I stumbled onto this beauty on TCM a few weeks ago, and could not believe it. It is the closest thing I have seen to a prototype for the much-maligned Hogan's Heroes television program. We have a multinational Alied group in Germany doing as much damage as they can to the Axis war effort, with laughs all along the way wherever they can be found. It even has received some of the same criticism that Hogan's Heroes received.
There are some substantial differences: Sargent Schultz is on the Allied side; I am not sure if he, played by Alan Hale, is supposed to be American or English. There is a sort of Sargent Schultz for the Germans, in Sig Ruman (who I believe also played Schultz in Stalag 17), but he is a little tougher and a little smarter than Schultz. Colonel Klink in this picture, played by Raymond Massey, is a thoroughly bad baddie, sort of a Major Hochstedder with a monocle and a promotion. The biggest difference is that the boys are on the road, not stationed in a prison camp. But then, to turn it into a long running TV show, putting them into a prison camp makes perfect sense.
Most reviewers think this movie is totally silly with unrealistically stupid and incompetent Germans and too many hair's breadth escapes by the boys. I do not agree, as the Axis German establishment showed themselves to be not the supermen they were billed to be. After all, with an incompetent lunatic leader and incompetent lazy assistant leader in Hitler and Goering, and a German military and Gestapo drilled to blind obedience, it should not be surprising that people brought up in an environment that values independent thinking are able to outwit them time and again. And in spite of that, only three of the bomber crew survived to get out of Germany - the majority of the crew perished, mostly on-screen. Two things that did not ring true did capture my attention: 1) I don't think the railway junction that was the target existed, or if it did it was not where they said it was; and it appeared that the mission failed to hit it anyway. 2)I am not familiar with the Lockheed 2-engine bomber that was supposedly used, but I doubt that it could have made the round trip that would have been necessary to reach the target and return.
A couple other notes: Regarding the "Japs" comment. It may or may not have been racist, but the Japanese military government of the time earned a reputation for evil, and deserved no polite consideration. Their treatment of Chinese civilians and American and British prisoners of war is sufficient evidence (see "Rape of Nanking" and various documentaries on the Bataan Death March). Even today, it is my belief that the Japanese have never officially apologized or made any atonement for what they did. This is in sharp contrast to the Germans, who I believe murdered fewer innocent non-combatants than did the Japanese (or Joseph Stalin throughout his career for that matter).
There are some substantial differences: Sargent Schultz is on the Allied side; I am not sure if he, played by Alan Hale, is supposed to be American or English. There is a sort of Sargent Schultz for the Germans, in Sig Ruman (who I believe also played Schultz in Stalag 17), but he is a little tougher and a little smarter than Schultz. Colonel Klink in this picture, played by Raymond Massey, is a thoroughly bad baddie, sort of a Major Hochstedder with a monocle and a promotion. The biggest difference is that the boys are on the road, not stationed in a prison camp. But then, to turn it into a long running TV show, putting them into a prison camp makes perfect sense.
Most reviewers think this movie is totally silly with unrealistically stupid and incompetent Germans and too many hair's breadth escapes by the boys. I do not agree, as the Axis German establishment showed themselves to be not the supermen they were billed to be. After all, with an incompetent lunatic leader and incompetent lazy assistant leader in Hitler and Goering, and a German military and Gestapo drilled to blind obedience, it should not be surprising that people brought up in an environment that values independent thinking are able to outwit them time and again. And in spite of that, only three of the bomber crew survived to get out of Germany - the majority of the crew perished, mostly on-screen. Two things that did not ring true did capture my attention: 1) I don't think the railway junction that was the target existed, or if it did it was not where they said it was; and it appeared that the mission failed to hit it anyway. 2)I am not familiar with the Lockheed 2-engine bomber that was supposedly used, but I doubt that it could have made the round trip that would have been necessary to reach the target and return.
A couple other notes: Regarding the "Japs" comment. It may or may not have been racist, but the Japanese military government of the time earned a reputation for evil, and deserved no polite consideration. Their treatment of Chinese civilians and American and British prisoners of war is sufficient evidence (see "Rape of Nanking" and various documentaries on the Bataan Death March). Even today, it is my belief that the Japanese have never officially apologized or made any atonement for what they did. This is in sharp contrast to the Germans, who I believe murdered fewer innocent non-combatants than did the Japanese (or Joseph Stalin throughout his career for that matter).