An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (28 Feb. 1964)
"The Twilight Zone" An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (original title)

It is the end of the Civil War and Union troops have occupied the South. They are going to execute a Southern resistance fighter.

Director:

Robert Enrico

Writers:

Ambrose Bierce (story), Robert Enrico (adaptation),

Stars:

Roger Jacquet, Anne Cornaly, Anker Larsen

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Roger Jacquet	...	Peyton Farquhar (archive footage)
Anne Cornaly	...	Abby Farquhar (archive footage)
Anker Larsen	...	(archive footage)
Stéphane Fey	...	Union Captain (archive footage) (as Stephane Fey)
Jean-François Zeller	...	(archive footage) (as Jean-Francois Zeller)
Pierre Danny	...	(archive footage)
Louis Adelin	...	(archive footage)

Storyline

A Southern resistance fighter is being executed by hanging in the South at the end of the Civil War by Union troops. Something seems to go wrong and he seems to escape. Will he escape or will the Union soldiers recapture him? Of course this is the Twilight Zone and nothing on it ever is what it seems to be.

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Plot Keywords:

escape | hanging | confederate | husband wife reunion | swimming | 

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 February 1964 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

25 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rod Serling was getting ready to take his end-of-season break, with all but one of the shows for the fifth season already filmed or in production, when he decided to leave early and go to a French film festival. There he saw An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge and immediately hunted down the producers with an offer to buy it for a one-time showing for American TV. Serling reportedly picked it up for $10,000 and flew straight back to Los Angeles, filming a new intro the moment he got to the studio and plugging the show into that same week's time slot. Not only did Serling get what was considered a classic, he also saved nearly $100,000 in production costs and brought the season's worth of shows in on budget. This prompted ABC-TV to offer to pick up Twilight Zone for another season. Serling said no to the deal when his discussions over the content of the new season made it appear he would be "going to the graveyard" for each show, doing Gothic horror shows. (ABC did want that, and eventually would pick up Dark Shadows, which fit the bill, in daytime.)

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Goofs

The Union Soldiers (giving orders on the bridge) and Peyton Farquhar (when he pronounces his wife's name) all speak American English with French accents.

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Quotes

[opening narration]
Narrator: Tonight a presentation so special and unique that, for the first time in the five years we've been presenting The Twilight Zone, we're offering a film shot in France by others. Winner of the Cannes Film Festival of 1962, as well as other international awards, here is a haunting study of the incredible, from the past master of the incredible, Ambrose Bierce. Here is the French production of 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.'

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Connections

Edited from An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge (1962)

User Reviews

A re-tread of sorts...

Apparently a couple years after this French film was made, it was shown as one of the later episodes of "The Twilight Zone". I assume this was done less as a tribute to this Oscar-winning short and more of an economizing measure.

The film is a short that was made with French actors playing American Civil War soldiers. However, this isn't a terrible problem, as there is no real dialog in the film--just some things being shouted out as a man escapes the hangman's knot. What I find particularly interesting, though, is they would choose to set the film in the US. Sure, I know that the original story by Ambrose Bierce was set then, but it would have been relatively easy for the film makers to change this to France or any other country.

The film consists of a man about to be hung--you assume for espionage. As he's about to die, you see the rope break and the man runs to freedom. Almost all the film shows him running barefoot back to his true love. But, in a final twist, you see that the story isn't exactly what you'd expect it to be.

My only complaint, and it's very minor, is that I might have done the ending slightly differently. But, I don't really want to say more, as it will spoil the film if you haven't seen it.