Combat! (TV Series) I Swear by Apollo (1962) User Reviews

Altman at the helm, and taking his time

[jrosenfe · 8/10 · 8 December 2006]

Superior work by Altman in this episode, which he did not pen. An extraordinary amount of tension is developed along the way. From the initial scenes of the patrol skirting along a graveyard, where a group of nuns are interring a sister in a scene that could be from centuries before. A gust of wind and the papers of the French collaborator are dispersed, and then he is caught by a land mine. They take him to the convent and radio HQ for a surgeon. In an wonderful vignette, that anticipates the drollness of M*A*S*H*, the surgeon is seen in his tent, casually lancing blisters, while a superior officer tries to convey to him the need to save this Frenchman for the allied effort. Death lingers throughout this episode, from the initial funeral, to the expiration of the surgeon from a heart attack on the way to the convent, to the loss of Pvt. Temple despite a blood transfusion. A smug German surgeon is captured and brought in to operate on the Frenchman, with the help of one of the convent disciples who used to be a nurse. And the genius scene is in the chapel, the patient on the table, every candle in the convent brought in to provide light, while Temple (the name now takes on a meaning) lies dying below, and Altman slowly, in a measured build-up of force, cuts from face to face of each protagonist, in a show of meaningful pace frankly unimaginable in today's television landscape. It ends with another burial. Religiosity pervades Altman's work on this series. And it is most directly referenced in this episode.

Hippocratic Oath

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 17 June 2017]

Sgt. Saunders and his squad are taken a French partisan with vital information to the Allied intelligence through a mine field. Out of the blue, one mine blows up and wounds the Frenchman and Pvt. Wayne Temple. Saunders and his squad brings the wounded men to a convent with weir silent nuns and only the Mother Superior is allowed to speak and let them stay in the convent. Saunders requests a doctor by radio since the Frenchman cannot be moved and Lt. Hanley and his men bring a doctor to operate the partisan. However the doctor has a heart attack after the long walking and Saunders and Caje head to the local hospital to seek out a doctor. When Dr. Belzer undresses his coat, they realize that he is a German officer. Further, he overhears the Frenchman speaking about his information in delirium. What will prevail: his oath or the war?

Directed by Robert Altmn, "I Swear by Apollo" is an engaging episode of "Combat!". The plot shows creepy nuns that seem to be unaware of the war outside the convent burying a sister in the beginning and the irony of the death of the American doctor. But the best line is in the end, when Saunders asks about the Hippocratic Oath to Dr. Belzer that replies with a question whether Saunders would have created such a mess if the Frenchmen did not have important information. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Eu Juro por Apolo" ("I Swear by Apollo")

State the nature of your medical emergency

[nickenchuggets · 9/10 · 16 April 2022]

Combat is a show that owes most of its intensity from the realistic gun battles between American and German forces in a world war 2 setting, but because not a single firearm is discharged in this episode, it proves that gunfights aren't everything. In this very riveting episode, a member of Saunders' squad (Temple) and a french partisan step near a landmine during a patrol one day and cause it to explode. They are badly wounded, and with no doctors around, it looks like they'll probably die. Saunders and the rest of the men manage to find a church staffed by nuns who seem to be wholly unaffected by the bloodshed all over europe, almost like there is no world war 2. The head nun, or Mother Superior, is the only one allowed to talk with the soldiers. A doctor tries to make his way to the church in order to treat Temple, but he dies along the way, seemingly from a heart attack. Saunders, now desperate, takes Caje (the only french speaking member of the squad) with him on a journey into a village to try and find another doctor. After snatching a man off his bike and hauling him into the shadows against his will, Saunders makes him point out a doctor they can use. Finally, Saunders and Caje come to the office of Dr. Belzer (Gunnar Helstrom), but just as they're about to ask for his assistance, he removes his jacket to reveal a nazi uniform. Saunders is taking no risks. He has no choice but to employ Belzer and his eerie, emotionless attitude to try and save Temple's life. After taking him prisoner and making it back to the church, Saunders makes Belzer get ready to go to work. Saunders also says if the partisan dies during the procedure, he will kill Belzer. He operates on the frenchman, who has shrapnel close to his spinal cord due to the landmine explosion from earlier. One wrong move can kill him. In a particularly frightful moment, his blood pressure drops to complete zero for about 15 seconds before going up again. Eventually, Belzer overcomes all odds and manages to save the patient. Unfortunately, it is too late to do anything for Temple, and he dies right after the operation is over. After it's done, Saunders asks the german doctor if he still would have operated had he not threatened to kill him. Even after all the things that happened in their church, the nuns go about their holy business in total silence, just like they always do. Similarly to Lost Sheep, Lost Shepherd, this episode has a deep religious undertone to it. This comes into play with obvious scenery items such as the church and various shots of crucifixes, but also because the medic sent to save the men just so happens to die before he reaches them. Maybe it was fate intervening in Saunders' life because if the medic simply healed Temple and the other guy, it would have been too easy. If that medic stayed alive and made it to the church, Saunders would never have met Belzer. Speaking of whom, Gunnar Helstrom does a great job at portraying the unnerving but skilled surgeon. He reminds me a lot of how various serial killers are portrayed in movies, with his blank stare and indifferent attitude towards death. He doesn't really want to operate on the french man in order to save him, but Saunders took him prisoner and he has no choice. Overall, this is another excellent installment in the always great Combat series, even if it does have one moment of absurdity in it (Lieutenant Hanley using his real name on an open radio).

Suspense and morality issues to ponder

[lor_ · 4 August 2023]

Director Robert Altman replaces the action of combat with tension and suspense, as a Frenchman with vital information on the Germans' plans is severely injured behind enemy lines and no doctor can be found to save his life. Both Vic and Rick are struggling with coming up with a plan to save him, which becomes extremely difficult when an army doctor they're escorting to the convent where he's resting dies of a heart attack.

An almost spooky strangeness is added to the show with the convent consisting of nuns whose faces are hidden and have taken a vow of silence, with only the mother superior able to communicate. The life and death nature of the war unfolds without the usual pitched battles, but with moral ambiguity taking center stage.

Key plot twist has only a German doctor, a decorated soldier, found to see to the patient, and Altman tightens the screws, as questions of loyalty and duty clash. The ultimate operation on the man to remove shrapnel is depicted in almost a ritualistic fashion -silence, with candles everywhere and the nuns praying in the background, a masterful piece of suspense tightly edited.