Combat! (TV Series) Evasion (1965) User Reviews

The Albanian Uniform

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 2 January 2019]

When Lt. Hanley is captured by the German, he is taken to an old mansion in the countryside where there are other POW officers. He explains that he has the location of a German factory and needs to disclose to the artillery. The prisoners help him to escape wearing a fake Albanian uniform and Hanley need to cross part of Germany and France to reach the Allied lines. He takes a train and during a stop, two Hitler Youth accuse him to a German officer of wearing a fake uniform. He is arrested by the officer and a soldier that is killed by the officer, who is indeed a British spy called Thorne. They steal a car to drive to the Allied lines, cross the board but the car run out of gas and the bon-vivant Thorne proposes to stop at a French restaurant to pump the car and have lunch. Out of the blue, an Albanian officer arrives and they are forced to flee but they stumble upon a Gestapo agent. What will they do?

"Evasion" is a strange episode of "Combat!" Hanley´s prison break recalls the series "Hogan's Heroes". Thorne deciding to have lunch at a French occupied village looks like a comedy. But the episode is funny and worthwhile watching. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Evasão" ("Evasion")

Suspense & Intrigue in a Combat Episode

[jmarchese · 9/10 · 16 October 2014]

"Evasion" is a story about Lieutenant Hanley's escape and efforts to make it back to Allied lines with valuable intelligence information. Captured by the Germans and amongst a group of higher ranking officers, they make a decision to spring Hanley from confinement because he has memorized the location of an excellent bombing target which could cripple German war efforts. During his journey, he runs into almost every bad bend in the road.

Esther & Bob Mitchell wrote a fine screenplay in that we get a glimpse of what it's like to move about in German occupied territories in World War II Europe. We also meet a couple of conscientious kids from the German youth program and experience the brainwashing potential of a mad dictator. Intrigue and suspense levels are high during the journey and the story flows quite well.

Lloyd Bochner is excellent as Major Thorne, a happy go lucky free spirit who accompanies Hanley on the 2nd part of his escape. Monique Le Maire is equally excellent as the beautiful Julie, portraying an ambivalent mistress who finally realizes the evil character she's been catering to.

Julie pulls off a memorable ending and gives it a very feminine touch similar to what we see in a Mission Impossible episode. She reminds one of Impossible Mission Force character Cinnamon Carter.

"Evasion" was fun to watch; suspense and intrigue made up for the lack of combat scenes.

Escape From Germany

[joisey-15116 · 8/10 · 1 February 2019]

Evasion may be loosely centered around the actual escape of allied officers from the Colditz prison in Nazi Germany. The episode closely parralells the story of the Colditz prison where officers made various attempts to escape back to allied lines.

Avoidance (of this one) is advisable

[lor_ · 3 September 2023]

Rick is on his own (Vic and the other regulars taking the week off), when he's sent to an odd POW camp located in an impressive castle in Germany (on the MGM back lot probably used for "Ivanhoe" type movies. The friendly American officers held captive there are a genial lot, so friendly that they immediately adapt an escape plan all ready for one of them to apply to Rick instead -he leaves the castle quite easily following their directions but is faced with the ridiculously difficult task of making it across Germany back to France and heading for American lines. He's carrying crucial info about a new German ball bearings factory that will allow Allied bombers to pinpoint its location for aerial bombardment.

This script is ridiculously contrived, implausible right from the git-go. It does provide Rick the opportunity to show off physical derring-do in an at first solo acting assignment, disguised as an Albanian soldier looking dapper in the apparently one size fits all uniform. Every twist and turn of the plot has Rick handed escape methods on a silver platter -sort of leading a charmed life in impossible situations, explainable only by the fact that he's a regular needed to return for many more episodes in future.

It plays like an espionage movie, with none of the combat action of "Combat!". Guest star Lloyd Bochner is convincing as a German officer who gives Rick a hard time at first, but but provides a powerful story twist up his sleeve for our American hero.

Saved on squibs and regular cast salaries but still a great episode.

[joegarbled-79482 · 10/10 · 24 June 2023]

This episode is centred around Lt Hanley who is caught by the Germans (we don't get the scene of his capture) and taken to a P. O. W camp in Germany. Naturally, our hero soon gets back into the war as he has vital information about a well hidden ball bearing factory so he takes the place of a US P. O. W who was due to escape as an Albanian officer, the theory being that very few Germans would know a real Albanian from a fake one and Hanley only has to flash a forged document to get past security checks.

This plan is working until two Hitler Youth boys rumble the fake uniform and report him to a German Major, played by Lloyd Bochner. Bochner arrests Hanley and praises the two boys for their initiative, but Hanley is safe as Bochner is actually an Englishman in a stolen uniform.

As an Englishman, I COULD be offended by Bochner's version of a Limey, he's overly confident and seemingly fixated on high quality German sausage, and then once in France, the diet alters to fine French cuisine. It's a parody of British "stiff upper lip" to be sure but Bochner does it with such charm that I found it engaging rather than infuriating. He's definitely heroic, having escaped from a P. O. W camp with the help of the underground and having reached England, insists on returning to France to help his helpers.

The story gets a bit wild when our two heroes are spotted by a REAL Albanian officer and in making a run for it, run straight into the clutches of the local Gestapo man. He lives with a beautiful French girl (played by the delicious Monique LeMaire) who puts survival ahead of not collaborating with the enemy, a theme used a few times in "Combat!" episodes over its run....the episode with the wretched Hans Gudagast/Eric Braeden as a sniper comes to mind.

Naturally, it was never in doubt that Hanley would make it back to Allied territory, the only questions were over Bochner & LeMaire's well being. Bochner dies a stiff upper lip death and LeMaire saves Hanley by killing her Gestapo benefactor, even opting to stay in the village rather than going with Hanley.

This episode definitely saved on squibs and the regular cast's appearance money, but this episode showed that a good story is what really mattered and Bochner & Jason worked really well together...I can imagine this one being among Rick Jason's favourites, this one and the two parter about taking an "impossible" hill only to be told it no longer matters.. This is an episode that I can return to, time and again and one I'd recommend to anyone new to "Combat!" even though only Hanley appears.

Original though a bit far-fetched

[grantss · 8/10 · 14 June 2022]

A rather different episode of Combat as Hanley escapes from a POW camp dressed as an Albanian officer. There are initial thoughts of this being like The Great Escape but it doesn't quite reach that high.

Reasonably interesting though quite far-fetched.