THE BIRDS: 4K Blu-ray re-issue (Universal, 1963) Universal Home Video

Three years after Alfred Hitchcock terrorized audiences with his penultimate thriller, Psycho (1960), the master of suspense debuted one of his greatest, and most terrifying testaments to his artistry - The Birds (1963), a technologically brilliant, and cringe-worthy reworking of a short story by Daphne du Maurier (Hitchcock’s favorite author and a personal friend), superbly fleshed out by screenwriter, Evan Hunter. The Birds is ‘arguably’ Hitchcock’s only legit ‘horror’ movie – assaulting us with one of nature’s innocuous creations that we generally take for granted. On this occasion, our fine-feathered friends were amassing from above to take over the earth. To what purpose? Ah, Hitch’ wasn’t saying, and neither was Du Maurier, making the random – and oft’ gruesome – attacks on humanity by the birds all the more startling and eviller. The first time I ever saw The Birds I was nine in 1980, and seated in the living room of my parent’s un-airconditioned house, indulging in a Saturday afternoon ‘creature feature’ on our local UHF channel. Small coincidence, I suppose, but it was a hot summer day and the screen door was open, allowing an errant robin to suddenly smash into the upper glass partition and fall twitching, then lifeless on our front porch, and this, after a similar scene had only just played itself out on my screen with a seagull smashing against Annie Hayworth’s door in the movie. Needless to say, for the duration of that televised broadcast, my wide-eyed attentions were divided between the advancing horrors unfolding on the tube and the prospect that life was about to imitate art in my living room. If memory serves, I think I even elected to close and bolt the front door shortly thereafter, regardless of the sweltering heat…just in case.   

The Birds has held a hallowed place of respect in my heart and mind ever since. There are so many iconic moments in it, so distinctly etched into my consciousness, that the picture still manages to raise my pulse, despite the fact I have seen it now more times than I care to admit. It’s a great mid-summer ‘go-to’ and one of my favorite Hitchcock movies in a pantheon requiring no further exaltation for those old enough to remember it with a fond disquieting feeling settling in the pit of the stomach.  Even today, whenever I see a flock of birds amassing for the fall migration, my first thought is that they just might change their mind and swoop down on me instead. In a weirdly ‘comforting’ way, I have never been able to separate fowl from fiction since that first viewing and I have Mr. Hitchcock to sincerely thank for that! And the picture, despite changing times, tastes and technologies, has held up spectacularly, thanks to Hitch’s meticulous planning. Production history bears out the master’s methodical development on what would ultimately be his last truly great thriller. After some searching, Hitch' found his leading lady in Tippi Hedren, a statuesque beauty who had appeared in a Sego diet product commercial on television. Squiring the ingénue through various screen tests and rehearsals, and even procuring a private wardrobe fitting with imminent costumer, Edith Head, Hitchcock finally revealed to Hedren that she had won the coveted role in his next big movie project, eliciting tears of joy from the former model. Given Hedren’s previous glowing accounts of working with Hitchcock, her more recent denouncement in an autobiography, riddled in claims of a sexual assault are not only off-putting but highly suspect. While no one could deny Hitch’ had an affinity for blondes, stretching it to include a sexual compunction is a bit much.

From a purely technical standpoint, The Birds is undeniably Hitchcock’s most ambitious movie, relying heavily on old school photographic trickery that only occasionally belies its origins under today’s closer scrutiny. The sodium vapor matte process employed for the film was largely the invention of Disney SFX specialist, Ub Iwerks, who was called upon after Hitchcock became dissatisfied with the less than stellar results reproduced by the more traditional ‘blue screen’ process. Matte artist, Albert Whitlock whose work is legendary, provided the necessary backgrounds on glass photographic plates to extend the Universal backlot facades and on-location footage, creating a quaint, but palpably ominous aura around the fictionally recreated town of Bodega Bay. In hindsight, The Birds is Hitchcock’s last hurrah. Although he would continue to make pictures well beyond it, none would recapture his former glory, and some, like Torn Curtain (1966) and Topaz (1969) did much to diminish his reputation in the advancing decade leading to his steep decline in popularity.

The plot of The Birds eventually concocted by Hunter is centered in the quaint hamlet of Bodega Bay: weekend getaway for hotshot defense attorney, Mitchell Brenner (Rod Taylor). While in San Francisco, Mitch tweaks the nose of Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), a wealthy socialite and practical joker whose wild past has been regularly expounded upon in the tabloids. Mitch and Melanie quickly escalate their mutual antagonism from tempestuous rivalry to smoldering romance, quietly abhorred by Lydia (Jessica Tandy), Mitch’s mother and even more painfully observed with passive jealousy by his old flame, school teacher Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette). Mitch encourages Melanie to partake of his kid sister, Cathy's (Veronica Cartwright) birthday party. As there are no available rooms in town, Melanie stays with Annie for the weekend. Despite their competing interests for Mitch’s affections, the mood between Melanie and Annie grows friendly, with Annie admitting Lydia broke apart her relationship with Mitch years ago. Cathy’s party is interrupted by a flock of seagulls that dive bomb the children. Only a day earlier, Melanie was struck in the head by a wayward gull while sailing off the coast of Bodega Bay. That incident might have been easily construed as isolated - but not the party: especially after a swarm of finches flies down the chimney later in the evening, transforming the Brenner's living room into a feathery mess. The next day, Lydia drives out to Dan Fawcett's farm to make her inquiries about some chicken feed her fowl refuse to eat, only to make the gruesome discovery of Dan's badly mangled body, eyes pecked out, lying in a corner of the bedroom.  As the Santa Rosa police begin their investigation, Melanie offers to pick up Cathy from school. However, while waiting for class to let out, Melanie becomes acutely aware of a sinister flock of crows amassing on the jungle gym.

From here, Hitchcock ups the ante for his subsequent bird attacks. Crows descend upon the children but take no victims. In town, the gulls retaliate, knocking a gas station attendant unconscious. This assault starts a fire that the birds use to their advantage to launch their all-out attack on Bodega Bay. Melanie narrowly escapes becoming their next victim. But Annie dies while pushing Cathy indoors to relative safety. That night, Mitch boards up all of the windows in the Brenner home where Melanie, Cathy and Lydia wait out the next deluge. The sound of flapping wings and screeching outside is deafening, but then, even more ominously dies out. Have the birds gone away?  After Lydia, Cathy and Mitch have fallen asleep, Melanie is stirred by the nearby sound of fluttering wings, the beam from her flashlight inadvertently startling a mixed flock that have managed to peck through the roof. The birds pounce on Melanie, tearing at her hair and clothes and sending her into a catatonic state. Barely rescued from the attic, Melanie is carried to the car by Mitch, the family driving off to parts unknown as the birds presumably plot their next attack.

The Birds remains an irrefutably bizarre and terrorizing spectacle. Hedren’s account of shooting the penultimate attack in the attic bedroom is haunting; trapped in a netted cage with hundreds of live birds with seed strategically placed in her hair to attack them, and a bird wrangler literally tossing live ‘trained’ fowl at her all day long until Hedren suddenly suffered a complete collapse and had to be hospitalized for several days’ recuperation. Frankly, I can’t imagine it. Co-star, Rod Taylor recalled one magnificent black bird named ‘Arnie’ who took an instant dislike to him and would lay in wait of Taylor’s arrival to the set, thereupon repeatedly swooping down from the rafters to take a nip at him. By all accounts, shooting The Birds was a mostly happy occasion.  Taylor and Hedren got on, and apart from the considerable technical challenges of willing it to life, the shoot otherwise went smoothly and without much incident. The last shot in the picture was a tour de force in editing, with Hitchcock combining six glass plates to establish an ever-stretching vista covered in birds preparing for their next attack. The original ending was far more devastating, and ought to have included a scene in which Mitch, driving Melanie’s convertible with everyone inside, suddenly realized the birds were in hot pursuit of the car. The crows and gulls were then to begin pecking through the soft cloth top of the vehicle before Mitch was able to shift gears and outrun the attack. Tuning the radio, Mitch and company were to discover no reception on any of the stations, though confident once they arrived back in San Francisco, all would be well. Alas, as they rounded the corner towards the Golden Gate Bridge, a long shot would have established that, not only had the Bay city fallen prey, but the famed landmark was already covered in birds. Evidently, this denouement proved too costly for Universal’s tastes. It was story-boarded, but never shot.

Universal’s 4K single disc release of The Birds – one of my absolute favorite movies of all time – gets the booby prize for remastering. While 4K has tightened up the image, this is by far the most anemic ‘improvement’ I have seen in UHD. Over the years, I have pondered why The Birds – one of the youngest movies in any of the various and endlessly repackaged Hitchcock home video sets on any format – has always retained an extremely dated color palette, often, with clumpy grain to boot, and, contrast that continues to toggle from fairly good to only so-so. Film stocks of this vintage are only partly to blame as all of these shortcomings endure on this 4K remaster. Yes, side by side comparisons confirm this is a new hi-def scan, with minute improvements made in all of the aforementioned criteria.  But the film still looks ‘careworn’ and/or ‘dated’ for lack of a better descriptor. Some will also poo-poo the fact Uni has NOT included any ‘new’ extras in this set. But frankly, I cannot fault the studio for this, as it did some wonderful work ages ago for their previous ‘Masterpiece Collection’ and the goodies, of which, virtually all have found their way back into this set too, are here. It is; however, a genuine pity Uni has done nothing to either stabilize or upgrade (if, it is, in fact possible) the video-based content recorded decades’ ago for standard def. The Birds contains ‘All About The Birds’ – a definitive doc, running almost 1 ½ hrs. and featuring glowing tributes from Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor and others.  I take notice of this as Ms. Hedren has since had a change of heart and reflects rather differently on her experiences. Also, on this disc, deleted scenes, and, production stills pieced together as ‘the original ending’. The Birds: Hitchcock’s Monster Movie is a reflective puff piece in which contemporary film makers pay homage to the master’s foresight, storyboards, screen tests, more Hitchcock/Truffaut, and newsreel junkets shot to promote the movie. Despite the obvious advances made, my parting thoughts are decidedly mixed. I just wish Uni had done a little something extra to spiff up The Birds, given its enduring reputation. And, seriously, can we just get Uni to cough up the necessary funds for a new 1080p and 4K remaster of The Man Who Knew Too Much – a great film, currently, in one of the ugliest-looking hi-def transfers anywhere on the market? But I digress. Bottom line: if you are like me, you have likely double – even triple – dipped for this vintage catalog; proof positive Hitchcock will always remain the master of suspense and a lucrative cash cow for Universal. However, if it is perfection you seek, this ain’t it. Recommended, with caveats.

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

5+

VIDEO/AUDIO

3

EXTRAS

3