"This happy breed, as Shakespeare called us, has reason to be happy once again, for our strength has been renewed and our friends have come to help us. They have come by the millions to join us in battle, and now we're ready to strike back. We do not know when this will happen, but we do know that our sons and brothers who left France and Dunkirk will soon be going back again to France." - British clergyman on the eve of D-Day in Combat!: "A Day in June"
Combat!: Season 1, Campaign 1 DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
July 6, 2004 marked the 60th anniversary of D-Day, the massive invasion of France that ultimately led to the victory of the Allies in World War II. WWII and the events that surrounded it have been fodder for many kinds of pop culture, from comic books of the period featuring Amazonian women to modern-day documentaries dissecting every facet of the war. Combat!, one of the finest TV shows to be inspired by WWII, premiered on ABC in October of 1962. Now, thanks to the miracle of DVD, viewers today can catch up with this stellar program.
The series follows a U.S. platoon as it fights its way across Europe in the aftermath of D-Day. Lieutenant Gil Hanley (Rick Jason) is the tough, disciplined platoon leader. Serving under Hanley is Sergeant Chip Saunders (Vic Morrow), and equally tough yet caring father figure for the lower-ranked men in the company. Other regularly seen soldiers included a French-speaking Cajun nicknamed "Caje" (Pierre Jalbert), buffoonish funny guy Braddock (Vegas comedian Shecky Greene), youthfully naïve Billy Nelson (Tom Lowell), no-nonsense beanpole Littlejohn (Dick Peabody), and sensitive medic Doc (Steven Rogers).
The first episode presented here is "A Day in June," which centers on D-Day itself. Although this served as the pilot and was the first episode shot, it was originally aired one-third of the way into the season (thus explaining the episode's flashback framing device). Compared to feature films like Saving Private Ryan and big budget cable miniseries like Band of Brothers, an hour long show from the early '60s cannot possibly convey the horror and complexity of D-Day. Here it is dispensed with in a few short minutes. Still, the fight sequences are surprisingly cinematic and sophisticated.
Combat!'s battle sequences are especially effective when compared to those in another war series recently released on DVD - Tour of Duty. In Duty, the fighting lacked focus and tension. Throughout all of the Combat! episodes presented here, however, each battle sequence is so precisely shot that the action is exciting and easy to follow. Plus, the house-to-house fighting often employed in WWII is a perfect match for the MGM backlot, where the series was shot. These episodes present visual storytelling at its finest, a trait that is not often found in writer/dialogue-driven TV shows.
Some credit for this can go to the series' directors, including Burt Kennedy and Robert Altman, sometimes working from their own scripts. Altman, of course, went on to earn great critical acclaim as the feature film director responsible for such classics as M*A*S*H, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Player, and Gosford Park. Altman directed almost one-third of the episodes included here, and several of them are among the best. "Any Second Now," for example, features a gruelingly suspenseful bomb disarming sequence involving a frazzled British bomb-removal expert (Alex Davion). In "Rear Echelon Commandos," he makes inventive use of a huge backlot set. This particular episode also contains a memorable sequence in which a misfit replacement soldier - a former ballet dancer - puts his unique skills to good use in battle. Other Altman-directed episodes include "Forgotten Front," "The Prisoner," "Escape to Nowhere," and "Cat and Mouse."
The series is anthology based, allowing it to branch out from standard frontlines-based episodes. This also freed the writers and directors to even delve into comedy (as in "The Prisoner," which provides a terrific showcase for Greene) and even family drama ("Reunion"). Even in battle sequences, the series often focuses on human stories, as when a soldier loses his life trying to save a dog. The show is so skillfully created that it manages to be fun and exciting without ever being disrespectful or cartoonish. One exception occurs in "The Squad," which too-heavily relies on cultural stereotypes with its drawling eccentric Southern replacement soldier, a moronic goober still reeling from the Civil War who resents being in the "Yankee Army."
All of the series' actors are great, from consummate professionals like Morrow and Jason to nightclub comedian Greene and professional film editor Jalbert. Owing to its anthology roots, sometimes the lead actors do not even appear in an individual episode. It did allow for numerous guest stars, including Tab Hunter, Jeffrey Hunter, Albert Salmi, and Keenan Wynn. Eagle-eyed viewers can be on the lookout for cameos by future stars, including Tom Skerritt, The Mary Tyler Moore Show's Ted Knight (as a Nazi, no less), and Harry Dean Stanton.
These days, the typical television show has a season which runs twenty-two episodes. In TV's earlier years, however, seasons ran considerably longer. The first season of Combat!, for example, contains thirty-two episodes. Because of this great length, Image Entertainment has chosen to divide the seasons in half. Combat!: Season 1, Campaign 1 contains the first sixteen episodes of the series. The season's remaining episodes have also been released in Combat!: Season 1, Campaign 2. The remaining seasons, when released, will be similarly divided.
The packaging does not provide synopses for the episodes. Here are thumbnail descriptions of each episode included in Season 1, Campaign 1:
"A Day in June" The squad looks back at their experiences on D-Day.
"Any Second Now" Lt. Hanley is trapped under an unexploded bomb and must rely on a war-shattered British bomb expert to rescue him.
"Just for the Record" Captured by the Germans, Sgt. Saunders is rescued by the French Resistance and by a reluctant Frenchwoman who has been taking comfort in her enemies.
"The Squad" A hayseed replacement soldier from Georgia arrives. His eccentricities keep the squad on its toes.
"Lost Sheep, Lost Shepard" A "spoiled priest" (Jeffrey Hunter) who now operates a tank battles his personal demons in a seemingly deserted town.
"Forgotten Front" Saunders, Caje, and Doc stumble across a lone German soldier who claims to be a deserter.
"Missing in Action" The squad goes behind enemy lines to rescue a missing airman, but encounters an unforeseen enemy.
"Rear Echelon Commandos" The squad receives several misfit replacements, including an overweight cook, a tactless disc jockey, and a ballet dancer.
"The Chateau" Doc and a group of injured men - including Braddock - get captured by the Germans when they seek shelter in a chateau.
"The Prisoner" After a jeep accident, Braddock is mistaken for a colonel and taken P.O.W. Keenan Wynn plays the actual colonel.
"Escape to Nowhere" A captured Hanley is unwittingly drawn into a failed German plot to assassinate Hitler.
"The Celebrity" A star baseball player (Tab Hunter) joins the outfit. While he is an ace player, he proves to be an ineffectual soldier due to his fear of injuring his pitching arm.
"Far from the Brave" When Saunders loses a trusted friend in battle, his judgment becomes impaired.
"The Quiet Warrior" Hanley is recruited for a top secret undercover mission to persuade the father of his college foreign exchange student pal to join the Allies' cause.
"Cat and Mouse" Saunders is sent on a recon mission to German lines with a hotheaded patrol leader (Albert Salmi). When the rest of the patrol is killed, Saunders and the gruff sergeant play a deadly game of hide-and-seek with the enemy in an abandoned mill.
"Reunion" An American soldier reunites with his estranged father - a Frenchman who may or may not be a Nazi collaborator.
The sixteen episodes in Combat!: Season 1, Campaign 1 are divided onto four discs. The discs are housed in an oversized, Army green keepcase. A single sheet insert lists the scene selection titles for each episode. The menus are simple yet effective. A short animated intro leads to a static main menu employing production shots from the series backed by a green-toned European map. Viewers can play all of a disc's episodes, or choose to watch an individual episode. Choosing an individual episode leads to that episode's dedicated menu, which lists the scene numbers and titles and features still from the episode.
