Hogan's Heroes: The Complete Series

Description

Hilarity finds a home in the most unlikely of places - a World War II German POW camp - in this 1960s comedy series. Bob Crane stars as Col. Robert Hogan, an irascible wise guy who leads his fellow prisoners in a variety of mad escape plots. The butts of the jokes are the starched-stiff Germans, particularly Col. Wilhelm Klink (Werner Klemperer), whose exasperated cry of "Hogan!" became one of the show's many repeatable catchphrases. Review: Great Show, Not Bad Package - While this show was airing long before I was around, I remember watching the re-runs with my father. I always enjoyed Hogan's Heroes far more than the other WWII films that we often watched together, although now that I am older I have a new appreciation for films like Midway. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the show, it's about a group of allied pilots from England, the U.S., and France who are in a German P.O.W. camp during WWII, guarded by Commandant Klink and the illustrious Sergeant Shultz. If you are wondering how on Earth this constitutes as a comedy, you are not alone--even Werner Klemperer, the actor who portrays Commandant Klink and whose Jewish father had to flee Germany in the 1930s to escape Hitler, thought the producers were crazy. The beauty of the show is the satirical premise that within a P.O.W. camp could be the greatest sabotage ring operating in Germany during the war. Throughout the show's run, Colonel Hogan (Bob Crane) and his men (although they are often assisted by others) blow up bridges, destroy factories, leak troop movements and diagrams of new weapons to the British, discredit the Gestapo, and perhaps most importantly, smuggle countless prisoners and defectors to England, usually via a secret submarine but other times via plane, train, and even a hot air balloon constructed in camp! Then there are the girls, or "birds" as resident Englander Corporal Newkirk (Richard Dawson--pre-Family Fued) calls them, who are slender, buxom, and usually fall head-over-heels for ladies' man Colonel Hogan. The show isn't free of cliche or sexism (come on, this was the 60s!), but it's still immensely enjoyable. Making this series was a smart move to make on the producers' part, despite the oddball outline. There was enough distance from the bulk of the fallout from the war that audiences would appreciate such humor, especially as this was taking place during the rumbles of the Vietnam War. Unlike M*A*S*H, which portrayed the realities of the war (although centered around the Korean conflict, the show could easily be applied to Vietnam), Hogan's Heroes portrayed a farsical bent to the horror that was often applied to such camps in WWII. Generals are easily fooled into thinking that a prisoner doing a fairly decent impersonation of Hitler is the real McCoy, Sergeant Shultz and Colonel Klink are constantly manipulated into Hogan's hands with the mere mention of the Russian front, the Gestapo barely notice that a premier general has somehow developed a strong Russian accent (because he was being impersonated by a klutzy Russian actor), and even the German Shepherd guard dogs are sweet-as-pie to the prisioners while maintaining a gruff exterior around the guards. It's hardly the reality of the situation (although there was considerable sabotage inflicted by the various underground forces during the war, something the show often relies heavily upon for assistance for the Allied prisoners), but there's enough patriotism, incredible gags, and a great acting ensemble to keep audiences entertained for years. As far as this packaging goes, now that it's been out for a while, the cost is comparable to buying the seasons individually. Season two has the most (and the best) special features, including Bob Crane's wedding, home movies taken on the set, CBS promos that are absolutely hilarious, a blooper reel, a Jell-o/Dream Whip commercial with the cast, and a few other tv spots. Most of the other seasons contain photo galleries and the occasional extra (like Werner Klemperer on The Pat Sajak Show). I found the quality to be very good, especially for a show of this age. If you are a fan and haven't collected the individual seasons yet, this is definitely for you. If you have some of the first seasons already, there aren't any extra features in this package (that I know of). If you are wanting to check out the show first before you commit, I'd suggest renting the first or fourth season first (my favorites - although if you watch the original pilot episode you get a mixed message on one of the characters...he ends up staying as part of the "gang" when in the pilot he is just another soldier being sent to England). Most rental places will have it, especially on-line ones like Blockbuster and Netflix. It hasn't been shown on any cable/satellite channels for years that I know of (TV Land used to), so unfortunately this is as good as we are going to get at the moment. Review: Decent, quality transfer of this old gem. - To say that this show could never be made today is a massive understatement. Even in the early 60s, it is hard to see how somebody ever gave the green light to a lighthearted, screwball comedy about a bunch of Allied prisoners stuck in a WWII Nazi prison camp. But despite the absolutely crazy premise, it somehow works and works well. Like most people looking at these reviews, I hadn't seen the show since I was a kid in the early 1970s, watching afternoon reruns on a small TV in those rare afternoons when I was home sick from school with the flu or something. Seeing it with modern, adult eyes, it often has an almost childlike innocence and sweetness to it. It is no wonder that I absolutely loved this little gem of a show as a child. But when you later figure out that virtually everybody in it, including all of the prominent Nazis, were played by Jews, and that the guy who played LeBeau was not only Jewish but also a child Holocaust survivor of Buchenwald who entertained real Nazis to survive, you gain a new and much deeper level of respect for this show. If they can all have fun mocking the Nazis, just 20 years after WWII, then who am I to object to that 60 years later on? Maybe the best way to get rid of the monsters from your darkest nightmares is to just make fun of them until they feel less scary? Who knows. But in any event, there is really nothing to get outraged about here. This show ran on CBS in prime time for six years, during an era where censorship to avoid all controversy on network shows was pervasive (this show just predates All in the Family and all the changes that brought about). So it is hardly a sympathetic portrait of either the Nazis or WWII, and should be taken at face value for exactly what it really is, a light and entertaining comedy. As for the video quality, this was a TV show originally shot on film in the early 60s, the sound is mono and the aspect ratio is 4:3. If you understand the limitations in the source material, you will be fine with the quality of the DVD transfer here. The original film grain has been preserved intact, and it was very much shot in the style of the Great Escape, Guns of Navarone, etc. which makes this DVD version feel even more like a classic, 60s war movie than you remember. You will get the black bars on the sides of a modern TV, but this preserves the original aspect ratio. This is NOT a blu-ray/HD version. I don't even know if they even ever remastered the original film stock into HD, but I find these DVD-quality transfers perfectly watchable. So if you want a charming little trip down memory lane, a complete escape from the modern world, this set is worth the relatively small price of admission.