Countdown to Halloween: The Alfred Hitchcock Classics “Psycho” and “The Birds”

Since the Dietrich Theater is featuring the Alfred Hitchcock classic “Psycho” during their Spooky Fest movie festival, I thought to myself “you can’t really have a Countdown to Halloween review series without a couple films from the master of suspense himself.” So, I decided to add not only the 1960 classic “Psycho” but also a Hitchcock classic that I have never seen before - “The Birds.”

In the classic “Psycho,” Phoenix secretary Marion Crane, on the lam after stealing $40,000 from her employer in order to run away with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis (not the same character chasing Michael Myers) , is overcome by exhaustion during a heavy rainstorm.

Travelling on the back roads to avoid the police, she stops for the night at the ramshackle Bates Motel and meets the polite, but highly strung proprietor Norman Bates, a young man with an interest in taxidermy and a difficult relationship with his mother.

I have revisited this Alfred Hitchcock classic countless times over the years and I still find it effective. This 1960 classic still does an incredible job building the tension and suspense.

Now while the shock value of the film’s infamous twist has diminished over time due to it being so well known, this film’s twist is still one of the best. I also think that the black and white cinematography actually enhances the eerie ambiance of the film.

“Psycho” also delivers quite a few memorable moments, which also include the unsettling voice of “Mother” when she talks to Norman. And, of course, the shocking and then groundbreaking shower scene is one of the most infamous moments of Hitchcock’s filmography.

Ultimately, most contemporary audiences regard “Psycho” as a timeless classic, and a landmark achievement in cinematic history. It’s praised for its immense influence on the psychological thriller and slasher genres and for Anthony Perkins’ unforgettable performance as Normal Bates. And, the less we talk about the 1998 shot for shot remake, the better!

In the second Hitchcock classic that I checked out, “The Birds,” Melanie Daniels meets

Mitch Brenner in a San Francisco pet store and decides to follow him home. She brings with her the gift of two love birds and they begin to strike up a little romance.

One day birds start attacking children at Mitch’s sister’s party. After the party, a huge assault starts on the town by the attacking birds.

This was actually my first time checking out “The Birds.” Even though the effects during the bird attack sequences are obviously dated, they are still effective. The idea of ordinary animals becoming terrifying is an intriguing concept and despite the fact that there was no explanation given about the reason for their attacks, I think it just adds to the tension and intrigue.

The only mixed aspect of the film I can really think of is the slow start. Even though the first half of “The Birds” can be really slow building, it sort of works since it’s building up the relationship between Melanie and Mitch. The slow start also helps the viewer get comfortable with the main characters before the bird attacks begin.

“The Birds” has had a monumental influence on the horror genre, inspiring filmmakers for decades with its claustrophobic atmosphere and use of a familiar natural element as a source of terror.

You can stream both “Psycho” and “The Birds” on Peacock and catch “Psycho” during the Dietrich Theater’s Spooky Fest!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTJQfFQ40lI

• Director Sir Alfred Hitchcock was so pleased with the score written by Bernard Herrmann that he doubled the composer's salary to $34,501. Hitchcock later said, "Thirty-three percent of the effect of Psycho was due to the music." Ironically, he was originally adamant that there should be no music in the shower scene but he was persuaded by his wife to give it a try. The screeching violins and dire strings (which would inspire the music for Jaws (1975)) ending up selling the scene and driving theatrical audiences beyond anything they had ever experienced.

• Director Sir Alfred Hitchcock bought the rights to the novel anonymously from Robert Bloch for only $9,000. He then bought up as many copies of the novel as he could in order to keep the ending a secret.

• When the cast and crew began work on the first day, they had to raise their right hands and swear an oath not to divulge one word of the story. Alfred Hitchcock also withheld the ending part of the script from his cast until he needed to shoot it.

• After this movie's release, Sir Alfred Hitchcock received an angry letter from the father of a girl who refused to have a bath after seeing Diabolique (1955), and now refused to shower after seeing this movie. Hitchcock sent a note back simply saying, "Send her to the dry cleaners."

• Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh said that they did not mind being stereotyped forever because of their participation in this movie. They said in interviews they would rather be stereotyped and be remembered forever for this classic movie than not be remembered at all.

• Paramount Pictures gave Sir Alfred Hitchcock a very small budget with which to work, because of their distaste with the source material. They also deferred most of the box-office take to Hitchcock, thinking the movie would fail. When it became a sleeper hit, Hitchcock made a fortune.

• Sir Alfred Hitchcock wanted to make this movie so much that he deferred his standard $250,000 salary in lieu of 60% of the movie's gross. Paramount Pictures, believing that the movie would do poorly at the box office, agreed. His personal earnings from the movie exceeded $15 million. Adjusted for inflation, that amount would be equivalent to over $156 million in 2024 dollars.

• Every theater that showed this movie had a cardboard cut-out installed in the lobby of Sir Alfred Hitchcock pointing to his wristwatch with a note saying "The manager of this theatre has been instructed at the risk of his life, not to admit to the theatre any persons after the picture starts. Any spurious attempts to enter by side doors, fire escapes or ventilating shafts will be met by force. The entire objective of this extraordinary policy, of course, is to help you enjoy PSYCHO more. Alfred Hitchcock"

• For a shot looking up into the water stream of the shower head, Sir Alfred Hitchcock had a six-foot-diameter shower head made up and blocked the central jets so that the water sprayed in a cone past the camera lens, without any water spraying directly at it.

• The reason Sir Alfred Hitchcock cameos so early in the movie was because he knew people would be looking out for him, and he didn't want to divert their attention away from the plot.

• Sir Alfred Hitchcock used Bosco chocolate syrup instead of blood, because it showed up better on camera.

• Before Psycho (1960), movie theaters would play shows on rotation all day long. People would frequently come in the middle of one and stay till the middle of the next showing; leaving when they came in. But HItchcock made all the movie theater owners sign a contract that they would not let anyone in until the start of the film. Once they were late; they would not be let in until the next showing. This started formalizing the whole process of mandatory seating times at theaters which continues until today.

• The official trailer back in 1960 ran on for over six minutes and thirty seconds, a feat unheard of in today's trailers.

• The novel upon which this movie was based was inspired by the true story of Ed Gein, a serial killer who was also the inspiration for Deranged (1974), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtJlwXwubp0

• When audiences left the U.K. premiere at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London, they were greeted by the sound of screeching and flapping birds from loudspeakers hidden in the trees to scare them further.

• Alfred Hitchcock revealed on The Dick Cavett Show (1968) that 3,200 birds were trained for the movie. He said the ravens were the cleverest, and the seagulls were the most vicious.

• Several endings were being considered. One that was considered would have shown the Golden Gate Bridge completely covered by birds.

• Tippi Hedren donated her script from this movie to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. (Smithsonian Magazine. August 2008, pg. 28)

• The classic scene in which Tippi Hedren watches birds attacking the townsfolk was filmed in the studio from a phone booth. When Melanie opens the phone-booth door, a bird trainer had trained gulls that were taught to fly at it. Surviving photos of the shooting of the scene were published in the book "Hitchcock at Work" by Bill Krohn.

• When this movie aired on NBC in the U.S. on January 6, 1968, it became the highest rated movie shown on television up to that point. The record held until Love Story (1970) overtook it on October 1, 1972.

• The schoolhouse in Bodega, California has also been known to be haunted, even back during filming. According to Tippi Hedren, the entire cast was spooked to be there. She also mentioned how she had the feeling while there that "the building was immensely populated, but there was nobody there." When Alfred Hitchcock was told about the schoolhouse being haunted, according to Hedren, he was even more encouraged to film there.

• When the children are running down the street from the schoolhouse, extra footage was shot back on the Universal soundstages to make the scene more terrifying. A few of the children were brought back and put in front of a process screen on a treadmill. They ran in front of the screen on the treadmill with the Bodega Bay footage behind them while a combination of real and fake crows were attacking them. There were three rows of children, and when the treadmill was brought up to speed, it ran very fast. On a couple of occasions, several of the children in the front fell and caused the children in the back to fall as well. It was a very difficult scene to shoot, and took a few days to get it right. The birds used were hand puppets, mechanical, and a couple were trained live birds.

• Sir Alfred Hitchcock briefly considered Cary Grant for the role of Mitch Brenner, but decided against using the hugely expensive actor, because he felt the birds and the Hitchcock name were the big attractions.

• This movie and the original story by Daphne Du Maurier share no characters, and in fact have only in common the bayside town setting, the birds' bizarre behavior, their inexplicable tendency to launch frenzied attacks then fall dormant, only to attack again later, and of course the title. In Du Maurier's story, the main character discovers that this pattern is directly related to the rise and fall of the tides and uses this to their advantage, as opposed to this movie, which seems to follow the same pattern, but never makes a direct connection. Also, the original story takes place in Britain, and centers around a man protecting his wife and two children at their isolated cottage, as opposed to this movie, which centered on the spirited but troubled city dweller Melanie Daniels, who traveled to the California coast on a whim.

• According to Tippi Hedren, she signed a seven year contract with Sir Alfred Hitchcock to work on this movie before she even met him. She thought he meant to feature her in his television show, but he flew in Martin Balsam to do screentests of her in scenes from Rebecca (1940), Notorious (1946), and To Catch a Thief (1955).

• Daphne Du Maurier's story "The Birds" was originally purchased for use on Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955).