Hogan's Heroes: The Complete First Season [5 Discs]

Crane

Overview

Farcical tales of Allied POWs in World War II at the expense of their bumbling German captors. Bob Crane, in his signature role, made mental mincemeat of his enemies. And while the topic of Nazis as humor might seem odd (though it worked for Ernst Lubitsch in 1942's `To Be or Not to Be' and, more recently, for Mel Brooks in `The Producers'), the series was highly popular and garnered Werner Klemperer, himself a refugee from Nazi Germany, two Emmys for his role as inept camp commander Klink.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/15/2005
UPC:	0097368752245
Original Release:	2005
Rating:	NR
Source:	Paramount
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	13:42:00

Special Features

Closed Caption; The original pilot episode

Editorial Reviews

All these years later, the mind still reels at the notion that Hollywood TV producers believed they could build a successful sitcom around Allied prisoners in a Luftwaffe-run POW camp during World War II. But they were right: Hogan's Heroes lasted six years and 168 episodes. Inspired by the 1953 feature film Stalag 17, it focused on the adventures of Col. Robert Hogan (played by Bob Crane) and his fellow prisoners in Stalag 13, a camp run rather inefficiently by Col. Wilhelm Klink (Werner Klemperer) and the bumbling Sgt. Hans Schultz (John Banner). Together with his intrepid cohorts -- LeBeau (Robert Clary), Newkirk (Richard Dawson), Kinchloe (Ivan Dixon), and Carter (Larry Hovis) -- Hogan worked to further the Allied cause by undermining the Nazi campaign with sabotage and psychological warfare, often pitting rival Luftwaffe officers against each other with casually dropped bits of misinformation. The 32 episodes of Season 1 maintained a tricky balance, milking comedic situations while portraying the prisoners as ingenious, resourceful combatants whose ostensible confinement camouflaged their successful efforts to defeat the enemy. The first aired episode, "The Informer," has Carter being welcomed into Stalag 13 as Hogan tries to ferret out a spy. "Happy Birthday, Adolf" finds the prisoners attempting to destroy a nearby gun emplacement on Hitler's birthday. "Hello, Zolle" features future Love Boat star Gavin MacLeod as a German officer being detained at the camp to allow the Allies to complete a troop deployment. And "Cupid Comes to Stalag 13" introduces character actor Hans Conried as a pacifistic Italian officer who'd rather make pizza than fight the war. It's nothing short of remarkable that Hogan's Heroes so consistently made a prison camp seem less like hell and more like a prep school filled with heroic, if mischievous, boys.