Features: DVD, Black & White
The Civil War. A nation torn apart. A war fought in great battles, and a war fought on a much smaller scale...within the minds and hearts of a nation's young men.On a lonely bridge a group of soldiers prepare for the somber task of hanging one of their countrymen, now an enemy, for sabotage. Ambrose Bierce's heralded story from "Tales of Soldiers and Civilians" begins on this isolated bridge and envelops a journey through the mind and dreams of a man facing death. This highly acclaimed film includes among its honors an Academy Award and the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix Award.
Editor's Note
French director Robert Enrico directed this devastating short masterpiece covering the final moments of a man about to be hung for sabotage during the Civil War who is suddenly saved when the rope breaks. He then makes his way through hazardous country, trying to finally reach home. The somber mood is emphasized by the sparse movements of the soldiers, the extreme close-ups of the man about to be hung, and the black-and-white camerawork that moves almost painfully slowly between the noose, the water, the trees. Based on a story by Ambrose Bierce, the film won the short film Palme D'Or at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival and a 1964 Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Live Action, and was featured as a special episode of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone.
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