"Combat!" 9 Place Vendee (TV Episode 1965) Poster

(TV Series)

(1965)

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7/10
The German and the French Boy
claudio_carvalho30 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Captain Clinton, Lt. Hanley and Pvt. Walsh are assigned to rescue Captain Howard, who has important information, from a French village under German control. The stop their jeep on the skirts and soon Captain Clinton stumbles upon a mine, dying and wounding Walsh. Hanley decides to go alone to the address where Howard is and soon he meets an orphan French boy that is looking for his missing dog. Hanley arrives at the address and meets the captain wounded on the second floor. Meanwhile the boy finds Captain Howard hidden in the basement and soon he realizes that the wounded man is a German.

"9 Place Vendee" is a tense episode of "Combat!", with Hanley walking through the streets of a village taken by the German, hiding from patrols. There are a couple of funny moments to release the tension and the episode is well-resolved. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Place Vendee, No. 9" ("9 Place Vendee")
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7/10
9 Place Vendee
jmarchese4 October 2014
"9 Place Vendee" is a suspense story involving Lieutenant Hanley going into a French village infested with Germans to rescue Captain Howard. Along the way he encounters several dangerous moments.

Rick Jason did an excellent job in his rescue role but "9 Place Vendee" suffers from a very weak script. In addition there's no heavy artillery fire or combat - the essence of the show. The German Lieutenant appears in critical condition early on but later turns into superman running away across the rooftops. Lieutenant Hanley decides to rescue Jacques' dog with a dozen Germans who would have easily seen him; no way. The truck escape scene was believable while the pharmacy scene was amusing & believable.

The suspense angle was a good idea but Writers' Lenard & Carneol needed some actual combat or artillery scenes to back it up. Director Alan Crosland Jr. should've picked up on the weakness of both the rooftop sequences and the dog rescue scene. Each could have been modified to be more believable.

As I watched "9 Place Vendee" the suspense kept my interest but there just was not enough to give it a high rating. They could've shortened the rooftop chase and showed heavy artillery knocking out the German command post 1 mile east of the village based on Captain Howard's intelligence info. Very average episode.
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Rick to the rescue
lor_2 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
A solo episode for Rick, with Vic getting the week off. He's assigned to rescue a captured OSS officer (played by Lee Patterson, the fine actor from "Surfside Six" series at the time, in just a minor role) while also having to deal with a pesky French boy.

It's a simple story, well-acted by RIck, suspenseful but without the usual fierce battles of a "Combat!" segment. A fine plot twist turns the French boy with his dog from an encumbrance to Rick's savior, as he figures out that Rick is saving the wrong guy -a German pretending to be the OSS captain!

All told, likely a fill-in episode made on a lower budget than usual.
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