"He is a shameless bastard!"

Ima 2021-10-22 14:35:02

China Film Publishing House published a set of "Hitchcock Suspense Stories", a total of eight. It is said that many directors and screenwriters in China have collected the full set. When the inspiration dries up, they copy a few paragraphs from the book. Although these stories are generally literary, the suspense setting is still quite beautiful.

Interestingly, Hitchcock himself has a similar habit. The story of "The Flock of Birds" is what he read from a series of books called "Alfred Hitchcock Recommendation", the author is Hitchcock Daphne Du Maurier, a female writer whom Kirk admired very much, Hitchcock once put her novels "Jamaica Inn" and "Butterfly Dream" on the screen.

Hitchcock contacted Du Maurier and said that they were related to each other. Someone had planned to adapt "The Birds" into a radio drama and a TV drama, but they failed to make it. Hitchcock did not hesitate and immediately decided to buy the film adaptation copyright of the novel.

Due to Hitchcock’s too many filming plans, this novel has been shelved until one day, Hitchcock read a piece of news in the newspaper that a bird attacked humans in Santa Cruz, one A large group of seagulls lost their way in the fog, flew around, rushed to the street lights, and broke the glass. Hitchcock suddenly remembered the story of Du Maurier, so he decided to suspend the filming of "Big Thief" and shoot "The Birds" first.

God has looked back at Hitchcock again and again. While "The Birds" was filming in Podgar Bay, a short message was published in a newspaper in San Francisco that a group of crows attacked the young ewes on the farm. The incident happened not far from Podga Bay. Hitchcock drove to the scene and asked the farmer in detail about the incident. The farmer described to him how the crows swooped down, pecked off the eyes of the little ewes, and how they gathered to attack, killing several sheep. This undoubtedly inspired Hitchcock. He arranged in the movie the scene where the farmer and the female teacher died because their eyes were pecked off by birds.

The female protagonist Tibby Hedron was discovered by Hitchcock from a TV commercial. This blonde girl is Hitchcock's painstaking pursuit and selection after she stopped cooperating with Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly. The most ideal "Greek girl". Hitchcock had a lot of blue eyes on Heidlen. He once praised her to an Associated Press reporter: "Tibby Heidlen is absolutely extraordinary!" and made her star in his two painstaking works "The Birds" and "Yan". thief". But even so, as soon as he arrived on the set, he still insisted on the principle of "actors are animals", and Heidlen, who was a model, was obviously not mentally prepared.

In order to capture the ferocious attacks of birds on humans, the staff on the scene threw cages of birds at Heidlen's body every day. Heidlen was under tremendous pressure every day, so that when the film was about to be closed, it was almost close. The collapse, according to her statement: "Hitchcock cares more about birds than me. I went there to be pecked!"

Many years later, Heidelen still cherished this painful experience: " I trusted Hitchcock, and he made me feel confident. But when the birds started pecking at me, the shooting of "The Birds" turned into a nightmare. He never told me about this before. I It is entirely possible to be pecked blind. But I was very young then, and I did what the director said. I shouldn’t have experienced it all.”

From the contradictions buried in "The Birds" to the filming of "The Beautiful Thief" Time finally broke out. It is said that in the later stage of the filming of "Brilliant Thieves," Tibby Heidlen and Hitchcock had reached a point where they could not speak to each other, and occasionally they would still be satirizing each other. Heidlen used his weight to humiliate people endlessly, and Hitchcock was also very annoyed. So in the ten-year contract period, the once brilliant Heidlen never got an important role again.

Regarding why the two are at odds, the documentary Hitchcock: Shadow of a Genius about Hitchcock also disclosed an inside story. It is said that Hitchcock once made a sexual request to Tibi Heidlen very directly, and Heidlen very directly rejected this unspoken rule. It is said that this incident has filled Hitchcock's rest of his life with a strong sense of frustration, and he therefore hated Heidlen for his love and hatred and blocked him.

Tibby Heidlen has a daughter named Melanie. Coincidentally, her role in "The Birds" is also called Melanie, and the screenwriter Evan Hunt didn't know the name of Heidlen's daughter. This little "Melanie" also entered the movie circle when she grew up. She is the famous Melanie Griffith, who once starred in Brian de Palma's "Pink Murder Night".

After "The Flock of Birds" was finished, Hitchcock gave Melanie Griffith, who was six years old, a small gift, a doll based on her mother's look in "The Flock of Birds." The gift is quite commemorative. The problem is that the box for the doll is not a common paper box, but a wooden box. Tibby Heidlen was extremely indignant about this, thinking that this box represented the coffin, and Hitchcock was not at ease.

Affected by her mother, Melanie Griffith hated Hitchcock since she was a child. As an adult, someone asked her what she thought of Hitchcock. Her answer was: "He is a shameless bastard. You can tell him that I said it."

View more about The Birds reviews

Extended Reading
  • Itzel 2021-10-26 03:30:57

    A ritual movie that symbolizes the transfer of power, using the human panic caused by abnormal natural disasters as an opportunity to subtly repair the absent male-dominated family power. It can be said that this is Hitchcock's film with real value for discussion, and it can be called an excellent case of the "iceberg" structure in the film practice activities. ★★★★

  • Francesca 2022-04-24 07:01:03

    This is the first time I've seen Hitchcock's film, the 63-year-old film, the special effects of the horse can't be compared with the present, this local disaster film is going the way of intensive phobia

The Birds quotes

  • Mitch Brenner: Her father's part owner of one of the big newspapers in San Francisco.

    Lydia Brenner: You'd think he could manage to keep her name out of print. She's always mentioned in the columns, Mitch.

    Mitch Brenner: Yes, I know.

    Lydia Brenner: She is the one who jumped into a fountain in Rome last summer, isn't she?

    Mitch Brenner: Yes.

    Lydia Brenner: I suppose I'm old fashioned. I know it's supposed to be very warm there, but, well, actually the newspaper said she was naked.

  • Mitch Brenner: I think I can handle Melanie Daniels by myself.

    Lydia Brenner: Well, as long as you know what you want Mitch.

    Mitch Brenner: I know exactly what I want.