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Hogan's Heroes was a hit from the beginning of its televised run, from the fall of 1965 through the spring of 1971. This video, volume 1 of a three-volume collection, comprises two uncut episodes from the venerable Bing Crosby Productions series on CBS television: the black-and-white pilot episode, "The Informer," and a color episode, "Kommandant of the Year," from the first season. With good transfers and no commercial interruptions, these shows make for some charming, nostalgic, laugh-track-filled family viewing.
"The Informer" introduces all of the series' regulars, Colonels Hogan (Bob Crane) and Klink (Werner Klemperer) and Sergeant Schultz (John Banner), as well as Hogan's multinational, multiethnic group of heroes: Kinch (Ivan Dixon), Carter (Larry Hovis), Newkirk (Richard Dawson), and LeBeau (Robert Clary). We even get a glimpse of a short-lived Russian character, Sam (a.k.a. Vladimir Minsk, played by Leonid Kinskey), whose tailoring duties would later be adopted by LeBeau. An even shorter-lived prisoner, Wagner (Noam Pitlik), joins the group and ingratiates himself with Hogan--but is he really who he claims to be? Hogan reveals to Wagner a number of underground operations, including a mint, a communications center, a steam room, and machine shops. Wagner, however, has a hilarious time later trying to expose these operations to a skeptical Gestapo (represented here by character actor Leon Askin). Meanwhile, all the set props familiar to baby boomers--the tunnel entrance under the cot, the coffee-pot tap into Klink's office, the hidden periscopes, and the prisoner-friendly dogs--are introduced for our benefit only.
In "Kommandant of the Year," the easily flattered and distracted Klink is given a phony awards ceremony in order to allow the Heroes and their collaborators time to gather information about a new German V-bomb and then direct it away from England. Carter has returned from his abortive embarkation there ("He escaped in!") to remain as a dimwitted regular nevertheless effective with munitions. And the constant threat of transfer to the Russian front ensures that Schultz will continue to turn a blind eye ("I see nussink!") to those who are really running the show: the prisoners. --Robert Burns Neveldine
