Reel 50a: Inspired TV, pt 1

Holy moley, we've made it to 50 episodes! 

This time around we're checking out a pair of films that were likely the basis of television shows, even though the official story is that there's no connection. 

We start off with Stalag 17, directed and co-written by Billy Wilder. This 1953 film stars William Holden in an Oscar-winning performance, along with Don Taylor, Robert Strauss, Harvey Lembeck, Peter Graves, Neville Brand, Richard Erdman, Michael Moore, Sig Ruman, and Otto Preminger. Its worth noting that Strauss and Lembeck also appeared in the original Broadway production.

There are numerous elements of this film which turned up in the subsequent television show, Hogan's Heroes, which ran on CBS from 1965-1971. Those would include the fact that both productions are set in a World War Two German POW camp, both have a Sergeant Schulz, and both have a stove camouflaging an escape tunnel. (Claude noted that Hogan's Heroes is also in Stalag 17 but his memory is faulty here; Hogan and Co. were being held in Stalag 13.)

In Part Two, we take a look at another film that--on paper--has no connection to a TV series. 

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