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| Anne Cornaly and Roger Jacquet as Abby and Peyton Farquhar |
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”
Season Five, Episode 142
Original Air Date: February 28, 1964
Cast:
Peyton Farquhar: Roger Jacquet
Crew:
Writer: Robert Enrico (based on the story by Ambrose Bierce)
And Now, Mr. Serling:
“Next time on The Twilight Zone, a departure from the norm: a
program shot entirely in France. A film so special and so unique that for the
first time in the five years we’ve been presenting The Twilight Zone, we’re
offering a film shot by others. Adapted and directed by Robert Enrico, winner
of the Cannes Film Festival 1962, as well as other major international awards,
Ambrose Bierce’s ‘An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.’”
Rod Serling’s Opening Narration:
“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.’”
Summary:
It
is the time of the American Civil War. Posted within Union-occupied territory
is a sign stating that anyone caught tampering with Owl Creek Bridge is subject
to hanging. We move to that bridge along the bank of the river that runs below
it to witness the maneuvers of the Union Army. A plank of wood is laid past the
edge of the bridge and a noose is fashioned at the end of a rope. We are
present at a hanging.
The
man to be hanged is Peyton Farquhar, a local landowner and Confederate
sympathizer who attempted to destroy the bridge. He waits silently and afraid
as the Union soldiers prepare for his execution. The soldiers remove Farquhar’s
watch, tie his hands and feet, tighten the noose around his neck, and walk him
to the edge of the plank. When the soldier standing on the other end of the
plank steps off, Farquhar will plunge to his death at the end of the rope.
Farquhar closes his eyes and envisions his tranquil plantation home.
The
Union soldier steps off the plank and Farquhar drops. Incredibly, the rope
breaks, sparing Farquhar's life and plunging him into the cold waters of the river. Through
torturous effort, he frees his hands and feet and swims to the surface. The
soldiers shoot at him, narrowly missing their target.
Farquhar
catches a current that swiftly carries him away from the soldiers chasing him along
the riverbank. He washes up on a rocky shore, reveling in his miraculous
escape. Farquhar runs through the forest as cannon fire signals his relentless
pursuers. He finally arrives home, exhausted, his arms outstretched to embrace
his beautiful wife.
The
Union soldier steps off the plank, sending Farquhar to his death at the end of
the rope. His escape was only a wish and a dream.
Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:
“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.”
Commentary:
The most unusual episode of The Twilight Zone is the American
television broadcast of La Rivière du
hibou, an award-winning 1961 French short film adaptation of Ambrose
Bierce’s story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (1890). Adapted by director
Robert Enrico (1931–2001), who read Bierce’s Civil War stories while serving in
the French military, the film won the Palme d’Or for short subject at the 1962
Cannes Film Festival, as well as both the 1963 Academy Award and the 1963 BAFTA
in the same category.
Rod Serling viewed the film at a New York City screening and brought it
to the attention of series producer William Froug. The Twilight Zone was running over its considerable production budget
on the fifth season. Froug faced the dilemma of needing an additional episode
while also bringing the series in under budget. Enrico’s film offered an
opportunity to do both, as it filled the final production slot while also
costing the series far less to broadcast than the production of another
episode. The production team on the series was tasked with editing the 29-minute
film for time, preparing the image and sound elements for televised broadcast,
and filming Rod Serling’s narrations. Those interested in the financial
particulars of the film’s television broadcast are encouraged to consult the
episode’s entry in Martin Grams, Jr.’s The
Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic (2008).
The agreed-upon terms allowed the series to broadcast the film twice, and it was shown again on September 11, 1964. The film was not included in syndication packages of the series, however. It was largely unavailable to view until its inclusion on home video in Treasures of the Twilight Zone (1998), which also included the series pilot, “Where Is Everybody,” and “The Encounter,” a controversial episode also held from syndication. Enrico’s film is now included in home video and streaming collections of The Twilight Zone, though it is still not included in syndication packages of the series.
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| "The Mockingbird" (via Gaumont) |
The film is both a faithful adaptation of Bierce’s story and an
exceptional sensory experience, with minimal dialogue, subjective camera angles,
immersive sound design, and a dreamlike atmosphere. Such was the success of the
film on the international festival circuit that Enrico was approached by
producer Robert Hossein (Franco-London Films) to adapt additional Bierce
stories and create a feature-length film. The result was the anthology film Au cœur de la vie (1963), with adaptations
of two additional Civil War tales from Bierce’s Tales of Soldiers and Civilians (1891). The stories were
“Chickamauga,” a grim fable about a boy who, believing it to be a
game, climbs onto wounded and dying soldiers as they crawl from the
battlefield, and “The Mockingbird,” an equally grim tale in which a Union
soldier unwittingly kills his estranged twin brother, a Confederate soldier. The
film received two awards at the 1963 San Sebastián Film Festival but struggled
to find distribution beyond a brief theatrical release in Paris in 1968.
The additional short films were offered to Rod Serling for The Twilight Zone, but the opportunity
passed when the series was not renewed for a sixth season. Serling previously considered
an adaptation of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” but was likely put off the
idea due to an adaptation of the story on the fifth season of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Airing on
December 20, 1959, the episode was scripted by Harold Swanton, directed by
Robert Stevenson, and featured Ronald Howard as Peyton Farquhar and James
Coburn as a Union spy. The story was performed in the slickly dramatic manner
for which the series is known. An excellent review and production history of
the episode can be found here. Enrico’s film allowed Serling to include an
adaptation of Bierce’s story on The
Twilight Zone without appearing to emulate a competing anthology series. For
those interested, see my previous post, “Stories that Would Have Made Great
Episodes of The Twilight Zone,” for a
look at another Bierce story, “A Watcher by the Dead” (1889).
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| Ambrose Bierce (1892) (via Wikipedia) |
Three aspects of the life and works of Ambrose Bierce (1842–c. 1914)
continue to fascinate. The first is his turbulent and tragic life, which ended
with his mysterious disappearance in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. The
second is his biting and caustic wit, which earned him the sobriquet “Bitter
Bierce” and culminated in The Devil’s
Dictionary (1911), a collection of cynical definitions that Bierce
developed over his long writing career. The third is Bierce’s position as an
American short story writer. His tales of the Civil War are considered the
finest written by a participant in the conflict, and his ghost, horror, and
science fiction stories position him as the most important American writer of
such tales in the time between Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft.
Bierce was born in rural Ohio as the tenth of thirteen children, all of
whose names began with the letter A—an
eccentricity of Bierce’s fanatically Calvinist father, Marcus Aurelius.
Bierce’s family lived in deep poverty due to his father’s financial ineptitude.
Bierce’s mother, Laura Sherwood Bierce, traced her family line back to the Mayflower. Bierce later characterized her
as cold and unloving. Bierce deeply resented both of his parents but was
thankful to his mother for teaching him to read, and to his father for access
to his father’s enormous personal library. Bierce’s family moved to Indiana
when he was a child, and it was here that Bierce received his lower education
and obtained his first job as an apprentice at a local abolitionist newspaper. Bierce
briefly attended the Kentucky Military Institute, but his higher education was
sporadic, and he was largely self-educated.
Bierce enlisted in the Union Army’s Ninth Indiana Infantry at the
outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. He saw action in some of the bloodiest
battles, including Shiloh and Chickamauga. Bierce served as a topographical
engineer, mapping terrain for Union military operations. He suffered a serious
head wound at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in 1864 and left the service in
January 1865. Bierce’s experiences in the war left him with a profound sense of
the absurdity of human conflict. His Civil War stories strip the romance and
glory from battle to portray it as series of brutal encounters with chance and
death.
After the war, Bierce settled in San Francisco and began a long career as
a journalist, poet, essayist, and fiction writer. He married Mary Ellen
(“Mollie”) Day in 1871, worked as a journalist in England, returned to San
Francisco in 1875, pursued a mining venture in Dakota Territory in 1879, and
returned again to San Francisco in 1881. In 1887, Bierce was hired to write for
William Randolph Hearst’s San Francisco
Examiner. Bierce’s “Prattle” column of cultural commentary mercilessly
skewered politicians, literary rivals, businessmen, and religious leaders.
Bierce’s journalism became an instrument for exposing hypocrisy, vanity, and
corruption in society. At the same time, Bierce produced the fiction upon which
his enduring reputation rests. Bierce’s stories are saturated with the author’s
cynical worldview, characterized by psychological unease, grim irony, and
unsettling conclusions. Bierce’s tales suggest that reality and human experience
are far more irrational and cruel than our explanations suggest. The black
humor and misanthropy that characterize Bierce’s work also distinguish him in
American letters.
Bierce’s family life was marked by devastating losses. His marriage
deteriorated and he separated from his wife, eventually divorcing in 1904. In
1889, Bierce’s elder son committed suicide after shooting a romantic rival. His
younger son died of pneumonia aggravated by alcoholism in 1901. Bierce’s
daughter, Helen, survived him and was among the last to receive correspondence
from Bierce before he disappeared.
In late 1913, at age 71, Bierce traveled south to Mexico in order to
witness the Mexican Revolution. He crossed the border into a country embroiled
in armed conflict. Bierce’s correspondence from Mexico indicated his
association with members of Pancho Villa’s revolutionary forces. His last known
letter was sent from Chihuahua in December 1913 and ended with the statement:
“As to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination.” Bierce was never
heard from again.
Bierce’s daughter appealed to the U.S. State Department to help locate
her father. Despite inquiries, no conclusive evidence turned up to suggest where,
when, or how Bierce died. An illustration of the bitter irony that
characterized Bierce’s life and work is the series of supernatural stories he
wrote under the umbrella title “Mysterious Disappearances.” These tales were
collected together in Can Such Things Be?
(1893).
Bierce’s disappearance led to widespread conjecture on his fate and
inspired writers to imagine what happened to him in Mexico. Notable works of
this type include Jack Finney’s “Of Missing Persons” (1955), Gerald Kersh’s
Edgar Award-winning story, “The Secret of the Bottle” (1957), and the novel The Old Gringo (1985) by Mexican writer Carlos
Fuentes.
Bierce remains a somewhat
marginal, but important, figure in American letters. His Civil War stories are significant
contributions to understanding the psychological aspects of the war, and his
ghost, horror, and science fiction stories remain anthology favorites. Every
generation seems to produce one or more champions of Bierce and his works.
Vincent Starrett included an essay on Bierce in his collection Buried Caesars: Essays in Literary
Appreciation (1923). Clifton Fadiman selected the contents and wrote an
introduction to Bierce’s life for The
Collected Writings of Ambrose Bierce (1946). Dover Books produced two
volumes covering Bierce’s writings. The first, The Sardonic Humor of Ambrose Bierce, was selected by George Barkin
and appeared in 1963. The other, Ghost
and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce, appeared in 1964 with a selection and
introduction by E. F. Bleiler. This remains the best introduction to Bierce’s uniquely
strange stories. The most comprehensive volume of Bierce’s significant writing
is The Devil’s Dictionary, Tales, &
Memoirs, edited by S. T. Joshi for the Library of America in 2011. Ambrose Bierce: A Biography (1929) by
Carey McWilliams is an important early study that contains a substantial amount
of contemporary material on Bierce, while the most significant modern biography
is Ambrose Bierce: Alone in Bad Company (1995)
by Roy Morris, Jr.
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” remains a unique and unsettling offering on The Twilight Zone. Anchored by exceptional direction, fine performances, and an intelligent adaptation, the film’s strange atmosphere and startling conclusion retain their impact many years later. It joins an outstanding selection of Civil War episodes on the series, including "Back There," "Still Valley," and "The Passersby." The film's award-winning pedigree stands as testament to the high literary standards that have made the series an all-time television classic.
Grade: A
Next Time in the Vortex: A look at the episode “Queen of the Nile,” ghost-scripted by
Jerry Sohl in his final contribution to the series.
Acknowledgements:
--The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the
Door to a Television Classic by
Martin Grams, Jr. (OTR, 2008)
--The Twilight Zone Companion (3rd ed.) by Marc Scott Zicree
(Silman-James, 2018)
--Inside The Twilight Zone by Marc Scott Zicree (CBS DVD/Image Entertainment,
1998; for Treasures of The Twilight Zone)
--A Critical History of Television’s
The Twilight Zone, 1959-1964 by Don
Presnell and Marty McGee (McFarland & Co., 1998)
--Buried
Caesars: Essays in Literary Appreciation by Vincent Starrett (Books for Libraries Press, 1968; originally
published in 1923).
--Ghost
and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce by
Ambrose Bierce, selected and introduced
by E.F. Bleiler (Dover Publications, 1964)
--The
Devil’s Dictionary, Tales, & Memoirs by Ambrose Bierce, edited by S.T. Joshi (Library of America, 2011)
--Ambrose
Bierce: Alone in Bad Company by Roy
Morris, Jr. (Crown Publishers, Inc., 1995)
--“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,”
The Internet Movie Database (imdb.com)
--“Ambrose Bierce,” Wikipedia.
Notes:
--“An
Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” was first published in the San Francisco
Examiner for July 13, 1890. It was collected in Tales of Soldiers and
Civilians (1891) and In the Midst of Life: Tales of Soldiers and
Civilians (1909), volume two of The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce.
--“An
Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” was adapted as a Twilight Zone Radio Drama starring Christian Stolte.
JP
