The Birds
The Birds was made in 1962 and released in 1963.
Cast
Tippi Hedren... Melanie Daniels (credited as 'Tippi' Hedren)
Suzanne Pleshette... Annie Hayworth
Rod Taylor... Mitch Brenner
Jessica Tandy... Lydia Brenner
Veronica Cartwright... Cathy Brenner
Ethel Griffies... Mrs. Bundy - Ornithologist
Charles McGraw... Sebastian Sholes - Fisherman in Diner
Doreen Lang... Hysterical Mother in Diner
Ruth McDevitt... Mrs. MacGruder - Pet Store Clerk
Joe Mantell... Traveling Salesman at Diner's Bar
Malcolm Atterbury... Deputy Al Malone
Karl Swenson... Drunken Doomsayer in Diner
Elizabeth Wilson... Helen Carter
Lonny Chapman... Deke Carter - Diner Owner
Doodles Weaver... Fisherman Helping with Rental Boat
John McGovern... Postal Clerk
Richard Deacon... Mitch's City Neighbor
Bill Quinn... Sam - Man in Diner (as William Quinn)
Cinema's most famous jump cuts?
The Scream in Hitchcock Films
The Lodger
One of The Avenger's victims. |
The Ring
Screaming from fear and joy at the fairground. |
The Birds
The silent scream in The Birds is maybe the most expressive of them all. Jessica Tandy in shock. |
Frenzy
Prayer doesn't help Barbara Leigh-Hunt's character Mrs. Blaney in Frenzy when she meets the serial killer |
There is a dreadful story that I hate actors. I can't imagine how such a rumor began. Of course it may possibly be because I was once quoted as saying that actors are cattle. My actor friends know I would never be capable of such a thoughtless, rude and unfeeling remark . . . What I probably said was that actors should be treated like cattle.
Alfred Hitchcock
Bird Motif in Hitchcock's Films
Birds are often an ominous sign in Hitchcock's films and/or representatives of evil and horror.
| The Lodger, 1926/1927 | |
| Blackmail, 1929 | Alice has a canary bird twittering ominously after the murder |
| Sabotage, 1936 | The bomb is made in a bird shop. fabrikeres i en fugleforretning. "The birds will sing at 1:45" Who Killed Cock Robin? |
| Young and Innocent, 1937/1938 | When the two women see the body, they turn away and Hitchcock cuts to extreme close-ups of gulls and then back to the women again. |
| The Lady Vanishes, 1937/1938 | A bird cage in the inn is seen right after the camera has entered through the window Charters calls Miss Froy «a queer sort of bird» in the restaurant at the inn When Droppo and Gilbert starts to fight there is a bird in front of the camera. |
| Saboteur, 1942 | When Pat is begging her uncle to give up Barry, a bird is seen in the same frame. |
| Foreign Correspondent, 1940 | Van Meer is talking a lot of birds. |
| To Catch a Thief, 1954/1955 | |
| Vertigo, 1957/1958 | Novak wears a Hummingbird pin on her lapel. |
| Psycho, 1959–60/1960 | Norman Bates is stuffing birds. Birds are predominant in the dialogue scene in Norman's office. |
| The Birds, 1962/1963 | The birds are attacking. |
| Topaz, 1968-69/1969 | Gulls are stealing the French loaf that the Cuban resistance people had hidden their cameras in. This reveals them to the Cuban militaries.
|
| Family Plot, 1975/1976 | Mrs "Rainbird" is the reason Blanche starts her investigation. |
The Birds (1963) titles
 |
 |
 |
Title designer: James S. Pollack
Aberrant Women Motif in Hitchcock's Movies
- Alice (Blackmail)
- Sylvia (Sabotage)
- Lady Henrietta Flusky (Under Capricorn)
- Marion Crane (Psycho)
- Melanie Daniels (The Birds)
- Marnie (Marnie)