Carter receives a Dear John letter and wants to join the rest of the prisoners that escape and go home.Carter receives a Dear John letter and wants to join the rest of the prisoners that escape and go home.Carter receives a Dear John letter and wants to join the rest of the prisoners that escape and go home.
Mary Mitchel
- Mady
- (as Mary Mitchell)
Horst Ebersberg
- Mueller - S.S.
- (uncredited)
Roy Goldman
- Prisoner of War
- (uncredited)
Frank Parker
- Hans - Officer #2
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis was Cynthia Lynn's final appearance, after 22 episodes, as Col. Klink's (Werner Klemperer) secretary 'Helga'. However, she would make two more appearances in the show's latter seasons as uncredited characters. Sigrid Valdis, as 'Hilda', would take over the secretarial role from season two onwards.
- GoofsThis is the first time the viewer learns of Kinchloe's first name. As he reads his letter from the draft board, the salutation (as read by Kinchloe) is "Dear James Kinchloe..." In subsequent episodes his name is mentioned as "Ivan Kinchloe". Although this discrepancy exists, it does not necessarily mean it is wrong, as many people often times like to be addressed by their middle name, and it is possible that between his first & middle names, one might be 'James' and the other 'Ivan'.
Featured review
"Hogan's Heroes" Hits All Its Marks
Laurence Marks was the best writer "Hogan's Heroes" ever had. While "Request Permission to Escape," which closed the series' first season, focuses on Sergeant Carter's need to return to the United States after receiving a Dear John letter from his girlfriend, with a number of humorous vignettes goosing that premise, Marks emphasizes the overall seriousness of the Heroes' operation. When Carter requests permission to escape, Colonel Hogan reminds him in no uncertain terms that his (Hogan's) orders were plain: "We're not just ordinary POWs. We're here on a mission. . . . We're to assist Allied prisoners to escape, sabotage the enemy wherever possible."
This central dynamic of "Hogan's Heroes" is inherently contradictory--after all, how do you balance Sixties sitcom silliness with a sobering emphasis on war?--which resulted in wildly uneven approaches depending on who scripted the episode. Richard Powell, for instance, played the series strictly as farce. On the other hand, Marks never forgot Hogan's mission and used it as his baseline. He also never forgot that "Hogan's Heroes" was a sitcom and tried to incorporate wacky gags into his narratives, and although some of his attempts were desultory--the opening car-washing routine here is tossed-off, sudsy slapstick--he was able to strike the strongest balance of comedic outrageousness and dramatic credibility.
The plot device linking the two is microfilm the underground has passed along to the Heroes that purports to show plans for an upcoming Allied air raid but is really designed to deceive the Germans into thinking the raid is aimed at one city, Eindhoven, when it is actually targeting another city, Schweinfurt. (The Allies did launch a historically significant raid on Schweinfurt in August 1943, another real-world acknowledgement by Marks.) When Carter, officially granted permission to escape by Hogan, overhears Hogan's plan to have someone be deliberately captured by the Germans during an escape attempt so the microfilm can be found on him, which the other Heroes are reluctant to volunteer for, Carter volunteers to do it, provided he can still escape for real and go home.
It is not clear if that scene was staged to entice Carter into sticking around, at least temporarily, although Bob Crane plays it as deception. Certainly there was plenty of deception going on prior to that, with Hogan enlisting not only the Heroes but Sergeant Schultz, Colonel Klink's secretary Helga (in Cynthia Lynn's final appearance in the role), and even Klink himself to try to dissuade Carter from returning home. And Carter's "escape" is truly a comedy of errors as he literally cannot get arrested for escaping. But in the end, the spotlight is on Larry Hovis as it's Carter who has the last laugh, thanks to a cute barmaid (Mary Mitchel) he met during his travels as "Request Permission to Escape" shows "Hogan's Heroes" hitting all its Marks.
This central dynamic of "Hogan's Heroes" is inherently contradictory--after all, how do you balance Sixties sitcom silliness with a sobering emphasis on war?--which resulted in wildly uneven approaches depending on who scripted the episode. Richard Powell, for instance, played the series strictly as farce. On the other hand, Marks never forgot Hogan's mission and used it as his baseline. He also never forgot that "Hogan's Heroes" was a sitcom and tried to incorporate wacky gags into his narratives, and although some of his attempts were desultory--the opening car-washing routine here is tossed-off, sudsy slapstick--he was able to strike the strongest balance of comedic outrageousness and dramatic credibility.
The plot device linking the two is microfilm the underground has passed along to the Heroes that purports to show plans for an upcoming Allied air raid but is really designed to deceive the Germans into thinking the raid is aimed at one city, Eindhoven, when it is actually targeting another city, Schweinfurt. (The Allies did launch a historically significant raid on Schweinfurt in August 1943, another real-world acknowledgement by Marks.) When Carter, officially granted permission to escape by Hogan, overhears Hogan's plan to have someone be deliberately captured by the Germans during an escape attempt so the microfilm can be found on him, which the other Heroes are reluctant to volunteer for, Carter volunteers to do it, provided he can still escape for real and go home.
It is not clear if that scene was staged to entice Carter into sticking around, at least temporarily, although Bob Crane plays it as deception. Certainly there was plenty of deception going on prior to that, with Hogan enlisting not only the Heroes but Sergeant Schultz, Colonel Klink's secretary Helga (in Cynthia Lynn's final appearance in the role), and even Klink himself to try to dissuade Carter from returning home. And Carter's "escape" is truly a comedy of errors as he literally cannot get arrested for escaping. But in the end, the spotlight is on Larry Hovis as it's Carter who has the last laugh, thanks to a cute barmaid (Mary Mitchel) he met during his travels as "Request Permission to Escape" shows "Hogan's Heroes" hitting all its Marks.
helpful•32
- darryl-tahirali
- Mar 11, 2022
Details
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content