Combat! (TV Series) The Battle of the Roses (1963) User Reviews

Surrealistic Episode

[claudio_carvalho · 7/10 · 1 July 2017]

While fighting the Germans to take a small town, Saunders, Kirby, Caje and Doc sees a young woman listening to music in a flowered garden. Saunders returns and meets the governess Celeste Fourant that explains that the infantile Jeanine is a traumatized women that has lost her parents and family in a bombing. Now she believes that the garden protects her and she will die if she leaves the place. Saunders unsuccessfully tries to persuade Jeanine to flee and even abducts her, but she returns to the garden. Meanwhile the Germans are bombing the place and prepare to take the town back.

"The Battle of the Roses" is a surrealistic episode of "Combat!". The action scenes are impressive but Jeanine is an unrealistic character that spoils the plot. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Batalha das Rosas" ("The Battle of the Roses")

Poor Little French Girl

[zsenorsock · 7/10 · 13 March 2007]

This is an almost surreal episode. The squad takes a town from the Germans and discovers a beautiful girl (Antoinette Bower, later known as Fox Devlin on "Neon Rider") living with an old nun (Penny Stanton, who later played Teresa Giordano on "Life Goes On") in a courtyard building untouched by the war going on around it. Saunders discovers the girl isn't all there. She was the only survivor of a German attack on her home that killed the rest of her family. Now she's basically a simpleton, firm in her belief that as long as she stays in her courtyard, no harm will come to her. The Sgt. has to get her and the old woman to leave before the Germans come and retake the town, flattening the area with artillery first.

Strangely, the girl may be right. We see the courtyard untouched when the Americans take the town from the Germans. Then the Germans retake the town. Then the Americans take it back. But as far as I can see, there is absolutely no damage to the courtyard! I was expecting the squad to come back and find the place a smoking ruin, validating Saunders need to get the girl out, but that's not the case.

Morrow is terrific as usual, doing as much with a look or a gesture as some would do with a long oration. More disturbing is the portrayal of Kirby in this episode, who comes off as a real horn dog who's ready to take advantage of the girl if he gets any chance at all. You half expect him to end up in the "Dirty Dozen" the way he's behaving in this one. But give Jack Hogan props, he's convincing.

The episode moves a little slowly at times and I think there are some untypically arty shots in this that you don't usually see in "Combat!:, The most effective is the scene in which Caj and Little John come across a German officer sitting in place, eyes open and they're not sure if he's dead or not. Well written and well played.

Humans Were Not Meant For War

[jmarchese · 8/10 · 26 July 2014]

"The Battle of the Roses" tries to address the topic of Divine Intervention in that Jeanine (well played by Antoinette Bower) and her caretaker Celeste (well played by Penny Stanton) believe they are protected within their courtyard in spite of American & German heavy artillery fire all around them. Jeanine has been emotionally damaged after losing her entire family. Sergeant Saunders goes through great lengths to convince Jeanine and Celeste to evacuate when American Intelligence learns the Germans will counterattack in 4 hours.

Finally convincing Celeste to leave the site, Saunders takes them to squad headquarters after Jeanine falls asleep. But when Jeanine awakens, she cannot deal with the strange surroundings. Ultimately Jeanine can only survive in the confines of her courtyard. Divine Intervention versus cold hard reality; you be the judge !

Combat and heavy artillery scenes are superb throughout the episode and Sutton Roley does a great job in his directorial debut with excellent close-ups and graphic reality portrayed. The tank scene at the end is absolutely terrific and makes us appreciate the firepower associated with the high velocity rapid fire 7.92 mm Maschinengewehr in contrast to what the Americans were throwing at the German machine gun nest.

It's very touching to see the broken doll at the end which symbolizes the broken spirit.

An idyll in the midst of war

[lor_ · 12 July 2023]

Vic evacuates a French beauty he discovers sitting in a garden behind a gate -she a French beauty (Antoinette Bower) he discovers sitting in a garden behind a gate -she represents innocence, and the garden an oasis in the middle of war.

After an opening battle, the Germans are expected to return and capture the village so our heroes have to evacuate the townsfolk, but Vid is entranced by the girl. Next morning she's gone, and Vic risks his life to return to the garden and try to save her from the German advance. He saves her from one lustful German soldier, but soon the whole platoon is pinned down by a German machine gun installation.

The battle ebbs and flows while Bower and an old lady stay in the garden untouched and safe. It's time for Vic to leave, and she offers him a rose as a parting gift. Vic kisses her hand, a rare chance for him to play the romantic hero in the series. He crumples the rose at the end and returns to the real world in an unusual episode departure from the series usual content.