An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (film)

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.

As Farquhar falls, the rope breaks, and he drops into the river. In an underwater sequence he frees himself from his bonds, kicks his boots free and swims downstream as soldiers 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.

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. Producer William Froug had seen the film and decided to buy the American broadcast rights. Some scenes were shortened to fit constraints on running time, and the audio track was completely replaced.

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:

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.

The transaction cost The Twilight Zone $25,000, significantly less than the average of $65,000 they expended on producing their own episodes; however, Froug's purchase allowed for the film to be aired only twice. Consequently, it is not included on The Twilight Zone's syndication package, though it is included with the series on home video releases. Marc Scott Zicree's The Twilight Zone Companion incorrectly states the French film was purchased for $10,000. This mistake has been reprinted in a number of books since the 1984 publication. The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic by Martin Grams correctly verifies the purchase price as $20,000 plus $5,000 additional costs for re-editing.

According to Zicree, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" was the last episode of the classic Twilight Zone to be "produced" (presumably referencing the re-editing and the addition of footage of Rod Serling, as production of the series was cancelled afterwards). It was not, however, the last episode of the series to be broadcast.

• 1962 Cannes Film Festival: Best Short Subject
• 1963 Academy Award, Best Live Action Short Film[2]

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.[3]

• Spur of the Moment, the previous episode in the Twilight Zone airing
• Queen of the Nile, the next episode

• Zicree, Marc Scott (1982). The Twilight Zone Companion. New York: Bantam. ISBN 0-553-01416-1.
• Barrett, Gerald R. (1973). From Fiction to Film: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Encino, CA: Dickenson Publishing. ISBN 978-0-822100-83-6.
• DeVoe, Bill. (2008). Trivia from The Twilight Zone. Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1-59393-136-0
• Grams, Martin. (2008). The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic. Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9703310-9-0

• An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (short film) at IMDb
• "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" (The Twilight Zone episode) at IMDb