American author Ambrose Bierce originally published the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” in 1890 in The San Francisco Examiner. Today the story remains in the national consciousness more than one hundred years later, largely due to the story’s appearance in film and TV.
Director Robert Enrico made the story into a 1962 French short film La Rivière du Hibou (“The Owl River”). The film won awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Awards.
But you may have seen the French film without knowing it was a French film. Rod Serling broadcast it with the short story’s title during the 1964 season of The Twilight Zone.
The Story of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
In “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Civil War soldiers prepare to hang a man named Peyton Farquhar at Owl Creek Bridge. When the man drops, the rope breaks, dropping him into the river below. Farquhar escapes and tries to return to his family and loved ones.
In the film, the escaped prisoner, played effectively by Roger Jacquet, conveys his desperation to get back home. If you have never seen the film or read the story, I will not ruin the ending.
The French Film Version
The original French short film won the Golden Palm for Best Short Subject at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival. It also won the Best Live Action Short at the 1963 Academy Awards.
Unlike the short story, the film begins with the execution, omitting the back story but thrusting the viewer right into the action. [October 2015 Update: Unfortunately, the entire French film is no longer available on YouTube, but below is reportedly an excerpt from the original French film with the song “Livin’ Man.”]
The Twilight Zone Broadcast
The French film attained a larger audience when Rod Serling incorporated the film into a Twilight Zone episode. In a series of original productions, Serling’s use of the film in this way was unique.
Different sources give different stories about how the film came to be a Twilight Zone episode. One source claims that Rod Serling attended a film festival and saw the short. Then, he bought the rights for broadcasting on his series.
However, most other sources report that Twilight Zone producer William Froug first had the idea when he showed the movie to a film class. At the beginning of this video, Froug, who passed away in September 2013, explains how the idea arose.
Below is the “special and unique” 1964 Twilight Zone episode that incorporated the French short film and added a Rod Serling introduction. The original French film achieved its tension with very little dialogue and used English for what little dialogue there was. So, the French film easily translated to American TV.
The Twilight Zone episode includes some music around the 15:20 mark that does not appear in the French video above (although one source says the song “Livin’ Man” appears in the French version too).
Reportedly, the Twilight Zone episode of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” was the last one produced for the series. But it was not the final episode that was broadcast.
For a long time after the broadcast and one repeat showing, viewers could not watch the episode. Twilight Zone did not have the syndication rights for the film. So after its initial broadcast and a repeat, for years the “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” episode did not rerun on TV in syndication with the other episodes. Eventually, though, the episode was reunited with the other series episodes on DVD.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
The Twilight Zone episode, however, was not the first to tell Ambrose Bierce’s story on television. Several years earlier in 1959, Alfred Hitchock Presents aired its own version of the story.
The Hitchock version, like the original short story, provided more back story on how the man came to be sentenced to death. [September 2016 Update: Unfortunately, a decent quality of the video is currently not available on YouTube.]
A Song, “Owl Creek Bridge”
Finally, more recently, Montreal-born singer-songwriter David Rubin wrote and recorded a song inspired by “An Occurrence at Owl Street Bridge.” The song, “Owl Creek Bridge,” appeared on his album Secret Agent
One can speculate that Ambrose Bierce could never have imagined how his story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” would reach so many people. It continues to grip us even today because the tale of one man’s desire to get home reflects the tragedy of both death and war.
Which is your favorite version of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
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