Based on a short story by Ambrose Bierce, this was the only episode of The Twilight Zone that was not produced by Rod Serling and company. Winner of a Cannes Film Festival award in 1962, it would have been more instructive if Serling, in his opening remarks, had revealed who collaborated on the story, instead of referring to it as having been made 'by others'. Perhaps there was some legal constraint in doing so, but what would have been the harm?
Those 'others' would have been a contingent from France, with the main character exhibiting a decidedly French appearance, even though the story was set during, and involved Union soldiers of the American Civil War. That probably matters little, since the story focuses on a man sentenced to death by hanging, and we follow his ordeal right up until the moment.
What makes the story so harrowing is the way the prisoner barely escapes from each situation presented. Teetering at the end of a suspended plank, the viewer agonizes over how long it will take for the board to break or the squad leader to summon the execution. With the dreaded fall, the expected snap of the neck is replaced by an underwater ordeal that's both suffocating and terrifying. The viewer is drawn into the prisoner's dilemma as he struggles to loosen his bonds, gasping for air at the last possible moment. The thrill of freedom is summarily replaced by the urgency of avoiding gunfire, as the soldiers attempt to finish the job they were meant to see through.
Where one might get an initial hint that things are not all that they seem occurs when the man miraculously arrives at his home and into the arms of his wife. One gets an uncomfortable feeling that this finale is all too convenient for the man who faced certain doom just moments earlier. And then the conclusion is sprung on the viewer, as if walking through a trap door. On that basis, the story more than qualifies as a classic Twilight Zone episode with it's unsuspected twist.
Those 'others' would have been a contingent from France, with the main character exhibiting a decidedly French appearance, even though the story was set during, and involved Union soldiers of the American Civil War. That probably matters little, since the story focuses on a man sentenced to death by hanging, and we follow his ordeal right up until the moment.
What makes the story so harrowing is the way the prisoner barely escapes from each situation presented. Teetering at the end of a suspended plank, the viewer agonizes over how long it will take for the board to break or the squad leader to summon the execution. With the dreaded fall, the expected snap of the neck is replaced by an underwater ordeal that's both suffocating and terrifying. The viewer is drawn into the prisoner's dilemma as he struggles to loosen his bonds, gasping for air at the last possible moment. The thrill of freedom is summarily replaced by the urgency of avoiding gunfire, as the soldiers attempt to finish the job they were meant to see through.
Where one might get an initial hint that things are not all that they seem occurs when the man miraculously arrives at his home and into the arms of his wife. One gets an uncomfortable feeling that this finale is all too convenient for the man who faced certain doom just moments earlier. And then the conclusion is sprung on the viewer, as if walking through a trap door. On that basis, the story more than qualifies as a classic Twilight Zone episode with it's unsuspected twist.