Hacker Cinema
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
La Rivière du hibou
1961 · Film · short · 28 min
Directed by Robert Enrico
During the American Civil War, a Southerner is about to be hanged from a bridge for sabotage when something unexpected happens.
2 neutralfrom 2 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
2 comments on Hacker News
Pretty much. And, in fact, most of the value presumably came from (as far as they knew at the time) the initial airing of the episode. So why pay more for all the rights?
Per Wikipedia:
Three years after its production, the film was screened on American TV as part of the fantasy/science fiction show The Twilight Zone. Producer William Froug had seen the film and decided to buy the rights to broadcast it on American television. 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 (the first airing was on February 28, 1964). Consequently, it is not included on The Twilight Zone's syndication package, though it is included with the series on home video releases.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Occurrence_at_Owl_Creek_Bridge_(film)
For those looking for a legal way to view episodes of the original series, they are currently on Paramount+ (as well as being available for purchase in the usual ways).
Paramount+ contains every episode except season 5, episode 22 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Occurrence_at_Owl_Creek_Bridge_(film)
> An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (French: La Rivière du hibou, lit. 'The Owl River') is a 1961 French short film, almost without dialogue. It was based on the 1891 American short story of the same name by American Civil War soldier, wit, and writer Ambrose Bierce. It was directed by Robert Enrico and produced by Marcel Ichac and Paul de Roubaix with music by Henri Lanoë. It won awards at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Awards. The film was later screened on American television as episode 22 of the fifth season of The Twilight Zone on 28 February 1964.