Distributor:
Paramount Home Entertainment Certificate: Not Rated | NTSC | Region 1
Running Time: 13
hours 42 minutesCreators: Bernard
Fein, Albert S. Ruddy
Available to buy Extras: No
ANYONE
IN IT WE KNOW?
Bob
Crane, Werner Klemperer, John Banner, Robert Clary, Richard Dawson, Ivan
Dixon
WHAT’S
IT ABOUT THEN?
Hogan’s
Heroes (made by Bing Crosby’s
production company for CBS)
follows the exploits of a group
of American P.O.W.'s, especially
Colonel Hogan (Crane), stuck in
Stalag 13 where they run rings
around the none too bright
German guards.
SO
IS IT ANY GOOD?
With
World War II still within living memory of most of its viewers Hogan’s
Heroes dived straight in to take pot shots at life inside a bumbling
German run POW camp, influenced by the William Holden movie Stalag 13
Hogan’s Heroes was itself set in Stalag 13 however Hogan’s boys had
things decidedly more comfortable than their real life counterparts from
rigging up part of the barb wire fence to open and close like a garage
door to having a French chef prepare their meals. It wasn’t just about
comfort though Hogan’s Heroes did their best to obfuscate and confound
the Germans, more of a resistance movement than prisoners the guys would
produce counterfeit papers and help fellow prisoners escape on a regular
basis.
It’s
easy to forget how big a star Bob Crane was thanks to Heroes especially
as we know so much about his turgid and seedy private life. Never having
seen huge amounts of the show before it was great to see the genesis of
the series (the original pilot episode is included here in the set) and
from its earliest black and white episodes its premise is all there. The
new prints, re-mastered in high definition, look stunning, it’s also
very funny and frequently laugh out loud hilarious too.
ANY
SPECIAL FEATURES?
Other
than the chance to see the original pilot there are no extras.
