The Birds (1963)

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1963
Running Times: 119 mins
Format: Technicolor     35mm
Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Universal / Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions
Producer: Alfred Hitchcock
Production Manager: Norman Deming

SCRIPT
Script: Evan Hunter
Story: Daphne du Maurier

DIRECTION
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Assistant Director: James H. Brown

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Robert Burks

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: George Tomasini
Digital Restoration Producer: Scott Dougherty (uncredited)
Digital Restoration Supervisor: Jerry Pooler (uncredited)
Digital Restoration Co-Ordinator: Tiffany Smith (uncredited)

SOUND
Electronic Sounds: Remi Gassmann, Oskar Sala
Sound Consultant: Bernard Herrmann
Sound Recording: Waldon O. Watson, William Russell

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Howard Smit
Hair: Virginia Darcy
Costume Designer for Tippi Hedren: Edith Head
Wardrobe Supervisor: Rita Riggs

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Lawrence A. Hampton, Dave Fleischer (uncredited)

VUSUAL EFFECTS
Special Photographic Advisor: Ub Iwerks
Pictorial Designer: Albert Whitlock
Titles: James S. Pollak
2nd Unit Matte Photography: Roswell A. Hoffmann (uncredited)

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Robert Boyle
Set Decorator: George Milo

MISCELLANEOUS
Script Supervisor: Lois Thurman
Bird Trainer: Ray Berwick
Assistant to Hitchcock: Peggy Robertson

LOCATIONS
Locations: Bodega Bay, California; San Francisco, California

CAST
Rod Taylor (Mitchell Brenner)
Tippi Hedren (Melanie Daniels)
Jessica Tandy (Lydia Brenner)
Suzanne Pleshette (Annie Hayworth)
Veronica Cartwright (Cathy Brenner)
Ethel Griffies (Mrs Bundy)
Charles McGraw (Sebastian Sholes)
Ruth McDevitt (Mrs MacGruder)
Joe Mantell (travelling salesman)
Doreen Lang (hysterical woman in diner)
Malcolm Atterbury (Deputy Al Malone)
Karl Swenson (drunk in diner)
Elizabeth Wilson (Helen Carter)
Lonny Chapman (Deke Carter)
Doodles Weaver (fisherman)
John McGovern (postal clerk)
Richard Deacon (man in elevator)
William Quinn (man in diner)
Alfred Hitchcock (man leaving pet shop with white poodles - uncredited)
Morgan Brittany, Darlene Conley (schoolgirls - uncredited)

Spoilt rich kid Melanie Daniels meets handsome young Mitch Brenner when she plays a practical joke on him in a San Francisco pet shop. She gets her comeuppance when Mitch turns the tables and plays a joke back on her, pretending not to recognise her and treating her as a common shop girl. Looking to get her own back, she decides to hand deliver the pair of love birds that Mitch has bought for his younger sister's birthday and travels to his home in the small seaside town of Bodega Bay. But en route to Mitch's house, Melanie is attacked by a seagull, and before long the feathered population in the town are turning on the humans in a series of increasingly vicious - and apparently organised - attacks.

Accepted wisdom holds that Psycho (1960) is the scariest of Hitchcock's horror movies. But for some of us, there's nothing in his repertoire quite as terrifying as The Birds. By exploring Norman Bates' psychology, we get at least a rudimentary understanding of who he is and what he does - the feathered antagonists of The Birds remain utterly inscrutable. We never do know why they've turned against us nor how they manage to organise they way they do and it's this that makes the film so frightening. Some may knock the admittedly ropey special effects, but for unbearable tension and mystery it's hard to beat. And that apocalyptic finale has rarely been bettered. Another Hitchcock masterpiece.

France
Theatrical Distributor: Carlotta Films (1999 re-release)

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures
Video Distributor: CIC

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures
Video Distributor: MCA
Laserdisc Distributor: DiscoVision (11-007); MCA/Universal Home Video (11007)
DVD Distributor: Universal (20275)

Argentina
Rating: 13

Australia
Rating: PG

Chile
Rating: 14

Finland
Rating: K-16

France
Rating: -12

Germany
Rating: 16

Norway
Rating: 18; 16 (1976)

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating: 15

USA
Rating: PG-13

1964
Academy Awards, USA
Best Effects, Special Visual Effects (Ub Iwerks) - nominated

Edgar Allan Poe Awards
Best Motion Picture (Evan Hunter) - nominated

1963
March
28: USA - theatrical release

September
16: Sweden - theatrical release
20: West Germany - theatrical release

November
8: Finland - theatrical release

December
7: Spain - theatrical release

1976
March
29: UK - television broadcast (on BBC1)

1984
December
24: Spain - theatrical re-release

1986
July
Day Unknown: USA - laserdisc release (MCA/Universal Home Video (11007))

October
22: UK - television broadcast (on ITV)

1989
February
17: UK - television broadcast (on ITV)

December
3: UK - television broadcast (on Channel 4)

1992
June
28: UK - television broadcast (on ITV)

December
24: UK - television broadcast (on BBC2)

1994
April
6: UK - television broadcast (on BBC1)

1996
June
3: UK - video release

December
24: UK - television broadcast (on BBC1)

1998
July
18: UK - television broadcast (on BBC2)

1999
October
27: France - theatrical re-release

August
19: UK - television broadcast (on BBC1)

2000
March
28: USA - DVD release (Universal (20275))

2001
December
22: UK - television broadcast (on ITV)

The Birds is coming!

Suspense and shock beyond anything you have seen or imagined!

It could be the most terrifying motion picture I have ever made!

Nothing You Have Ever Witnessed Before Has Prepared You for Such Sheer Stabbing Shock!

Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds

REMAKE OF
Danger: The Birds (1955)

SEQUEL
The Birds II: Land's End (1994)

SEE ALSO
El ataque de los pájaros (1987)
Bluebeard (1972)
A Century of Cinema (1994)
The Crow (1994)
Day of the Animals (1977)
Frogs (1972)
From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999) (V)
The Goodies: The Goodies and the Beanstalk (1973)
High Anxiety (1977)
Howling III (1987)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Last Embrace (1979)
Little Nicky (2000)
Maximum Overdrive (1986)
Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge, A (1985)
The Nutty Professor (1996)
Oskar Sala - die vergangene Zukunft des Klanges (2000)
Rebelión de los pájaros, La (1981)
Saturday the 14th (1981)
Wacko (1981)

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
The Men Who Made the Movies: Alfred Hitchcock (1973)
The Hitchcock Classics Collection (1985)
Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius (1999)
Paulie (1998)
Terror in the Aisles (1984)
Twelve Monkeys (1995)

REFERENCES

MAGAZINES

Starburst no.215 p.55 (UK)
article

NEWSPAPERS

Svenska Dagbladet 2 July 1999 (Sweden)
illustrated article (Perverst ode till kvinnans sexuella utstrålning by Carl-Johan Malmberg)

BOOKS

The Birds by Camille Paglia (London: The British Film Institute (1998))
article

Creature Features Strikes Again by John Stanley p.43
credits, review

The Films of Alfred Hitchcock by David Sterritt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1993))
credits, review

Hoffman's Guide to SF, Horror and Fantasy Movies 1991 - 1992 p.44
credits, review

Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.35
credits

birds, crows, pet shops, telephone boxes, practical jokes, revenge of nature, coastal towns, schools, teachers, children, diners, the sea, boats, gas stations, birthday parties

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009