User Reviews

In this pilot, which was filmed in mid 1964 but not broadcast to the public until Sept 1965, begins the journey of our heroes that will become regular names for the next six years. The series changed very little from the pilot as the stories always featured the Allies topping the Germans at whatever situation seemed to arise. And in this first episode, the story is entertaining from beginning to the end.

The main part of the story involves a new prisoner, Wagner, that comes into camp after being captured by the Germans. However, Wagner is actually a German spy that has been planted in camp to review the prisoner's conduct. Of course Hogan finds out early that Wagner is working for the Germans and decides to play their game. Hogan shows Wagner the entire operation. From the printing press making money to the steam room (things that will not make it into the series run), believing that no sane person would believe such a story. Now Wagner must show Burkhalter, that has arrived from Berlin, all the things he has learned. This makes for a funny situation.

It was easy to see why this pilot was selected by the networks to be picked-up and run as a series. An almost satire and humorous look at a period of time that was still effecting many people in the world. Anytime you can laugh at an unpleasant situation and forget the terrible shadows of the past, then the writers and actors have done their part. And with this series hopefully it will give some comfort.

Hot on the heels of the World War Two movie saga "The Great Escape" (1963), the pilot episode of "Hogan's Heroes" scrambles audacity and absurdity along with realism and ridiculousness into a stark (it was filmed in black and white) yet lighthearted look at a serious subject: Allied airmen interned at Camp 13, a prisoner-of-war camp located in "Germany 1942," according to the title card that opens "The Informer," which borrows a situation from another POW movie, "Stalag 17" (1953), in which the Germans plant a spy among the prisoners to ferret out escape attempts.

And just as British prisoner Corporal Peter Newkirk literally falls out at the roll call conducted by past-his-prime guard Sergeant Schultz to create a diversion, one prisoner indeed sneaks out of camp--only to fetch another prisoner, American Lieutenant Carter (Larry Hovis), who escaped from another camp, thus introducing the premise concocted by series creators Bernard Fein and Albert S. Ruddy: Led by American Colonel Robert Hogan, the Heroes are running a covert embarkation center for repatriating escaped Allied prisoners right under the unwitting nose of Camp 13 commandant Colonel Wilhelm Klink.

However, the cat among the pigeons is "Wagner" (Noam Pitlik), a German spy posing as an American prisoner who slips through Hogan's security net and reports the Heroes' escape operation to his superiors Klink and Colonel Burkhalter. Hogan's response? Show him their elaborate underground facilities--where even Klink's fetching secretary Helga helps out--then watch him try to convince his superiors of this unbelievable operation.

Richard Powell, soon to become a principal series writer, helped Fein and Ruddy pen the agile, clever script that finds hard-nosed Klink not quite the obsequious fool he would soon become--although Hogan is working him already--along with a League of Nations roster of Heroes: Brit Newkirk, French Corporal Louis LeBeau, African-American Sergeant James Kinchloe, and Russian Vladimir Minsk, played by veteran character actor Leonid Kinskey ("Casablanca").

Kinskey didn't re-up, but guest-star Hovis took a demotion to sergeant to become a regular, and recurring character Burkhalter quickly got promoted to general; meanwhile, Camp 13 soon became Stalag 13 as the series shifted to color for all subsequent episodes. "The Informer" finds an offbeat, intriguing series at the crossroads of seriocomedy right off the bat. Which way would it lean?

SEEMINGLY having been around forever, it was a real surprise when we saw an episode of HOGAN'S HEROES (Bing Crosby Productions/CBS Television Network, 1964-71) which we hadn't ever seen. It must have been about two years ago on Channel 23, WMEE TV, here in Chicago.

FIRST surprise was this pilot was shot in glorious Black & White; being the only one of the HOGAN Show's ½ hour weekly installments to be so rendered. This was during the period when Color Filmed shows were not necessarily the rule of thumb; but ever increasingly the old, reliable black & white, silver screen standard was becoming a sort of endangered species.

SEEING a first show for the first time, after one has already been familiar with the series is a strange sensation; the reason being that characters aren't static. They develop and evolve during the course of a series run. None remains exactly the same as they seemed at their inception.

THIS episode, entitled "The Informer" (No Schultz, Victor McLaglen isn't in it!), pretty much sets up the who, what, where, why and when for the duration; but definitely not the how of the operations that the P.O.W. inmates of Stalag 13 pull off each and every week. The series, even then, always seemed to veer between the serious and the farcical; the commando raids and the inmates' shenanigans.

SERIES casting seemed to have been practically complete, that is almost. From the very start we had Bob Crane (Hogan), Werner Klemperer (Commandant, Colonel Klink), John Banner (Sgt. Schultz), Robert Clary (LeBeau), Richard Dawson (Newkirk), Ivan Dixon (Kinchloe), Larry Hovis (Carter) and Leon Askin (Gen. Burkhalter).

PERHAPS the biggest surprise to any viewer, such as we were was the inclusion of a Russian P.O.W. called Vladimir Minsk; being portrayed by Hollywood veteran character actor, Leonid Kinsky!

INCLUDING a Rusky in the roster of characters was a logical move; one that would certainly add to whatever historical accuracy that was present. They already had included the characters of LeBeau (French) and Newkirk (English); tacitly admitting that the United States did not win the eventual victory all by itself.

THE uniforms also, for example are generally accurate: be they any Allied or Axis types. What few vehicles that are shown do look the part; but we figure that was most likely due to their paint rather than their company of manufacture. We could swear that one German truck was a Ford, not a Mercedes-Benz or a BMW (both German companies, Schultz!).

ALTHOUIGH the Russian character was meant to be a regular, he appeared in only this ice breaking installment. Sadly, right after this Pilot was finished, Mr. Kinsky announced that he was out of the project. Being that he reasoned that a weekly sitcom about a World War II German Military Prison Camp on Television, American or what ever have you, just wouldn't go over with the public; Mr. Kinsky dropped out.

IN the final analysis, when all was said and done; HOGAN'S HEROES lasted seven years, a full year longer than World War II. You were wrong, Leonid! POODLE SCHNITZ!!

Really enjoy this episode. Somethings didn't make it to the regular show. Very fun to watch.