This is probably the most unusual episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" because it's based on a story by Ambrose Bierce...as is a short French film (which won the Oscar for Best Short Subject) AND an episode of "The Twilight Zone". And, incidentally, "The Twilight Zone" episode actually IS an edited version of the French short! Wow...three stories by the same name and all based on the same story over a five year period. Of the three, this "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" story was the first.
The story is set during the US Civil War. A Confederate (Ronald Howard) is trying to blow up a strategic bridge but is captured. He's sentenced to hang but the rope apparently breaks and he falls into the river....and spends the rest of the episode on the run.
There sure wasn't any suspense for me, as I'd seen the other two versions of the story. Hopefully, when you see it, it will be the for the first time.
This version is a bit different. While the basic story is the same, the French/"Twilight Zone" version has almost no dialog at all, which made it easy to splice apart and air on US TV in 1964. But in this first version, there's a lot of dialog...plenty. Now comparing them is not easy for me, as I saw the other two episodes about a decade ago. As for the Hitchcock version, it was very well made and has a VERY dark and jarring ending. Well worth seeing.
By the way, a couple guys to look for in this one is a very young James Coburn as well as the terrific and sadly forgotten character actor, Juano Hernandez.