(La Rivere du Hibou)

AN OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE

(director/writer: Robert Enrico; screenwriter: based on the short story An Incident at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce; cinematographer: Jean Boffety; editor: Denise de Casabianca/Robert Enrico; music: Henri Lanoe; cast: Roger Jacquet (Man), Anne Cornaly (Wife); Runtime: 28; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Paul de Robaix/Marcel Ichac; Video Yesteryear; 1962-France-in English)

“The intriguing short captured my attention.“

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

The video version seen here is a print taken directly from The Twilight Zone. It won the Academy Award as Best Short Film in 1964 and was subsequently picked up by CBS and re-edited to become an episode of The Twilight Zone (1959-64) for the series final season. Director/writer Robert Enrico (“The Old Gun”/”The Secret”/”Heads or Tails”) based it on the short story An Incident at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce.

Warning: spoiler in next paragraph.

Union soldiers during the Civil War prepare to hang a well-dressed Southern plantation-owner (Roger Jacquet) at the Owl Creek Bridge, but when hanged and released into the creek he frees himself of his bound ropes and swims to safety as the soldiers fire. He then runs across a tree-lined field and greets his wife (Anne Cornaly) in front of his mansion. The film probes what’s racing across the condemned man’s mind and then returns from this dream sequence to its startling twisty conclusion.

The intriguing short story captured my attention.

REVIEWED ON 3/25/2010 GRADE: B+   https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/