You wrote recently about An ...
Question: You wrote recently about An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, but wasn’t it an episode of The Twilight Zone, not a movie?
Answer:
La Rivière du Hibou/An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was entered into both the short-film competition at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the award for best live-action short subject, and to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, whose members gave it an Oscar in 1963. It was picked up for a one-time airing as Episode 142 of The Twilight Zone on Feb. 28, 1964, shortened by about 10 minutes and given English-language credits. In his introduction, host Rod Serling explained the episode's provenance and its unique place in the anthology show’s history. The Twilight Zone version of Occurrence is available on DVD on the disc Treasures of the Twilight Zone (Image Entertainment), along with the series’ debut, “Where Is Everybody?” and Episode 151, “The Encounter,” which is apparently unsyndicated and rarely seen. Ambrose Bierce’s story was also adapted as a fifth-season episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents; it first aired on Dec. 20, 1959.
Interestingly, while checking into your question, I found several references to Occurrence being part of an omnibus feature made up of three Bierce stories, all directed by Robert Enrico; the other two stories were "Chickamauga" and "The Mockingbird." Some sources say the rest of the film is lost, but I’ve read Web postings by people who say they saw it in cinema clubs. In any event, Occurrence was submitted to Cannes as a stand-alone short feature and must have played that way in theaters as well in order to have qualified for Academy consideration.
