Publisher's Synopsis
A collection of Alfred Hitchcock thrillers. In 'The Birds' (1963), spoiled socialite Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) pursues lawyer Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) to his Bodega Bay home after they meet in a bird shop. Melanie sails across the bay to deliver the gift of a lovebird to Mitch's young sister, only to be attacked by a gull on her way back. Soon random attacks on humans are taking place all over Bodega, as birds of all varieties mass in their thousands overhead. In 'Vertigo' (1958), after his fear of heights indirectly causes the death of a colleague, San Francisco cop Scottie (James Stewart) retires. He is subsequently hired by magnate Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) to follow his wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak), as Elster says he fears for her life. Scottie becomes bewitched by Madeleine, falling in love with her after saving her from a suicide attempt. Then, when Scottie's vertigo prevents him saving Madeleine from a second attempt to kill herself, he becomes obsessed with recreating the dead woman's image. In 'Frenzy' (1972), Barry Foster stars as market trader Robert Rusk, a psychopathic killer who strangles women with ties. Suspicion falls, however, on the innocent Richard Blaney (Jon Finch), after Rusk kills Blaney's ex-wife Brenda (Barbara Leigh-Hunt) and his current girlfriend (Anna Massey). In the spy thriller 'Topaz' (1969), CIA agent Michael Nordstrom (John Forsythe) learns from a Soviet defector that Russia has become embroiled in the Cuban missile crisis via a NATO spy codenamed Topaz. Enlisting the help of French agent Andre Devereaux (Frederick Stafford), Nordstrom attempts to discover the link, but his actions have disastrous international consequences. In 'Marnie' (1964), kleptomaniac Marnie Edgar (Tippi Hedren), who moves from job to job and has a pathological fear of the colour red, is caught stealing by latest employer, Mark Rutland (Sean Connery). Instead of turning her over to the police, Mark forces Marnie to marry him, convinced that he can get to the bottom of her psychosis. In 'Torn Curtain' (1966), famous nuclear physicist Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman) defects to East Germany with the intention of acquiring a secret formula from enemy scientist Gustav Lindt (Ludwig Donath). However, Armstong's mission is placed in peril when he is followed by his assistant and fiancée, Sarah Sherman (Julie Andrews). Finally, in 'Family Plot' (1976), Hitchcock's 54th and final film, fake medium Blanche (Barbara Harris) and her boyfriend Lumley (Bruce Dern) are attempting to scam the elderly Miss Rainbird (Cathleen Nesbitt) by discovering the long-lost heir to her family fortune. Meanwhile, sinister jeweller Arthur Adamson (William Devane) plots a kidnapping scheme with his girlfriend, Fran (Karen Black). Although no link is immediately discernible between the activities of the two couples, their paths eventually cross in the most unexpected of ways.
