Ambrose Bierce: Civil War Stories (2006)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Directors:

Don Maxwell
Brian James Egen

Writers:

Ambrose Bierce (short stories)
Brian James Egen (screenplay) (segment "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge")

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | War

Tagline:

A country divided, one man at a time.

Plot:

Three of the most popular and controversial Civil War stories by legendary writer Ambrose Bierce are presented in this acclaimed feature collection.

Plot Keywords:

Civil War | Battle | Civil War Reenactment | TV Special | Confederate

Cast

Campbell Scott	...	Ambrose Bierce
Vivian Schilling	...	Gertrude Atherton
Nathan Darrow	...	William Randolph Hearst
T. Max Graham
Kathrin Gnorski
David Jones
Casi Riegle
Bruce Heinrich	...	Captain Nathan Ransome (segment "One Kind of Officer")
Kip Niven	...	General Masterson (segment "One Kind of Officer")
Mark Robbins	...	General Cameron (segment "One Kind of Officer")
Delno Ebie	...	Lt. Price (segment "One Kind of Officer")
Martin English	...	Gunner Manning (segment "One Kind of Officer")
Michael Rapport	...	Sgt. Morris (segment "One Kind of Officer")
Lee Ingalls	...	Adjutant (segment "One Kind of Officer")
Nate Van Camp	...	Staff Officer (segment "One Kind of Officer")

Runtime:

USA:93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital EX

Filming Locations:

Charles Town, West Virginia, USA

Company:

Don Maxwell Productions

Fouling Up Owl Creek

As a narrative technique, framing a story, or a series of stories, within a larger story has its merits. But not so in this case. We don't need, after all, to meet Ambrose Bierce (who was far more handsome than Campbell Scott, by the way) or William Randolph Hearst, or a woman writer of dubious talents whom no one reads anymore, as a prelude to the filmic adaptations of Bierce's stories. But that is where this mediocre film begins and ends: on a rather cheap looking set (think Gunsmoke) designed as the parlor of a western hotel where the three meet and where Bierce reads three of his stories. The adaptations are not so good as I might have liked. The acting was only passable in most cases. The first story, about shell-shock, drags on interminably, the second has occasional good moments, and the third, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," almost manages to get things right. The quality is thus incremental but the attention dulls along the way. All of the stories are hampered by actors of limited talent who appear to have been culled from local theater companies, by rather dull cinematography, and especially by an exceedingly unskilled makeup and hair artist.