An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (film)

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (La Rivière du hibou) is a 1961 French short film, almost without dialogue. It was based on the 1890 American short story of the same name by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was directed by Robert Enrico and produced by Marcel Ichac and Paul de Roubaix with music by Henri Lanoë. It won awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Awards. The film was later screened on American television as episode 22 of the fifth season of The Twilight Zone on 28 February 1964.

Plot
A handbill posted on a burnt tree, dated 1862, announces that anyone interfering with bridges, railroads or tunnels will be summarily executed. Union troops prepare a civilian prisoner, Peyton Farquhar, for death by hanging from a rural railroad bridge. The soundtrack contains only bird noises and brief military orders. As the rope is adjusted about Farquhar's neck, a vision of his home, wife and children flashes before him.

When Farquhar is dropped from the bridge, the rope breaks and he falls into the river. He frees himself from his bonds, removes his boots, and begins swimming downstream as the troops fire at him. Farquhar is swept through rapids and crawls ashore exhausted but laughing with relief. Glimpses of tree branches, sky and crawling insects are interrupted by a distant cannon shot which sends him running through a forest, then along a linear and orderly lane. Finally arriving at the gates of his home, he pushes his way through foliage. Farquhar reaches open lawn and runs toward his wife as she walks toward him, smiling and weeping.

Just as the couple are about to fall into each other's arms, Farquhar stiffens and gasps, and his head snaps back. The scene cuts back to his body hanging from the bridge, his entire escape and reunion with his wife revealed to be an illusion experienced in the moment of the drop.

Cast

 * Roger Jacquet as Peyton Farquhar
 * Anne Cornaly as Abby Farquhar
 * Anker-Spang Larsen as Union Officer (as Anker Larsen)
 * Stéphane Fey as Union Captain
 * Jean-François Zeller as Union Sergeant
 * Pierre Danny as Union Soldier
 * Louis Adelin as Union Soldier

Twilight Zone airing
On February 28, 1964, three years after its production, the film was shown on American television as an episode of the fifth season of the fantasy/science fiction show The Twilight Zone.

The episode's introduction is notable for Rod Serling breaking the fourth wall even more than usual, as he explains how the film was shot overseas and later picked up to air as part of The Twilight Zone. Serling's introduction is as follows, delivered while sitting on a soundstage next to a movie camera:

"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.'"

Serling's closing narration states:

"An occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, in two forms: as it was dreamed ... and as it was lived and died. This is the stuff of fantasy, the thread of imagination ... the ingredients of the Twilight Zone."

Awards

 * 1962 Cannes Film Festival: Best Short Subject
 * 1963 Academy Award, Best Live Action Short Film

Preservation
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.