much that he asked her to play Sean Connery's sister-in-law in his next film Marnie. Pleshette, who thought of herself as a leading lady rather than in supporting roles, quipped "Is the sister's name Marnie? I don't think so! I don't think that's the lead!".
TRIVIA: When audiences left the film's UK premiere at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London, they were greeted by the sound of screeching and flapping birds from loudspeakers hidden in the trees to scare them further.
Top: Mitch's mother Lydia (Jessica Tandy) is about to make a shocking discovery;
Above: Melanie comforts Mitch's sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright) during another bird attack.
Production on The Birds began on location in Bodega Bay (70 miles north of San Francisco) on March 5th, 1962. The now famous schoolhouse in the film is the Potter Schoolhouse, which served the town from 1873 to 1961, which was widely purported to be haunted. According to Hedren, the entire cast was spooked to be there. She also mentioned how she had the feeling, while there, that "the building was immensely populated... but there was nobody there." Of course, when Hitchcock was told about the schoolhouse being haunted, according to Hedren, he was even more encouraged to film there! Interestingly, the service station in the film was a set built by the production team - however, several years later a real service station was built on the very spot shown in the film (it remains there to this day). After 10-days of location filming, Hitchcock (who notoriously disliked working on location) returned to the soundstages at Universal Studios.
Impressive for it's time, The Birds featured over 370 effects shots (the final shot alone was a composite of more than 32 separately filmed elements). The special effects shots of the attacking birds were done at Walt Disney Studios by animator/technician Ub Iwerks, who used the sodium vapor process ("yellow screen") which he had helped to develop. The SV process films the subject against a screen lit with narrow-spectrum sodium vapor lights. Unlike most compositing processes, SVP actually shoots two separate elements of the footage simultaneously using a beam-splitter; one reel is regular film stock and the other a film stock with emulsion sensitive only to the sodium vapor wavelength. This results in very precise matte shots compared to blue screen special effects, necessary due to "fringing" of the image from the birds' rapid wing flapping.
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.
Impressive for it's time, The Birds featured over 370 effects shots (the final shot alone was a composite of more than 32 separately filmed elements). The special effects shots of the attacking birds were done at Walt Disney Studios by animator/technician Ub Iwerks, who used the sodium vapor process ("yellow screen") which he had helped to develop. The SV process films the subject against a screen lit with narrow-spectrum sodium vapor lights. Unlike most compositing processes, SVP actually shoots two separate elements of the footage simultaneously using a beam-splitter; one reel is regular film stock and the other a film stock with emulsion sensitive only to the sodium vapor wavelength. This results in very precise matte shots compared to blue screen special effects, necessary due to "fringing" of the image from the birds' rapid wing flapping.
TRIVIA: A number of endings were being considered for this film. One that was considered would have showed the Golden Gate Bridge completely covered by birds!
Top: The final classic shot of The Birds;
Above: Director Alfred Hitchcock on Stage 28 at Universal Studios.
After screening out of competition in May at a prestigious invitational showing at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival, with Hitchcock and Hedren in attendance, The Birds premiered in new York on March 28th, ahead of it's US release the next day on March 29th. Opening to universal critical acclaim, The Birds is considered amongst Hitchcock's best films, with film critic David Thomson refering to the film as Hitchcock's "last unflawed film" in 2008. Ub Iwerks was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Special Effects, although Iwerks lost to Cleopatra. Hedren received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress in 1964, sharing it with Ursula Andress and Elke Sommer. The Museum of Modern Art hosted an invitation-only screening as part of a 50-film retrospective of Hitchcock's film work, and included a booklet with a monograph on the director written by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich.
An unrelated sequel, The Birds II: Land's End, was released in 1994, starring Brad Johnson, Chelsea Field, and featuring Hedren in a cameo. This direct-to-television movie was widely panned when it premiered on Showtime, leading Land's End director Rick Rosenthal removing his name from it, opting to use the Hollywood pseudonym Alan Smithee. In October 2007, Variety reported that Naomi Watts would star in Universal's remake of the film, which would be directed by Casino Royale director Martin Campbell, and would be a joint venture by Platinum Dunes and Mandalay Pictures. However, since 2007, development has been stalled, and finally on June 16, 2009, Brad Fuller of Dimension Films stated that no further developments had taken place, commenting, "We keep trying, but I don't know."
An unrelated sequel, The Birds II: Land's End, was released in 1994, starring Brad Johnson, Chelsea Field, and featuring Hedren in a cameo. This direct-to-television movie was widely panned when it premiered on Showtime, leading Land's End director Rick Rosenthal removing his name from it, opting to use the Hollywood pseudonym Alan Smithee. In October 2007, Variety reported that Naomi Watts would star in Universal's remake of the film, which would be directed by Casino Royale director Martin Campbell, and would be a joint venture by Platinum Dunes and Mandalay Pictures. However, since 2007, development has been stalled, and finally on June 16, 2009, Brad Fuller of Dimension Films stated that no further developments had taken place, commenting, "We keep trying, but I don't know."
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 96%
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