La rivière du hibou

BUYER BEWARE!

This short film is only one part of a three-story anthology film by Robert Enrico called "Au coeur de la vie" (1962) (please see elsewhere in IMDb). All three stories are inspired by Ambrose Bierce short stories about the American Civil War.

Something very strange happened to this particular episode of "Au coeur de la vie" (whose title is the translation of Ambrose Bierce's collection of short stories "In the Midst of Life"). First of all, it was proposed as Best Short Subject at the Oscars in 1962 and won, even though it had probably never been shown commercially that way in the US or anywhere else. Second, it was chosen as the very last episode of Rod Serling's TV series "The Twilight Zone", in a cost-cutting gesture.

It is this truncated version that is generally available on VHS and DVD today. It is unfortunately not the way its director wanted it and the two other episodes of that film ("L'oiseau moqueur" and "Chickamauga", a.k.a. "La Bataille de Chickamauga") have totally disappeared from everyone's consciousness.

That is really sad as I remember seeing the whole film in a cine-club in 1963 and going through a thoroughly gut-wrenching emotional experience because of the cumulative effect of these three stories. For the record, "L'Oiseau moqueur" ("The Mockingbird") tells of the terrifying confrontation of two brothers on a battlefield and "Chickamauga" relates the famous battle from the point of view of a six-year-old deaf and mute child living on a plantation.

Some producer somewhere probably decided that the entire film would be too intense to be shown in its entirety to an American audience and it has since sunk under the waters of forgetfulness, except for that maimed "Twilight Zone" episode, edited for the inclusion of commercials.

Let us all pray that somebody, somewhere will rescue it from the ravages of time before it is too late and make the whole thing available on DVD, in its original, uncut, uncompromised form, very, very soon

When I saw the movie Brazil in 1986, I had a nagging feeling that the ending was familiar. I vaguely recalled seeing a film in a high school cinema appreciation class in 1977 or 1978 with a similar theme. The 24 minute film made such an impression, that 20 years later, after screening the Brazil video for my parents, it still rang a bell. After we discussed it I subsequently checked here to confirm the existence of La Riviere, which was identified in my HS class as Incident at Oxbow Creek. The theme of imagined escape is rather unique in my experience of cinema, and the similarities between La Riviere and the ending of Brazil are such that I wonder if Riviere du Hibou may have influenced Terry Gilliam.

I first saw this film, and thought it to be a Hollywood production. It is of course a French film; I had seen the dubbed version. However I urge anyone that has the chance to watch it! It has a unique twist to the plot, superb acting and a quality storyline. It has not dated, and is a standard for all involved in this genre to attain. When I first saw the location, and the uniforms I really did think it to be a big company film. I was amazed to see the credits at the end, all in French.The genre of this movie is somewhat similar to another film, I believe also to be from France "The Telephone Box", another superb piece of surreal film making. Thanks, and I hope you get to watch this superb film. Posted July 2004

The original writer of the story was a civil war reporter. He covered many such events as outlined in the film. I like this film for many reasons. First, it is a black and white film to capture the feeling of the story. Next, the story was very realistic for the time in which the story takes place. Also, there are very few spoken lines. Finally, the twist at the end is worth the wait. I am not going to spoil the ending, but please be patient to the end. I promise that you will not be disappointed. When I was in college my class studied this film for all of the above points. It is short, only about 30 minutes, but the time is not wasted. It is a moving piece and I recommend it to anyone!

Rod Serling brought this to American attention as a part of the Twilight Zone series and I have to agree with his departure from the popular series. A great story, intimately told. It points out the beauty of life and how it is magnified when death threatens. I think it is as good or even better than any Zone episode both in style and depth.