Ticket Giveaway: "The Birds" is Coming!

The much-anticipated Turner Classic Movies/NCM Fathom Events presentation of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds screens in theaters nationwide next Wednesday night, September 19, and I'm happy to announce a random drawing for a pair of tickets to the event will be held here at Eve's Reel Life this Sunday, September 16.


Please send your entry, including your name, mailing address (no P.O. boxes, please), and theater selection (I need all three) to ladyevesidwich@gmail.com. The winner will be contacted immediately and tickets will be sent directly from a representative of  NCM Fathom. Click here for a list of participating theaters. Update: On Sept. 16, a winner was selected by random drawing - congratulations to Rebecca in Indiana (and thanks to everyone else who entered the drawing)!

This presentation of Hitchcock's 1963 classic thriller, Oscar-nominated for its special effects, will screen at 7pm local time. Special features include an introduction by TCM's Robert Osborne as well as his interview with the film's leading lady, Tippi Hedren. Co-stars Rod Taylor and Suzanne Pleshette will also share on-the-set stories via archival TCM footage. The film itself has been newly restored by Universal in celebration of its 100th anniversary.

Read More

Five More Film Classics Coming to a Theater Near You

Turner Classic Movies and Fathom Events are about to begin a film series in celebration of Universal's 100th anniversary with special movie theater presentations of four newly restored Universal classics.

On Wednesday, September 19, "The Birds is coming" - again - and Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 thriller will screen in select theaters around the country at 7pm local time. Oscar-nominated for special effects, the film is arguably Hitchcock's last great classic. TCM's Robert Osborne will provide an introduction and present an interview with the film's leading lady, Tippi Hedren, who shares her memories of working with Hitchcock and filming The Birds (1963). Archival TCM footage of Hedren's co-stars Rod Taylor and Suzanne Pleshette are also included.

Next up, in a spectacular lead-in to Halloween, is a double feature on Wednesday, October 24, of two James Whale horror classics, Frankenstein (1931) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Again, TCM's Robert Osborne will introduce the films and will also present interviews from the 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival with Boris Karloff's daughter, Sara, Bela Lugosi's son, Bela, Jr., and Oscar-winning make-up artist Rick Baker. Show time is 7pm local time.

  
On Thursday, November 15, TCM, Fathom and Universal will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the heartwarming and thought-provoking To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), a powerful drama nominated for eight Academy Awards and winner of three. Directed by Robert Mulligan and based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, the film stars Gregory Peck in an iconic Oscar-winning performance and features future Oscar-winner Robert Duvall in his first credited screen role. Included in the presentation is an introduction by TCM's Ben Mankiewicz who will share archival interviews with many who took part in the production. Screening of To Kill a Mockingbird begins at 7pm local time.

 

In addition, Fathom Events is partnering with Sony Pictures Entertainment to bring Lawrence of Arabia 50th Anniversary Event: Digitally Restored to the big screen on Thursday, October 4. Nominated for ten Academy Awards and winner of seven including Best Picture, the film was directed by David Lean and stars Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif. Special features include introduction of the film by the Oscar-nominated Sharif, newsreel footage of the film's original New York premiere and a discussion of the film by Oscar-winning director and film restoration champion, Martin Scorsese. Show time is 7pm local time.

Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Tickets for all four events are on sale now. Click here for more information on each special screening and links to state-by-state listings of participating theaters.

And now, a word on The Birds from Alfred Hitchcock...

Read More

A TV Tour of Hitchcock Film Locations and Edna May Wonacott's First On-Camera Interview

Bodega School House

Eye on the Bay, a feature of KPIX, CBS’s San Francisco TV outlet, was recently on the trail of director Alfred Hitchcock, traveling around the Bay Area to take an up-close look at locations used in his films. The 20-minute piece, Hitchcock Step-By-Step, focuses on sites featured in Shadow of a Doubt (1943), The Birds (1963) and Vertigo (1958). Aaron Leventhal, co-author of the definitive Hitchcock-in-the-Bay-Area guidebook, Footsteps in the Fog, discusses the director’s work in the region, providing fascinating production background as well as information on many locations. Hitchcock’s granddaughter, Tere Carruba, talks about her grandfather from a personal point of view and Edna May Wonacott, the last surviving featured cast member of Shadow of a Doubt, speaks on television for the first time about how she was chosen for the film and what it was like to work with Alfred Hitchcock.


Clips from each movie accompany location visits. Eye on the Bay host Brian Hackney, a Hitchcock fan, guides the tour.

Note: A brief (15 sec.) commercial spot opens each segment. Closing spots at the end of segments can easily be skipped.

Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa

Click here to view Part 1. An 8-minute segment with a tour of Santa Rosa locations for Shadow of a Doubt and an interview with Edna May Wonacott Green ("Ann Newton"), now living in Arizona.

Click here to view Part 2, a 5-minute segment shot in Bodega Bay, where The Birds was filmed in 1962. The Hitchcock production has had a lasting effect on the small Bay Area town; it’s estimated that 10,000 tourists come each year specifically to visit locations featured in The Birds.

Click here to view Part 3, a 5-minute segment that spotlights sites seen in Vertigo. This tour takes us from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Mission at San Juan Batista and many locations in between.

Click here for Part 4. Just over 1-1/2 minutes long, it references Rebecca (1940) and Marnie (1964) and ventures to the estate Hitchcock purchased in Scotts Valley while shooting location footage for Rebecca, his first American film. It was Hitchcock’s much beloved home away from Hollywood.

Edna May Wonacott on the set with Alfred Hitchcock, 1942

Read More