We feature a newly struck 35mm print of this beautifully photographed film. Based on the story of Robert Stroud, a two-time murderer who, at the age of 72, was in his fifty-fourth year of imprisonment when the film was made, Birdman of Alcatraz is the portrait of a man whose intellect is born in prison. Burt Lancaster portrays Stroud, who evolves from unthinking violence to thoughtful scientific pursuit while serving a life sentence in solitary confinement for the murder of a prison guard. Denied work, he develops a passionate interest in ornithology after finding a fledgling sparrow in the exercise yard. He eventually writes a book on the subject of bird diseases. When he is transferred to a prison where there are no birds, Stroud turns to the subject of caged men. What Stroud never does is repent his murders. Birdman of Alcatraz is not a film about rehabilitation; it is a film about resistance.
British critic Robin Bean writes: “Birdman of Alcatraz is a powerful reminder of one of the deepest values of life, that of human dignity. The case of Stroud is complex, controversial and in itself a history of half a century of penology in America--from the chain gangs to the intricate social machine it is today....” (in Films & Filming)