The Birds [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray]

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Overview

This terrifying story begins as an innocuous romantic triangle involving wealthy, spoiled Tippi Hedren, handsome Rod Taylor, and schoolteacher Suzanne Pleshette. The banality of the human story lulls the audience into a sense of security, which is slowly eroded by the curious behavior of the birds in the area.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/06/2014
UPC:	0025192085239
Original Release:	1963
Rating:	PG-13
Sound:	[Digital Theater Systems]
Language:	English
Time:	2:00:00
Sales rank:	10,011

Special Features

Deleted scene; The original ending; The Birds: Hitchcock's monster movie; All about The Birds; Storyboard sequence; Tippi Hedren's secret test; Hitchcock/Truffaut interview excerpts; The Birds is coming (Universal International Newsreel); Suspense story: National press club hears Hitchcock (Universal International Newsreel)

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Rod Taylor	Mitch Brenner
Tippi Hedren	Melanie Daniels
Suzanne Pleshette	Annie Hayworth
Jessica Tandy	Lydia Brenner
Veronica Cartwright	Cathy Brenner
Ethel Griffies	Mrs. Bundy
Ruth McDevitt	Mrs. MacGruder
Lonny Chapman	Deke
Charles McGraw	Sebastian Sholes
Elizabeth Wilson	Helen
Malcolm Atterbury	Deputy
Joe Mantell	Salesman
Doodles Weaver	Fisherman
Alfred Hitchcock	Man in Front of Pet Shop with White Poodles
Karl Swenson	Drunk
John McGovern	Postal Clerk
Richard Deacon	Man in Elevator
Doreen Lang	Mother in Cafe
Dal McKennon	Actor
Bill Quinn	Farm Hand
Darlene Conley	Actor
Morgan Brittany	Schoolchild
Bernard Herrmann	Composer

Technical Credits

Evan Hunter

Evan Hunter	Screenwriter
Alfred Hitchcock	Producer
Ub Iwerks	Special Effects
Lawrence Hampton	Special Effects
Norman Deming	Producer
William Russell	Sound/Sound Designer
Bernard Herrmann	Sound/Sound Designer
Waldon Watson	Sound/Sound Designer

Scene Index

List of Figures xiii

Preface xxiii

Abbreviations xxv

Part 1 Apollyon and Armageddon: Revelation's Apocalyptic Traditions and Their Interpretation in History

1 Tributaries of Tradition: Jewish Sources of John's Apocalyptic Traditions 3

2 A Strong River: Historical Developments to the Reformation 25

3 Swept Away Downstream: Reformation to the American Revolution 53

4 A Mighty Flood: The Nineteenth-Century Deluge 71

5 A Hermeneutkal Swamp: Problematic Readings 99

6 A Glassy Sea: Learning from History 139

Part 2 Beyond Apollyon and Armageddon: Setting Hermeneutical Foundations for the Interpretation of Revelation

7 Interpretive Decisions: Genre, Prophecy, Judgments, Millennium 145

8 Theological Decisions: Christology, Ecciesiology, Soteriology 173

9 Contextual Decisions: Historical and Literary Settings 201

Part 3 Apocalypse of Jesus Christ: Reading John's Vision of a Future Anticipated from the Past

10 Judgment of the Church: The Son of Man and His Churches 249

11 Judgment of the World: The Sovereign God and His World 377

12 Hope of Heaven: God and Christ and Their Victory 525

Epilogue: The Future of John's Apocalypse 569

Bibliography 577

Scripture Index 591

Ancient Documents Index 607

Modern Authors Index 611

Subject Index 613

Editorial Reviews

Arguably the last great movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock, The Birds eschews customary fright-film formulas and settings to show what might happen to ordinary people in everyday settings if one species decided to suddenly wage war on another. Beautiful blonde Tippi Hedren portrays a bored playgirl who arrives in a coastal California community just as huge flocks of birds begin attacking the inhabitants for no apparent reason. She seeks temporary shelter with bachelor attorney Rod Taylor while the feathered felons continue to wreak havoc in the small town. Evan Hunter's script never offers a satisfactory explanation for the mass assault, but rationality isn't important in this film -- survival is. In fact, because there is no reason for the birds to act as they do, Hitchcock is able to precisely manipulate the atmosphere of mounting terror. It's a reflection of his genius that The Birds still keeps viewers on the edge of their seats.