User Reviews

In this part one episode, one of the undergrounds top agents, a woman named 'Tiger', has been caught by the Gestapo in Paris. Tiger knows all about the underground operation including Stalag 13. Hogan knows that it will be just a matter of time before the Gestapo uses their tactic and extract information from her.

It just so happens that Klink is getting a leave for a few days and plan on going to Paris for the holiday. With Schultz at the wheel, Hogan and LeBeau catch a ride on the roof of the car all the way to Paris. Hogan has to think of a plan where he can gain confidence with the Gestapo and thereby freeing Tiger.

In Paris, Hogan takes the name of a former prisoner and in no time runs into the main Gestapo officer, Colonel Backscheider. It seems the Colonel has some weird fascination with astrology which maybe his weak link where Hogan can find an opening. But when Hogan runs into Marya (Nita Talbot), also know as the White Russian Spy, they are going to have to team up not only to release Tiger but to find an underground plane base that the Allies want destroyed.

All the above writing sounds like a serious show. But when you have Klink and Schultz along for the ride you know that humor is around. Right from the time they arrived in Paris they have been without a car and the joke continues throughout the episode. --This show sets us up for the second half with Tiger still in Gestapo hands and the air base still unknown. Hopefully part two will be just as entertaining as the first part.

Just because Richard Powell never took "Hogan's Heroes" seriously doesn't mean he couldn't script an entertaining story. The first part of this tall tale, one of only two two-part episodes the series aired (Powell also wrote the second one), is hardly padded as it sustains interest throughout. Moreover, during the series, Powell introduced four of the most memorable occasional characters, such as German Major Hochstetter, whose 35 appearances really make him a recurring character, and British Colonel Crittendon, and in the first part of "A Tiger Hunt in Paris" he introduces a third one while including a previously-introduced fourth.

Make no mistake: put your credulity on hold. When Stalag 13 commandant Colonel Klink takes a week-long furlough in Paris, with Sergeant Schultz driving him there, Colonel Hogan, leader of the Heroes, and Corporal LeBeau come along for the ride. Yes, with the hardly-willing help of an anguished Schultz, the two prisoners of war stow away atop Klink's staff car and promptly abscond with it once in Paris.

Their reason is compelling: The Gestapo has captured Tiger (Arlene Martel), a crucial underground linchpin Powell introduced in the second-ever "Hogan's Heroes" episode ("Hold That Tiger"), and taken her for interrogation by Colonel Backscheider (John Dehner) in Paris, forcing Hogan and LeBeau to spring her before she reveals the Heroes' operation--or is killed in the process.

To that end, Hogan poses as "Frank Durkin," an escaped American POW from Stalag 13--so much for Klink's perfect no-escape record--turned black marketeer, to engage Backscheider, ruthless, corrupt, and a pseudoscientist engaged in phrenology (the reading of bumps on the skull) and other occult arcana in which many Nazis actually believed.

The key to besting Backscheider is Marya (Nita Talbot), the White Russian astrologer having an affair with him, who is more Mata Hari than Madame Tarot. By making Marya a White Russian, Powell created his greatest character in terms of complexity and ambiguity: White Russians were anti-communists of various stripes ranging from liberals to czarists; some collaborated with the Nazis even after Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. This led to fascinating questions about her loyalties starting with her first appearance here as Hogan and LeBeau encounter her in a "White Russian café."

Moreover, industry veteran Talbot absolutely commands the scene as for one moment "Hogan's Heroes" rises to feature-film quality --set designer Hub Braden even gives a "Casablanca"-like feel to the café, complete with a black piano player--with Talbot oozing intrigue, danger, and sexuality that earned her repeat visits to the series.

Similarly, supporting stalwart Dehner transcends the fatuous arrogance Powell had written for his Backscheider, becoming a formidable foe for Hogan while he runs roughshod over hapless Klink, believing that the Gestapo had commandeered his staff car, yet still able to mug for the camera. Unfortunately, Martel is wasted, merely a damsel in distress to kick off the plot, the only flaw in Powell's compelling first part of "A Tiger Hunt in Paris."