As a narrative technique, framing a story, or a series of stories, within a larger story has its merits. But not so in this case. We don't need, after all, to meet Ambrose Bierce (who was far more handsome than Campbell Scott, by the way) or William Randolph Hearst, or a woman writer of dubious talents whom no one reads anymore, as a prelude to the filmic adaptations of Bierce's stories. But that is where this mediocre film begins and ends: on a rather cheap looking set (think Gunsmoke) designed as the parlor of a western hotel where the three meet and where Bierce reads three of his stories. The adaptations are not so good as I might have liked. The acting was only passable in most cases. The first story, about shell-shock, drags on interminably, the second has occasional good moments, and the third, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge," almost manages to get things right. The quality is thus incremental but the attention dulls along the way. All of the stories are hampered by actors of limited talent who appear to have been culled from local theater companies, by rather dull cinematography, and especially by an exceedingly unskilled makeup and hair artist.
Review of Ambrose Bierce: Civil War Stories
