The Birds (1963) 4K Restoration
Director: Alfred Hitchcock Run Time: 119 min. Rating: PG-13 Release Year: 1963
Starring: Jessica Tandy, Rod Taylor, Suzanne Pleshette, Tippi Hedren, Veronica Cartwright
Country: United States
Language: English
Presented as part of the 2024 edition of Hitchcocktober.
About the film:
Chic socialite Melanie Daniels enjoys a passing flirtation with an eligible attorney in a San Francisco pet shop and, on an impulse, follows him to his hometown bearing a gift of lovebirds. But upon her arrival, the bird population runs amok. Suddenly, the townsfolk face a massive avian onslaught, with the feathered fiends inexplicably attacking people all over Bodega Bay.
Inspired by true events and loosely based on the 1952 short story by Daphne du Maurier, Hitchcock’s influential masterpiece The Birds (1963) features acclaimed actress Tippi Hedren in her big screen debut. Containing some of Hitchcock’s most inspiring imagery, the film was nominated for Best Special Effects at the 36th Academy Awards and was selected for preservation in National Film Registry in 2016.
About the filmmaker:
Alfred Hitchcock, nicknamed the “Master of Suspense,” was an English-American filmmaker who is well-known for directing influential thrillers. Hitchcock’s first Hollywood film, Rebecca (1940), won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and the film earned Hitchcock his first Academy Award nomination for Best Director. Despite receiving little-to-no critical recognition, Vertigo (1958) is widely considered one of his greatest accomplishments thanks to its chilling score and complex exploration of themes that were personal to Hitchcock.
In 1960, Hitchcock changed horror—and film as a whole—with the ever-shocking Psycho (1960). The film was received with a great deal of controversy thanks to the ways in which it challenged traditional narrative structures; however, the controversy was a gift, as it became the second highest grossing film of the year and earned Hitchcock his final Academy Award nomination for Best Director.
With his television show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-62), Hitchcock became one of the best-known directors in world thanks to his memorable introductions of each episode. Throughout his life, Alfred Hitchcock directed more than 50 feature films across six decades. In 1968, he was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and in 1979 he earned the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.
The Film Center is thrilled to celebrate the master filmmaker once again with the 15th year of Hitchcocktober. Experience a stunning selection of Alfred Hitchcock’s finest as they were meant to be seen: on the big screen. These classic masterpieces continue to inspire some of today’s best filmmakers, and, in many ways, changed the art of filmmaking forever.
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