Talk about a win-win. At some point, Universal decided to release fifteen Alfred Hitchcock movies in one badass collection to celebrate the studio’s 100th anniversary. Whether through incredible planning or sheer luck, the set’s release date (yesterday) wound up falling directly between two extremely high profile projects about the late director. The second, entitled Hitchcock and set to be released by Fox Searchlight on November 23, follows the making of Psycho, while the first, entitled The Girl and released by HBO a few weeks ago, follows the director’s strange relationship with Birds star Tippi Hedren.
Both of the afformentioned films are being released as part of Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection, and not surprisingly, there are a ton of special features about both acclaimed works. To help hype the release of its collection, Universal put a few of the bonuses online , and I’ve chosen my favorite to include below.
What you’re about to see is Hedren’s screen test for The Birds. Without any film credits to her name, the actress walks into the shot and commands the entire room like she’s the biggest star in the entire world. I can’t take my eyes off of her, and apparently, Hitchcock felt the exact same way. Take a look at the greatness below…
An overwhelming majority of actors are just actors. Only a tiny fraction of those in Hollywood have the potential to be movie stars, and Tippi Hedren had that potential. It’s a great shame her problems with Hitchcock prevented her from taking a few roles that could have turned her into one of the biggest names in Hollywood. Still, having The Birds as a legacy isn’t half bad.
To check out a full list of all the movies and special features found in Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection, you can check out our previous news story.
