Speaker 1: You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond
Speaker 1: it is another dimension, a dimension of sign, a dimension
Speaker 1: of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a
Speaker 1: land of both shadow and substance of things and ideas.
Speaker 1: You just crossed over into the twilight Zone.
Speaker 2: Last time on the twilight Zone podcast, I had my
Speaker 2: say on the twilight Zone that wasn't a twilight Zone.
Speaker 2: But now it's time for you to have your say
Speaker 2: on an occurrence at owl Creek Bridge. So as usual,
Speaker 2: the first thing we'll do is head over to the
Speaker 2: after hours club to see what the patrons there thought
Speaker 2: of it. Okay, so quite a divided result on this one.
Speaker 2: Eight percent said it was a bottom tier twilight Zone,
Speaker 2: fifty four percent said it was a middle tier, and
Speaker 2: thirty eight percent said it was a top tier. So
Speaker 2: so still leaning more towards the positives. So that's good.
Speaker 2: And a few people chimed in with thoughts. John Hayes says,
Speaker 2: it's not Twilight Zone. I'd be very interested in hearing
Speaker 2: how it came about that. They even aid her on
Speaker 2: the show, but I cannot place a show not shot
Speaker 2: by TZ as anything but bottom tier.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 2: John Emma says middle tier. I enjoyed the powerful closing
Speaker 2: message about the absurdity of war, as well as the
Speaker 2: artistic way this was filmed. The music and general composition
Speaker 2: were quite researched making this equality outing. I was genuinely
Speaker 2: captivated wanting to see where this was all going. But
Speaker 2: watching this also felt tedious at times, and I have
Speaker 2: no inclination to revisit it. At the end of the day.
Speaker 2: This felt shoehorned into the anthology, and my preference goes
Speaker 2: to true Rod Sailing fair every time, perhaps objectively superior,
Speaker 2: but ultimately joyless. Thank you, Emma, and we'll actually be
Speaker 2: hearing from Emma later on again. Our old friend Whitney
Speaker 2: Beeler says, it's an episode with a little different history
Speaker 2: than other tzs, but Rod was cool with it, so
Speaker 2: who am I to argue? This is top tier for me.
Speaker 2: Thanks Tom, Thank you, Whitney. My friend Chad Boykin says, suspense,
Speaker 2: other worldliness, trauma, pathos, the folly of war, black and
Speaker 2: white cinematography, and in the depths of the fourth season
Speaker 2: it gave exhausted showrunner Rod Sailing a much needed day off.
Speaker 2: Top tier. Thank you, Chad, Our old friend Cerebral p says,
Speaker 2: an amazing cultural text, a gift from France, perhaps as
Speaker 2: precious as the Statue of Liberty itself. Not often enough
Speaker 2: are we reminded of the atrocities of war, the physical
Speaker 2: and psychological agony, the ambiguity of a conflict with your
Speaker 2: own brethren, and the tolls it takes on the human heart.
Speaker 2: And a carence at al Creek Bridge reminds us that
Speaker 2: we will never sidestep or ultimate demise, and that looking
Speaker 2: back at our life in all its worth, will be
Speaker 2: our only escape. A true treasure of American literature, French cinema,
Speaker 2: and of great importance to me, as I'm sure it
Speaker 2: was to Sailing himself. I've always placed this as being
Speaker 2: the best installment of the Twilight Tone for its artistry
Speaker 2: and timeless relevance, but it bears a heavy asterisk for
Speaker 2: not being an episode itself. Top of all tears, Thank you, sir, Rebrope.
Speaker 2: Appreciate that our friend Todd Trexler says middle tier because
Speaker 2: it's a great short film, but I don't like that
Speaker 2: it isn't a proper Twilight Zone episode, almost bottom tier
Speaker 2: for me. As a resort, there's no proper Sailing intro
Speaker 2: or outro narration, just a note about where it came from.
Speaker 2: Maybe if they managed to get a monologue in there,
Speaker 2: I'd feel differently about it. Also forgot to mention that
Speaker 2: the first time I saw this it was not on
Speaker 2: The Twilight Zone, but instead in the cafeteria at my
Speaker 2: grade school as a film.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Todd.
Speaker 2: Jordan Dollock says, I seem to be in the same
Speaker 2: category as many others here. It's a good short, but
Speaker 2: it's not TZ. If I'm in the mood to watch TZ.
Speaker 2: This isn't an episode I consider Champagne Drum says conflicted.
Speaker 2: Having read about us in the Twilight Zone Companion gave
Speaker 2: me an appreciation and understanding for it. Without that, I'm
Speaker 2: not sure I would have much to say about the episode.
Speaker 2: Good but not not really a true episode. Not often
Speaker 2: seen either, so casual fans who saw Teazing in the
Speaker 2: eighties reruns don't seem to know about it. My friend
Speaker 2: Killian says fine adaptation, tsiasque story, a very different style
Speaker 2: and not of a piece with the rest of the show,
Speaker 2: but it wakes Michael Fainback says, top tier, but with
Speaker 2: a huge asterisk, because as you will no doubt, discussing
Speaker 2: your analysis, its production and filming was never intended for
Speaker 2: the Twilight Zone, even though the story is a good fit.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Michael. My old friend Al Shadsmer says, this
Speaker 2: story has been dramatized several times, including on Alfred Hitchcock Presents,
Speaker 2: but this is the best of the law lyrical and
Speaker 2: dream like, with sound and image so stylized, it's not
Speaker 2: surprising to learn that it isn't real, except somehow still
Speaker 2: is surprising with an ending that's beautiful, sudden, and breathtaking.
Speaker 2: This was one of a handful of Zones that was
Speaker 2: not syndicated, so I didn't see it until I was
Speaker 2: an adult. I'm glad of that. I wouldn't have appreciated
Speaker 2: it half as much as a kid. Top tier, Thank
Speaker 2: you all. Judge Stephens says, was it good?
Speaker 3: Was it bad?
Speaker 2: It was Artie definitely. Artie would be interested what audiences
Speaker 2: at the time made of it. And then David Trimbouli says,
Speaker 2: the story is in the spirits of the Twilight Zone,
Speaker 2: but the film has elements that would have never been
Speaker 2: considered had it been an actual Twilight Zone adaptation. The
Speaker 2: soundtrack featuring the frantic drum solo as Farquhar runs through
Speaker 2: the forest and the song a living man playing as
Speaker 2: we see the beautiful close ups of the world around
Speaker 2: him are a perfect fit, and in a very unteasy moment,
Speaker 2: the viewer is jarred back to reality when confronted with
Speaker 2: the starkness of the hanging body in the final scene.
Speaker 2: Twilight Zone certainly had episodes that dealt with hanging, but
Speaker 2: they all shied away from actually showing the reality of
Speaker 2: the final moment. This is aware the addition to the series,
Speaker 2: an adaptation of a classic American short story with a
Speaker 2: production above and beyond what would have been delivered as
Speaker 2: a standard episode Top tier, Thank you, David. And then,
Speaker 2: last but not least, Lisa says mid tier for me.
Speaker 2: Beautifully shot and captured the story, but didn't seem to
Speaker 2: fit in the actual Twilight Zone universe for me personally.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Lisa. So very interesting cross section of thoughts
Speaker 2: there some people putting it as top tier as some
Speaker 2: people finding it difficult to accept as an actual Twilight Zone.
Speaker 2: So let's check out some more feedback about an occurrence
Speaker 2: at our creek bridge and see whether that trend continues.
Speaker 2: So our friend Max sent me an email, an email
Speaker 2: that he says he's been meaning to send for eight years.
Speaker 2: So Max, thank you for sticking with me for so long,
Speaker 2: And he says, I've always felt season five is the
Speaker 2: biggest mixed bag season of the Twilight Zone. To me,
Speaker 2: this season, more than any other, gives you the biggest
Speaker 2: whiplash from episode to episode in terms of quality, I think,
Speaker 2: in praise of Pip Steel and Nightmare of twenty thousand
Speaker 2: Feet is a stronger face three episode start out of
Speaker 2: the gate as you'll find in any season, only to
Speaker 2: of course follow them up with a kind of Stopwatch
Speaker 2: and Last Night of a Jockey, which sets the precedent
Speaker 2: of the roller coaster of good bad that season five
Speaker 2: gives you. And occurrence at hal Creek Bridge and its
Speaker 2: jump cut ending gave me more whiplash, perhaps than any
Speaker 2: other episode of the series. I thought this was a
Speaker 2: beautiful episode, wonderfully shot and tells a complete story in
Speaker 2: its run time. You can see the existential dread use
Speaker 2: through the screen from our protagonist as he's standing on
Speaker 2: the plank awaiting his fate. A few minutes felt like ours.
Speaker 2: The underwater shot is wonderfully lit. It's like I can
Speaker 2: feel how cold and crisp the water is. The ending
Speaker 2: was masterfully done, is seemingly never ending run to his wife.
Speaker 2: The use of the same shot for the both of
Speaker 2: them over and over only added to the tension and
Speaker 2: feeling that a bubble was about to burst. I did
Speaker 2: not expect such a striking jump cut to his hanging.
Speaker 2: This was the perfect encapsulation to this poor man's final
Speaker 2: moment and his inner mind escaping reality. One of my
Speaker 2: favorites in season five, and I wholeheartedly believe it deserves
Speaker 2: to be in the upper tier of teasy episodes. I
Speaker 2: know this is a bit long winded, and if you
Speaker 2: made it to the end, I sincerely appreciate all the
Speaker 2: work you've put into the show. This s has given
Speaker 2: me so much enjoyment over the years, and I could
Speaker 2: never repay that debt. Thanks Tom Well, thank you Max,
Speaker 2: And it wasn't long winded at all. I think you
Speaker 2: made some great points there. And yeah, season five, I agree,
Speaker 2: is probably the most uneven season out of them all,
Speaker 2: but I'm thankful for the good stuff that's in there.
Speaker 2: So thank you for your email.
Speaker 1: Max.
Speaker 2: My old friend Ben Keker, my fellow UK Twilight Zone
Speaker 2: fan has sent me this email. He says, whether seen
Speaker 2: as a legitimate episode of the Twilight Zone or not,
Speaker 2: and accrernce at ol Creek Bridge is a brilliant piece
Speaker 2: of film. The sound design, in particular, feels like a
Speaker 2: sensory experience. The sound of the lapping water and the
Speaker 2: Farquhar underwater sequence as he's desperately trying to reach the
Speaker 2: surface is incredibly effective. When he finally reaches the surface
Speaker 2: and he gasps for breath. I don't think I've ever
Speaker 2: felt so intertwined with a character on screen, and that's
Speaker 2: down to the myriad production choices which helped garner so
Speaker 2: many awards. One final thought regarding the episode's legitimacy. If
Speaker 2: a child is adopted, do you love it any less
Speaker 2: than one of your own? I like to think of
Speaker 2: an occurrence at Olkreek Bridge as the episode that Rod's
Speaker 2: sailing adopted, and it occupies a deserved place in the
Speaker 2: cannon kind regards Ben Ben. You know, I never would
Speaker 2: have thought of that comparison myself, but I think it's
Speaker 2: beautifully observed, and I thank you for making it. That's
Speaker 2: a really lovely way to put it. So thank you
Speaker 2: so much for your email. Ben Okay, So I have
Speaker 2: some voice clips which are going to play for you
Speaker 2: from listeners of the show, and I'm going to start
Speaker 2: with our old friend Joe Brown. There's a few Sailing
Speaker 2: Fest regulars here and Joe is one of them. So
Speaker 2: Joe take it away, Hey, Tom.
Speaker 4: Joe Brown here, just talking about a few things on
Speaker 4: a currents Atle Creek Bridge. You know, anytime a person
Speaker 4: that I encounter and we start talking about the Twilight Zone,
Speaker 4: or if I bring it up, hey, you ever watched
Speaker 4: it before? We always talk about what was the first
Speaker 4: episode that we've ever seen, and then it's how the
Speaker 4: conversation really takes off and goes in different directions. But
Speaker 4: what's interesting in my relationship with the Twilight Zone and
Speaker 4: how I learned about it is I couldn't really I
Speaker 4: really don't know what the first episode that I saw was.
Speaker 4: I know it was when I was younger. I think
Speaker 4: it was on the local PBS station here, but I
Speaker 4: can't pin it down. But what I can say is
Speaker 4: that when I was in the eighth grade in nineteen eighty,
Speaker 4: I was in American history class with a teacher named
Speaker 4: Missus Webber, And I'll never forget and in America. What
Speaker 4: they used to do during Great School in middle school
Speaker 4: time was they would bring in projectors and they would
Speaker 4: show movies in class and that would be the teaching
Speaker 4: element for the day or for the week, and that
Speaker 4: was the focus. Well, missus Weber brings in the projector
Speaker 4: and she puts on an Occurrence at.
Speaker 3: Al Creek Bridge.
Speaker 4: And I find it interesting because, you know, as I
Speaker 4: looked on Wikipedia and some other places, and I did
Speaker 4: read some reviews about the show. Even though I've seen
Speaker 4: it several times, I did notice that other people have
Speaker 4: mentioned that they also saw the same episode in American
Speaker 4: history class. And it just got me thinking, is there
Speaker 4: a relationship between you know, is it just a super
Speaker 4: not supernatural, but like a sci fi or a fantasy
Speaker 4: element that we can apply to American history or things
Speaker 4: that happened and kind of say, you know what we
Speaker 4: know about wars and history, but here's something you don't see.
Speaker 4: So I just thought it was a neat little antidote
Speaker 4: to begin with. But you know, I know you probably
Speaker 4: are going to talk about this on the podcast, but
Speaker 4: there's two well known versions of this show at Occurrence
Speaker 4: at ol Creek Bridge. One that's done on the Twilight
Speaker 4: Zone that I'm going to specifically talk about obviously, and
Speaker 4: then the one from Altro Hitchcock. Now, I did watch
Speaker 4: both episodes because I wanted to compare and trast compare
Speaker 4: and contrast in my mind what the differences were in
Speaker 4: any similarities, and I know that I would have to
Speaker 4: assume that you've probably done the same thing. So I'll
Speaker 4: just quickly talk a little bit about the Alfred Hitchcock
Speaker 4: one first and then focus my real thoughts on the
Speaker 4: Twilight Zone episode and the Alfred Hitchcock one. One thing
Speaker 4: I did notice is that there's a lot of dialogue.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of setup that lets you understand why
Speaker 4: is the protagonist being hung, mister Farquhar, And we get
Speaker 4: the backstory on why he's going to get hung and his.
Speaker 3: Plot to burn up the bridge.
Speaker 4: And when we go to the Twilight Zone version, which
Speaker 4: was the French production, what we get is a little
Speaker 4: piece of paper that is affixed to one of the
Speaker 4: stanchions that's holding the bridge up that basically says any
Speaker 4: tampering with the bridge or the tunnels, you will be hanged.
Speaker 4: And it's like an order of decree or something like that.
Speaker 4: And in the Alfred Hitchcock version, we kind of see
Speaker 4: the same path that's treaded that we're going to see
Speaker 4: in the Twilight Zone version. However, there's a lot more
Speaker 4: dialogue with the Farquhar character in Alfred Hitchcock, where in
Speaker 4: the Twilight Zone one there's only the words Ebbie is spoken,
Speaker 4: which is the protagonist's wife. And what I find is
Speaker 4: that a lot of the screen shots and the filming
Speaker 4: of the Alfred Hitchcock version are very set based. You
Speaker 4: obviously can see the matte paintings in the background when
Speaker 4: you see the soldiers on the bridge, Farquhar at his
Speaker 4: plantation home, and the episode ends in the same way.
Speaker 4: They both end in the same way as probably as design.
Speaker 4: I've never read the book by Ambrose Beers, but I've
Speaker 4: seen both episodes, and the one thing about the Twilight
Speaker 4: Zone episode that really sets I think it apart is
Speaker 4: that it is very atmospheric. I love how we're looking
Speaker 4: at scenes and the camera is on site. Everything is outdoors.
Speaker 4: Even when Farquhar is standing on the bridge. I like
Speaker 4: how the camera pans up to his face, the sweat
Speaker 4: beads on his forehead. He's about to get hung and
Speaker 4: then you can see where it's like a point of
Speaker 4: view camera pointing down at his feet and you can
Speaker 4: see the water below, giving you this perspective all these
Speaker 4: atmospheric conditions, the birds chirping, the water rushing. When he
Speaker 4: ends up into the river and he's swimming away, we
Speaker 4: see him going through the rapids. Like log we saw
Speaker 4: earlier floating in the water. Well, now we see him
Speaker 4: quote floating in the water, but going through the rapids.
Speaker 4: But the point of view that the director gives us
Speaker 4: as if we're there, And I just think that's a
Speaker 4: really really cool effect because I feel like I'm standing
Speaker 4: on the cliff watching this guy go through the water.
Speaker 4: And then as the episode goes, the best thing about
Speaker 4: it is it builds this tension the entire time. The
Speaker 4: whole time you're like, okay, the rope broke, and back
Speaker 4: to the offered hitchcock for a second, Farcore has to mention, oh,
Speaker 4: the rope is freyed, it might break.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 4: In the Twilight Zone version, we don't get that. What
Speaker 4: we get is the guy follows the rope breaks and
Speaker 4: we're like, we don't think about at least me as
Speaker 4: the viewer, Well, the rope must have been freyed. It
Speaker 4: just snapped. He got another chance. And it made me
Speaker 4: think about the episode execution or not execution but Dust,
Speaker 4: where the magic dust set the person free because the
Speaker 4: rope broke, and I'm thinking this is going to kind
Speaker 4: of be like of a remake, but it isn't. And
Speaker 4: then again, the episode takes us all the way to
Speaker 4: the end. He doesn't incur the soldiers anymore, but he
Speaker 4: does run away from a bomb that explodes upstream, and
Speaker 4: we see him do the racing, and I think the
Speaker 4: sound effect of the snare drum kind of has a
Speaker 4: double meaning. The snare drum is rattling away. Oh and
Speaker 4: while he's running, which gives us the feeling that there's
Speaker 4: speed happening here. There's a quickness, there's an urgency to
Speaker 4: get where he's going. And I'm following along right with him. Okay,
Speaker 4: he's gonna make it home, because you know, I have
Speaker 4: to assume that's what he's gonna try to do.
Speaker 3: I got to get home.
Speaker 4: And then the other piece of the drum is exactly
Speaker 4: what drum you would hear when you're setting up for
Speaker 4: a big finale.
Speaker 3: And the drum stops because he falls. You're like Oh,
Speaker 3: but that's not it. It keeps you going.
Speaker 4: He gets back up and he's running some more, and
Speaker 4: the drum beats going, and the drumm rull's going, and
Speaker 4: then when he finally gets to his wife, it comes
Speaker 4: to the client and his head snaps back and it's over.
Speaker 4: And I think in terms of the Twilight Zone having
Speaker 4: the twist at the end, this is perfect for that
Speaker 4: because it does accomplish that feat. And it kind of
Speaker 4: goes to show me that the guys that produced the show, Hirshman, Burke, Grantit,
Speaker 4: Buck Houghton, those producers, I don't think you can say
Speaker 4: that they were the only ones with the original ideas
Speaker 4: because I think that the occurrence at al Creek Bridge
Speaker 4: fits right in line with Twilight Zone and the twilight
Speaker 4: Zone structure of how.
Speaker 3: An episode is set up and executed. I think it's excellent.
Speaker 4: Now as far as the rating, you know, it's interesting
Speaker 4: when we talk about upper tier, mid tier, and lower tier.
Speaker 4: As we go through the season of the seasons and
Speaker 4: the one hundred and fifty six episode, I tend to
Speaker 4: find out that my top tier probably handles about ninety episodes.
Speaker 4: The middle tier has probably got about forty and then
Speaker 4: the bottom tier has like the rest of the twenty six.
Speaker 4: So you know, again, I'm not evenly waited at you know,
Speaker 4: fifty two, fifty two and fifty two. But if it
Speaker 4: is set up that way, I have to put a
Speaker 4: currence in ale Creek Bridge in the middle tier. If
Speaker 4: I can extend my top tier, it's going up there
Speaker 4: because I think it's an excellent piece of work. And
Speaker 4: I love the silence of it and just the ambient
Speaker 4: sounds because it does carry me along and I'm rooting
Speaker 4: for the character to get home, and when he does,
Speaker 4: we finally get the realization that it was all a dream,
Speaker 4: as Rod says in his ending comments, a dreamlike state
Speaker 4: where a man could feel like he's living or something
Speaker 4: like that. I'm just paraphrasing, but you know, one last
Speaker 4: comparison contrast, and i'll let it go here is the
Speaker 4: songs in both of the episodes. The first one where
Speaker 4: far Kohar meets up with Josh and he's like, Josh,
Speaker 4: why are you here? And you have I'm assuming, okay,
Speaker 4: Josh must be dead but he hasn't realized it yet,
Speaker 4: and Josh knows he's dead, and he's singing a song
Speaker 4: about Lazarus like the Resurrection Piece, a biblical type song.
Speaker 4: And then the Twilight Zone version one also has biblical
Speaker 4: references when it says a man is up and he
Speaker 4: walks around, And I looked that up and it said
Speaker 4: that that's in reference to Biblical verses about a man
Speaker 4: gets up and walks around and sees the bugs on
Speaker 4: the leaves and things like that. It is very interesting
Speaker 4: that both of these episodes chose songs to help drive
Speaker 4: the story, and the lyrics and the songs were both
Speaker 4: biblically based. And the end of the episode, the man
Speaker 4: ends in death and it doesn't really have to explain
Speaker 4: because whatever his crime was, that's what he was going
Speaker 4: to get. But I thought it was a really well
Speaker 4: done piece, and I recommended that to several people. Hey,
Speaker 4: you got to watch this. Rod didn't write it, but
Speaker 4: it's as good as something Rod would have wrote. Thanks Tom,
Speaker 4: Thank you, Joe.
Speaker 2: I always love it when someone sends me some feedback
Speaker 2: on an episode and they include something that I was
Speaker 2: absolutely not aware of. You know, I looked into that
Speaker 2: episode a fair bit, as you will have heard in
Speaker 2: the last show, but the biblical references and Josh singing
Speaker 2: the song about Lazarus and so on completely lost on me,
Speaker 2: and I never knew or none of that occred to me,
Speaker 2: So that's some great perspective. Thank you, Joe, and thank
Speaker 2: you for sending some feedback in always good to hear
Speaker 2: from you. And I'm looking forward to catching up at
Speaker 2: sailing Fest.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 2: Another person that I'm looking forward to catching up with
Speaker 2: at sailing Fest hopefully is Cassie May. So let's hear
Speaker 2: it from Cassie.
Speaker 5: Hi, Tom, and all the folks listening. This is Cassie.
Speaker 5: And I actually think this is my first ever time
Speaker 5: sending feedback on a Twilight Zone episode, so let's see
Speaker 5: how this goes. But I specifically wanted to send feedback
Speaker 5: on this episode because I don't think i've seen it
Speaker 5: since my first ever watch through of the series. I mean,
Speaker 5: I remember watching it at age probably like fifteen, and
Speaker 5: I remember thinking it felt so out of place and
Speaker 5: just so meh overall. Granted, I mean being fifteen at
Speaker 5: the time, I think this may have been a bit
Speaker 5: above my attention span. But when I saw the poll
Speaker 5: posted on Patreon, I was like, I should rewatch that
Speaker 5: episode and see what I think now, and I am
Speaker 5: so happy to report that ten years later, I was
Speaker 5: able to appreciate this episode so much more this time around.
Speaker 5: I thought it was really successful at being atmospheric and immersive.
Speaker 5: The cinematography was gorgeous, especially that shot of the protagonist
Speaker 5: running down that corridor of trees. Don't even get me started,
Speaker 5: because it was stunning. There were also all of those
Speaker 5: like ambient noises that really contributed to the vibe, and
Speaker 5: I really liked those. I also think the main actor's
Speaker 5: performance in the latter half of the episode was really
Speaker 5: great and really powerful. I felt like I could feel
Speaker 5: his exhaustion as he was running through the woods, and
Speaker 5: also his joy at seeing his wife. My main qualm
Speaker 5: comes with the ending. I felt that after so much
Speaker 5: build up, not only did their reunion feel kind of
Speaker 5: like subtle to me, but also I do not understand
Speaker 5: why they had the two characters touch in the short story.
Speaker 5: It seems that the protagonist feels that like pain before
Speaker 5: he's able to touch her it all, and I think
Speaker 5: that would have made this so much more successful if
Speaker 5: they had been like inches away from even just being
Speaker 5: able to grasp one another's hands. And then we cut
Speaker 5: to that final scene, but I'm curious if other folks
Speaker 5: have thoughts on that. But with all that said, I
Speaker 5: think it's a generally good piece of media. However, it
Speaker 5: still doesn't feel super Twilight Zone to me, not that
Speaker 5: it has to be. I mean, it was its own thing,
Speaker 5: but of course I'm viewing it from a Twilight Zone lens,
Speaker 5: and I see how it could be in concept, but
Speaker 5: the tzy vibes aren't there for me, which also just
Speaker 5: further emphasizes my hypothesis that the Twilight Zone cannot possibly
Speaker 5: feel like the Twilight Zone unless it has Rod's DNA.
Speaker 5: But that's a whole other discussion for a whole other day.
Speaker 5: And I don't think I see myself rewatching this one often.
Speaker 5: I think it's a good experience, but not when I
Speaker 5: see myself being drawn too often, so I think I
Speaker 5: would in the end call it mid tier. So yes,
Speaker 5: thank you folks for your time, thank you for listening
Speaker 5: to me, and very excited to see what other people
Speaker 5: think already.
Speaker 2: Bye, Cassie, thank you so much. You make a great
Speaker 2: point about seeing it as a kid and not really
Speaker 2: appreciating it, but then seeing it as an adult and
Speaker 2: having a different perspective on that, because one of the
Speaker 2: things that I've said a million times on the podcast,
Speaker 2: or one of the things about The Twilight Zone for
Speaker 2: me was that irrespective of whether I got what Rod
Speaker 2: was trying to say, do with different levels to it,
Speaker 2: and I just enjoyed it, you know, as that quirky
Speaker 2: show when I was a kid, and I'm not sure
Speaker 2: I would have really enjoyed this one. I kind of
Speaker 2: think I needed to be an adult to get into
Speaker 2: this one, having you know, seen so many more movies
Speaker 2: and experienced.
Speaker 3: So much more in life.
Speaker 2: So I do believe that this is one I would
Speaker 2: have grown into had I seen it as a kid,
Speaker 2: I think my reaction would probably have been exactly like yours. Well, yeah,
Speaker 2: wonderful to hear your thoughts, Cassie, and you know, I
Speaker 2: hope we hear from you again on the show. Okay,
Speaker 2: So next up we have Peter Gamble and he's got
Speaker 2: some thoughts for us too, So take it away, Peter.
Speaker 6: Hi Tom, this is Peter reporting in from Adelaide, Australia.
Speaker 6: I do hope Harold Clark doesn't mind me mimicking his introduction.
Speaker 6: I always enjoy hearing what he's got to say. I
Speaker 6: started listening to the twilight Zone podcast in twenty twenty
Speaker 6: two and I'm finally caught up with all the episodes. Yeah,
Speaker 6: what can I say, I'm a slow listener, I guess.
Speaker 6: So I wanted to provide my thoughts on an occurrence
Speaker 6: at Our Creek Bridge. If Twilight Zone episodes are all
Speaker 6: presentations given at a school by Rod Serling and the
Speaker 6: other great writers on his staff, an occurrence at Our
Speaker 6: Creek Bridge is the one given by a foreign exchange student. Yeah,
Speaker 6: as far as I know, it's the only one not written, directed,
Speaker 6: or acted by the twilight Zone team. So yeah, it
Speaker 6: definitely stunds out as different. But does it still feel
Speaker 6: like Twilight Zone. Well, I guess that's up to each
Speaker 6: of us and our taste. So yeah, I sat down
Speaker 6: and watched it and sort of wrote down some of
Speaker 6: my thoughts and then I've expanded on those for this.
Speaker 6: I love the soundscape at the start of the episode. Really,
Speaker 6: the whole episodes, Yeah, got a good soundscape, but particularly
Speaker 6: at the start there's the sounds of nature with the
Speaker 6: birds chopping, but there's no no music, no dialogue. It's
Speaker 6: a very different feel to other Twilight Zone episodes given
Speaker 6: their dialogue been nature in general, and it really draws
Speaker 6: you into the scene. So the scene has, yeah, all
Speaker 6: the soldiers around and then the man who's about to
Speaker 6: be hung. I wasn't familiar with a short story when
Speaker 6: I first watched this, but I did guess that perhaps
Speaker 6: it was set during the American Civil War. I did
Speaker 6: notice when I watched it this time, the man in
Speaker 6: the noose. He's wearing a pretty fancy suit, so it's
Speaker 6: not exactly what I would picture a soldier wearing, just
Speaker 6: something that stood out to me. There's the shots of
Speaker 6: all the soldiers in the cannon, and all these seem
Speaker 6: to tell of you are just you know, how dire
Speaker 6: the protagonist's situation is. It gives the impression he's out numbered,
Speaker 6: there's no escape for him, which I think is the
Speaker 6: intended message and tended message, and it's a hint to
Speaker 6: the twist ending. Just before dropping the plank, they tie
Speaker 6: his feet up, So I'm not sure if that's a
Speaker 6: common thing to do, and if serves a purpose. Maybe
Speaker 6: it makes it harder him to flail around and kick
Speaker 6: things while he's hanging, So yeah, maybe that's why they
Speaker 6: did that. It goes into his memory, presumably with his
Speaker 6: wife and his family, and there's the sounds of these
Speaker 6: slow clicks that speed up over time. I'm still not
Speaker 6: exactly sure what these are supposed to be. My best
Speaker 6: guess is it's probably representing time passing slowly as he's
Speaker 6: going through his memory, and then they take his watch
Speaker 6: and his mind snaps back to the present. Possibly another
Speaker 6: head towards the twist, standing, Yeah, just before the plank's
Speaker 6: going to be dropped, so you really feel his despair.
Speaker 6: He's got his lips quivering, and he's got tears coming
Speaker 6: from his eyes, he's got them tight shut. I really
Speaker 6: can't remember anything similar in terms of a recent acting
Speaker 6: performance by a man about to be killed. Just feels
Speaker 6: like a very honest portrayal. He's not standing there defined
Speaker 6: like glaring at the guy's going to hang him. He's
Speaker 6: you know, he's afraid to die and he just wants
Speaker 6: to live. So yeah, I enjoyed that a lot anyway. Yeah,
Speaker 6: then the captain presumably steps off the plank, and then
Speaker 6: the rope snaps and he plunges into the water. I
Speaker 6: was very impressed with the underwater footage in these scenes.
Speaker 6: So it's like it's very clear and easy to see
Speaker 6: what's going on while he's underwater, and it's also clearly
Speaker 6: like he is actually underwater and he's actually swimming. I'm
Speaker 6: not really sure how they filmed this, and I'd be
Speaker 6: very interested to know if there are details on how
Speaker 6: they filmed this. Again, Yeah, great sound for this section
Speaker 6: as well. Everything's a bit muted, like it is when
Speaker 6: you're underwater. Really sells it. And then he breaches the
Speaker 6: surface and he does that big gasp of air to
Speaker 6: breathe in, and it's a great, you know, distinct change
Speaker 6: from the quiet beforehand. And yeah, he really sells that
Speaker 6: he needed the air. And then the song kicks in.
Speaker 6: It's not one that I'm familiar with from anything else,
Speaker 6: and I think it does fit perfectly. It's about the
Speaker 6: joy of living, and it's sung pretty simply. You know,
Speaker 6: it's not the most beautiful voice singing it, or you know,
Speaker 6: he's not doing anything fancy too much with the instruments.
Speaker 6: It's just a simple song about the joy of living really,
Speaker 6: and yeah, you can see that he's happy to be
Speaker 6: alive and he's got this huge smile. And I love
Speaker 6: that they use the shots of the centipede and the spider,
Speaker 6: you know, creatures that generally consider it to be unpleasant
Speaker 6: or frightening. I think it's saying, you know, even these
Speaker 6: animals you didn't really think too kindly of, you know,
Speaker 6: you just overjoyed that you're alive to see them. And yeah,
Speaker 6: it's a really good choice, I think, to use those
Speaker 6: rather than something a bit you know, typical, like maybe
Speaker 6: it used like butterflies or you know, rabbits or something
Speaker 6: that's you know, a bit more appealing. Anyway, then they
Speaker 6: slow down the start of the dialogue of the soldiers
Speaker 6: as they're saying something, you know, when they got about
Speaker 6: to give orders to fire and stuff like that, I
Speaker 6: think they saw, yeah, it's caught like a rat in
Speaker 6: a trap. It sounds pretty weird to me, but yeah,
Speaker 6: I guess they were showing that it was happening over
Speaker 6: a short period of time, even though you know, you
Speaker 6: had like, you know, minute or so music. Yeah, with
Speaker 6: all the soldiers firing at him and missing, Yeah, it
Speaker 6: looks pretty ludicrous if you don't know what the twist
Speaker 6: ending is. So yeah, I think this is a pretty
Speaker 6: significant glue towards that twist ending, and you know, makes
Speaker 6: it make sense in retrospect. It goes down the river
Speaker 6: rapids pretty fast at some of these points, and the
Speaker 6: rappids look a bit strong. So I do hope they
Speaker 6: did something to you know, ensure his safety because it
Speaker 6: might be a bit risky if he's just you know,
Speaker 6: putting that river by himself and told to just swim.
Speaker 6: So hopefully, yeah, they did something where when he reaches
Speaker 6: the bank, he does this great laugh of you know,
Speaker 6: joy and disbelief, and he's throwing the dirt up in
Speaker 6: the air. So I like that that part quite a lot.
Speaker 6: And again, yeah, they got the music that kicks back
Speaker 6: in at that section, and then you've got him running
Speaker 6: through the forest and there's this drumming sound, which yeah,
Speaker 6: i'd guess probably ties back to the drumming of the
Speaker 6: soldiers back at the bridge. I did notice it seemed
Speaker 6: to start and stop a lot, or like it got quiet,
Speaker 6: which yeah, was a bit odd in my opinion. I
Speaker 6: would have thought they would kind of build that drumming
Speaker 6: and it kind of gets louder until the end when
Speaker 6: he's you know snapped and he's taken back to the bridge.
Speaker 6: But I do like it, and I like that there's
Speaker 6: a lot of birds chirping as well, unless I'm mistaken
Speaker 6: from the sounds of that section. When he does see
Speaker 6: his wife and you know, she's crying, and to me,
Speaker 6: she looks like she's sad rather than joyful, Like she
Speaker 6: has this forced smile on perhaps, and gives me the
Speaker 6: impression that you know, she knows he's dead and this
Speaker 6: is entirely happening, but you know, she's happy to see him,
Speaker 6: but you know sad that he's dying. That's the impression
Speaker 6: I get, and I'm looking forward to hearing if others
Speaker 6: see the same thing, or if they see it more
Speaker 6: like she's crying to us of joy to see him.
Speaker 6: And then of course he reaches her, and then there's
Speaker 6: that great transition shot from him in her arms to
Speaker 6: him back on the noose, probably the most iconic bit
Speaker 6: of the episode really, and you know, the twist ending,
Speaker 6: and then you've got the ending ration by Rod sailing,
Speaker 6: which is pretty short and sweet. For this one, I
Speaker 6: do like the final line. This is the stuff of fantasy,
Speaker 6: the threat of imagination, the ingredients of the Twilight Zone.
Speaker 6: So to me, that's kind of saying, yes, yeah, we
Speaker 6: didn't make this one, but it does have the ingredients
Speaker 6: of a Twilight Zone, so it fits in here with
Speaker 6: the others, and that's where I land for this one.
Speaker 6: It's again very different in how it shots and how
Speaker 6: it's almost dialogue free, but there's enough common elements with
Speaker 6: what is Twilight Zone that it fits in and I'm
Speaker 6: certainly glad that it was made into one. Otherwise, yeah,
Speaker 6: I would never have seen it be probably pretty obscure
Speaker 6: and hard to come across it otherwise. And yeah, I
Speaker 6: do think it's very good. I'd probably place it top
Speaker 6: of the middle tier of Twilight Zone for me. You know,
Speaker 6: it's very well executed, but probably missing, you know, some
Speaker 6: sort of extra special elements that would put it into
Speaker 6: the top tier for me. So yeah, that's my thoughts
Speaker 6: on an occurrence at our Thanks for all your years
Speaker 6: of excellent work on the Twi Zone podcast top Your
Speaker 6: podcast has been a pleasure to listen to and I
Speaker 6: will continue to listen towards and I wish you well
Speaker 6: for your year ahead in your coverage of the remaining episodes.
Speaker 6: So thanks very much.
Speaker 2: Bye, Peter, Thank you so much. You know, I think
Speaker 2: that's probably a reason to go back and take a
Speaker 2: look at the episode see whether there is a little
Speaker 2: more detail in there that I miss because I can't
Speaker 2: recall the face of the wife. But yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: this is his reality, but is there a moment of
Speaker 2: actual reality within that where his wife is sitting there,
Speaker 2: she is sad because he is missing or because she
Speaker 2: now knows he's dead, and then he comes up to her.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I didn't get onto that at all, So
Speaker 2: thank you, thank you for bringing it up. And it's
Speaker 2: certainly something that I will check out next time I
Speaker 2: watch it. Now you invoke the name of Harold Clark,
Speaker 2: So here he is.
Speaker 7: Hey, there, Tom, Harold Clark reporting in from but to
Speaker 7: Texas talking about an occurrence at out Creek Bridge.
Speaker 6: The effects of a war.
Speaker 7: That's a common theme and the twilight zone, and here
Speaker 7: we have another angle on that. As I was watching this,
Speaker 7: I was thinking, man, how does how does this affect
Speaker 7: those soldiers that are watching this happen, you know, the
Speaker 7: ones that are along the coast there you lined up
Speaker 7: their guns that the ready. How is this affecting the
Speaker 7: dude who's tossing the rope over the bridge and the
Speaker 7: guys that are tying the cloth around his legs and feet.
Speaker 7: How's it affecting the first guy who is standing on.
Speaker 6: The board, and then you have the.
Speaker 7: Captain I guess, uh, maybe not a second guy to
Speaker 7: stand on the board who actually actually steps off the
Speaker 7: board to to commence the hanging. You know, how does
Speaker 7: how does that affect them?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 7: Do they just get numb to it? Is this somehow
Speaker 7: in this crazy idea of a war, a relief of
Speaker 7: seeing somebody hung as opposed to you know, shooting somebody
Speaker 7: themselves or stabbing somebody. You know, I'm glad that I've
Speaker 7: never had to think about what that would be like.
Speaker 7: But you know, we have wars and wars and wars
Speaker 7: and wars and wars, and who again obviously affected you know,
Speaker 7: it affected Rod severely with what he saw, even in
Speaker 7: a I guess you would call it a non combat situation.
Speaker 7: So yeah, the effects of war always a always a relevant.
Speaker 6: Thing to cover.
Speaker 7: So near the end, a large iron gate double gate
Speaker 7: opens up, and I hadn't remembered that from when I've
Speaker 7: watched it in the past, but I thought, you know what,
Speaker 7: that's that's a clever I thought that was a clever
Speaker 7: idea because if you happen to be one of the
Speaker 7: viewers that thought, there's no way all of those you know, well,
Speaker 7: one that he didn't drowned because he was under the
Speaker 7: water for quite a quite a long time. And two
Speaker 7: all of those soldiers couldn't hit him, not once. So
Speaker 7: if you had some doubts, I can imagine when you
Speaker 7: saw those gates open up, you thought, ah see, he
Speaker 7: didn't make it out alive, and this is heaven, or
Speaker 7: at least how he This guy perceives heaven, very country
Speaker 7: style heaven, which is not unlike you know, the the
Speaker 7: heaven that was envisioned in the Hunt. So I thought
Speaker 7: that was a clever idea. I don't know if that's
Speaker 7: in the original short story, but I thought, okay, you
Speaker 7: know you they're they're they're setting you up going okay,
Speaker 7: here you go.
Speaker 6: Yeah, he's in heaven.
Speaker 7: And then for me came the Mandela effect because what
Speaker 7: I remember again, I remember the twist of the story
Speaker 7: that this all happens in the blink of an eye.
Speaker 7: But man, I thought, for sure, I remember that he
Speaker 7: makes it, gets up to his wife. They they hug,
Speaker 7: they embrace, and her hands slowly go up to his
Speaker 7: neck and start to squeeze his neck, and the look
Speaker 7: of joy on his face turns from joy to confusion
Speaker 7: as he's wondering what is going on, And there's a
Speaker 7: couple of seconds where she just keeps squeezed and squeeze
Speaker 7: and squeeze, and it confusion goes to fear and then
Speaker 7: they show the hanging. So, uh so I was quite
Speaker 7: quite surprised when it happened really quick. I was like, oh,
Speaker 7: so it it caught me off guard, like I'm sure
Speaker 7: very first viewers would have had. So, you know, so
Speaker 7: that was a nice That was a nice, pleasant surprise,
Speaker 7: if you call it, I want to call it that.
Speaker 7: So anyway, I mean, you know, what can you say
Speaker 7: about the episode? I mean, uh, you know, it does
Speaker 7: have the all the qualities of a Twilight Zone episode,
Speaker 7: you know. I mean, like I said, it gave me
Speaker 7: a couple more things to think about it about just
Speaker 7: the horrors of war, you know.
Speaker 6: I mean, I.
Speaker 7: Guess I don't know if this was the first story
Speaker 7: to ever put forth this idea that you know, seconds
Speaker 7: before you die, you relive your life or things like that.
Speaker 7: I do remember hearing that one of my guilty pleasure movies,
Speaker 7: Sucker Punch. I remember Snyder saying that that movie was
Speaker 7: inspired by this episode, and for those who've seen it,
Speaker 7: you know exactly what I'm talking about. And if you
Speaker 7: haven't seen it, well, I highly recommend you see it.
Speaker 7: If not see it, go on YouTube and look up
Speaker 7: all the action sequences because the action, the fantasy action
Speaker 7: sequences are are fantastic. But and again, if you haven't
Speaker 7: seen the movie, give it a watch, and you know
Speaker 7: when you make it through, you go ah, yep, that
Speaker 7: is a modern day occurrence at al Creek. So anyway,
Speaker 7: interesting to hear what you have, what you've uncovered, Tom
Speaker 7: And and because I'm sure your your research is going
Speaker 7: to be have notatch. So anyway, onward to the next episode.
Speaker 2: Okay, Harold. If there's one thing that I never thought
Speaker 2: I would hear in this feedback episode, it is that
Speaker 2: sucker Punch was based on an occurrence at our Greek Bridge.
Speaker 2: But I haven't seen soccer Punch. I've heard some not
Speaker 2: great things about it, but you did say it's a
Speaker 2: guilty pleasure, and at the end of the day, you
Speaker 2: know we need not be guilty about the things we enjoy.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I will give it a shot. Thank you, Harold,
Speaker 2: and thank you for your clip. Always good to hear
Speaker 2: from you and another one who I'm looking forward to
Speaker 2: seeing its sailing fest this year. Okay, So to close
Speaker 2: things out and to say thank you as well, really,
Speaker 2: I'm going to close out with my friend Emmanuel, my
Speaker 2: French correspondent for all Things Twilight Zone, who very kindly
Speaker 2: did the translation of the French dialogue for me from
Speaker 2: the French version which you had in the actual episode.
Speaker 2: So thank you so much, Emmanuel for taking the time
Speaker 2: to do that, and I'm so glad that you followed
Speaker 2: that up with a clip for the show. So let's
Speaker 2: have a listen to what Emmanuel has to say.
Speaker 8: Hi, Tom, it's Emanuel inspired to share some feedback about
Speaker 8: the French Twilight Zone episode. I watched it without knowing
Speaker 8: any of the backgrounds, simply expecting a regular episode of
Speaker 8: the Twilight Zone, if there is such a thing. So
Speaker 8: at first I was quite quick to dismiss it, and
Speaker 8: I thought, why am I watching a French art house
Speaker 8: film from the sixties. This isn't what I came here for.
Speaker 8: I was also slightly put off by the formalism, which
Speaker 8: initially felt out of place in the anthology. I also
Speaker 8: was not familiar with the Ambrose beer story and naturally
Speaker 8: assumed that the hero was just an innocent civilian caught
Speaker 8: in the wrong place at the wrong time. And for me,
Speaker 8: the episode was primarily about the absurdity of war based
Speaker 8: on that lengthy procedural opening, and even thought of such
Speaker 8: films as all Quiet on the Western Front. But then
Speaker 8: I was quite taken by the wonderful song I Want
Speaker 8: to Be a Living Man and became very absorbed in
Speaker 8: the hero's desperate flight. Generally did not see the final
Speaker 8: twist coming, except perhaps when the plantation gates open magically,
Speaker 8: which was a bit of a giveaway from me. I
Speaker 8: also found it interesting that instead of seeing his whole
Speaker 8: life flash before his eyes, which would be the stereotype,
Speaker 8: he clings on to the essential and primitive things in life,
Speaker 8: you know, nature and finally his wife. I also loved
Speaker 8: small touches like the watch being taken away and it
Speaker 8: seems it stops time. Maybe anyway, by the end, I thought, look,
Speaker 8: it's black and white, it has a devastating twist, it
Speaker 8: deals with war and delusion, and Rodsoning clearly went out
Speaker 8: of his way to bring it to American audiences, so
Speaker 8: there's no doubt that it does have its place in
Speaker 8: the Twilight Zone anyway, Thanks for the great podcast, Take care.
Speaker 2: Goodbye, Emmanuel, Thank you so much. I cannot think of
Speaker 2: a more poetic way to end the coverage of an
Speaker 2: occurrence at how quick Breaks and to have someone from
Speaker 2: next versions origent country feeding back on it. So thank
Speaker 2: you so much. Just to pick up on what you
Speaker 2: said about you know, Rod made the effort to bring
Speaker 2: this over and I think that's the thing, isn't it
Speaker 2: that you know we might have this discussion and it's
Speaker 2: been an enjoyable discussion about whether if it's in the
Speaker 2: Twilight Zone or or whether it's real Twilight Zone, et cetera,
Speaker 2: et cetera. But it comes down to one thing, really,
Speaker 2: and I remember saying this the in the after show
Speaker 2: for people who aren't aware. Over on Patreon, I do
Speaker 2: the twilight Zone after Show, which is more of a
Speaker 2: discussion format where we'll talk about an episode. This one
Speaker 2: was actually a pre show. I did it months ago
Speaker 2: before I actually made the main show episode. Anyway, it's
Speaker 2: all getting very confusing, but one of the things I
Speaker 2: said in that episode was if the boss Man says
Speaker 2: it's in, then it's in. And really that's what it
Speaker 2: comes down to and like you said, Emmanuel, Rod Sailing says,
Speaker 2: it's in.
Speaker 3: So it's in.
Speaker 2: Great to hear from you, and thank you so much
Speaker 2: again for your help with the episode. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: So there we go Al Creek Bridge, possibly the last
Speaker 2: deep dive of the Twilight Zone. You know, it's always
Speaker 2: been a pleasure when I start to cover an episode
Speaker 2: and you go down the rabbit hole and there is
Speaker 2: just so much to it that it ends up being
Speaker 2: one of these bigger things. And if this is the
Speaker 2: last one, which I think it probably is, then I'm
Speaker 2: a little sad about that. I'm a little sad about that.
Speaker 2: If it is to be the last one, then you know,
Speaker 2: I think it was an interesting episode to finish on.
Speaker 2: But anyway, thank you everyone for your feedback and your thoughts.
Speaker 2: Next up on the Twilight Zone Podcast, I am hard
Speaker 2: at work on the next episode, so hope you won't
Speaker 2: be waiting too long for that. I have an interview
Speaker 2: coming up with the writer of a new book about
Speaker 2: Rod Sailing, so that's going to be coming out soon,
Speaker 2: and maybe we'll get back to our comic book coverage
Speaker 2: at some point. There's a lot going on in the
Speaker 2: twilight Zone at the moment, and I think I'll be
Speaker 2: putting out a short episode very soon as well to
Speaker 2: tell you what my involvement at Sailing Fest is going
Speaker 2: to be okay, so look out for that and I'll
Speaker 2: speak to you next time. Bye for now one