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Combat! reviews by Jo Davidsmeyer
*
Episodes rated from 0 to 4 bayonets
(090) The Tree of Moray
RATING:
2.0 bayonets
Teleplay by Anthony Spinner and Don Tait
Story by Anthony Spinner
Directed by Bernard McEveety
First aired 16-Mar-1965
Episode 26 of Season 3
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fan comments about this Episode - add your own!
SYNOPSIS:
Hanley's efforts to bring to London a
Frenchman with information valuable to the Allies is hampered by a lynching party that
wants him for themselves. A hanging tree awaits Duval, whose collaboration with the
Germans meant death for the innocent citizens of Moray.
REVIEW:
In "The Tree of Moray,"
Robert Loggia is excellent as the underground fighter determined to exact justice. But
none of the Combat! regulars (Jason, Hogan, Jalbert, and Peabody) or director
McEveety seem comfortable with this script or with the actions of their characters.
McEveety and Combat! are on more sure ground with clear moral issues.
The action scene between the Germans and the squad is exciting, almost a relief. But
the later "action" sequences between Americans and French, who are reluctant to
engage each other, are stilted and uncomfortable.
The story is an interesting one, with some intriguing moral questions that never get
developed. The script is talky, with the squad describing the action as it happens.
NOTES, ODDITIES, AND BLOOPERS:
· Filmed at Franklin Canyon and MGM.
· Great set dressing, making
the usually bomb-destroyed French village look even more desolate.
· The branches of the Moray
tree are blackened, but the trunk is not.
· Emile Genest (the traitor
Duval) also appears in "Any Second Now," "Reunion,"
and "Anniversary."
ABOUT FILMING THE EPISODE:
Dick Peabody recalls that Robert
Loggia joined easily into the pranks and games of the cast regulars, especially the
'disgusting sounds symphony.' "You couldn't invite just anyone to these concerts,
which took place in our clubhouse — Vic Morrow's motorhome. The object was to make
the most disgusting sounds, vocally, that you could think of. At the end of each session
we would vote on which of us was the most sickening. Loggia won twice; not bad for a
novice."
CAST:
Rick Jason as Lt. Hanley
Vic Morrow as Sgt. Saunders [does not appear]
Robert Loggia as Etienne
Jack Hogan as Kirby
Dick Peabody as Littlejohn
Pierre Jalbert as Caje
Emile Genest as Duval
P.L. Renoudet as Louis
Charles Giorgi as Maquis
Norbert Seigfried as German M.P.
Tom Pace as German Lt.
Mike Krempels as German Sgt.
and
Robert Ellenstein as Rene
Related Reading about the French Resistance:
Convoy to Auschwitz: Women of the French Resistance
by Charlotte Delbo, et al (Hardcover -
May 1997)
Translated into English from French.
List price $28.95,
check Amazon.com price
Agents for Escape: Inside the French Resistance, 1939-1945
by Andre Rougeyron, et al (Hardcover
- January 1996)
Autobiography of a French resistance fighter who worked in Normandy to help with the
Allied invasion. He was captured and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. Well written
and provides a unique perspective of both the resistance and the high price they paid when
caught.
List price $24.95.
Check price at Amazon.com
 Love in the Tempest of History: A French Resistance Story
by Aude Yung-De Prevaux, et al (Hardcover
- April 2001)
At 23 the author discovered the people who raised her were not her parents. Her real
parents were executed by the Nazis when she was just an infant. This story is a daughter's
tribute to brave parents she never knew, documenting their remarkable story as they
resisted the Nazis in France, and gave their lives for liberty.
List price $23.00.
Check price at Amazon.com
 Resistance and Betrayal: The Death and Life of the
Greatest Hero of the French Resistance
by Patrick Marnham (Hardcover - March
2002)
List price $25.95, check
Amazon.com price.
 Hitting Back : An Austrian Jew in the French
Resistance
by Dolly Steindling, et al (Hardcover)
List price $20.00,
check
Amazon.com price.
Code Name Christine Clouet: A Woman in the French Resistance
by Claire Chevrillon (Hardcover - June
1995)
Superb Autobiography!
Out of Print--Check Availability at Amazon.com by clicking links
below.
 Editions: Hardcover
| Paperback
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