Barnes & Noble

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. Ed Hulse

Product Details

• UPC: 097368752245
• Source: PARAMOUNT
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Pan & Scan
• Time: 13:42:00
• Sales Rank: 5,518

This set contains DVDs which may be available separately:

• Hogan's Heroes: The Informer
• Hogan's Heroes: Hold That Tiger
• Hogan's Heroes: Kommandant of the Year
• Hogan's Heroes: The Late Inspector General
• Hogan's Heroes: The Flight of the Valkyrie
• Hogan's Heroes: The Prisoner's Prisoner
• Hogan's Heroes: German Bridge is Falling Down
• Hogan's Heroes: Movies Are Your Best Escape
• Hogan's Heroes: Go Light on the Heavy Water
• Hogan's Heroes: Top Hat, White Tie and Bomb Sight
• Hogan's Heroes: Happiness Is a Warm Sergeant
• Hogan's Heroes: The Scientist
• Hogan's Heroes: Hogan's Hofbrau
• Hogan's Heroes: Oil for the Lamps of Hogan
• Hogan's Heroes: Reservations are Required
• Hogan's Heroes: Anchors Aweigh, Men of Stalag 13
• Hogan's Heroes: Happy Birthday, Adolf
• Hogan's Heroes: The Gold Rush
• Hogan's Heroes: Hello, Zolle
• Hogan's Heroes: It Takes a Thief...Sometimes
• Hogan's Heroes: The Great Impersonation
• Hogan's Heroes: The Pizza Parlor
• Hogan's Heroes: The 43rd, a Moving Story
• Hogan's Heroes: How to Cook a German Goose by Radar
• Hogan's Heroes: Psychic Kommandant
• Hogan's Heroes: The Prince from the Phone Company
• Hogan's Heroes: The Safecracker Suite
• Hogan's Heroes: I Look Better in Basic Black
• Hogan's Heroes: The Assassin
• Hogan's Heroes: Cupid Comes to Stalag 13
• Hogan's Heroes: The Flame Grows Higher
• Hogan's Heroes: Request Permission to Escape

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