[Afamilyatwar-list] Episode 24

[Veit, Richard]

Episode No. 24, "Hazard"

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Essentially, this episode is a psychological study of the title character, Pioneer Sergeant Jack Hazard. We sense at once his paralysing fear of land mines and witness the braggadocio he exhibits to disguise it. Only later do we discover the underlying cause of his dread. As a Regimental Sergeant-Major, his father was killed by such an explosive when a recruit panicked during a training exercise. Fancying himself something of a ladies' man, Hazard tells Philip Ashton that he particularly fears a blast that strikes his "parts," confessing that his only real talent is "to show the Judys a good time." The climactic moment occurs when Hazard is stranded atop a German half-track that is surrounded by mines, and he must overcome his terror long enough to retrace his footsteps back to safety.

I suspect that some people may not be very fond of the strictly "military" episodes in the series, but I find them to be fascinating. The officers and enlisted men who are depicted on screen seem quite true to life. Great care has been taken in maintaining authenticity in terms of uniforms, period equipment, military slang, and primitive living conditions. I notice that the closing credits for "Hazard" acknowledge, "This programme was made with the co-operation of the Army." Such careful attention to detail certainly does contribute to the splendid realism that stands as one of AFAW's hallmarks.

Some other random comments about "Hazard"...

On two separate occasions, Jack Hazard sings or whistles "Lili Marlene," a song which was popular among Axis and Allied troops alike. In Britain, 13-year-old Anne Shelton scored a major success with her recording of "Lili Marlene" (with an English lyric written by Tommie O'Connor), as did actress Marlene Dietrich in the United States (sung in the original German).

It is a fine piece of acting by Maurice Roëves when we can see the bravado of his character actually draining from his face as he reads aloud the prefatory passage in the anti-personnel mine manual.

Later, Philip rightly accuses Hazard of being a "big show," needing an audience, and the pair become alienated. Their reconciliation comes after Philip talks him through his safe return across the mine field. It should not be overlooked that Sergeant Ashton was attentive to the instructors at mine school, and this probably saved his life, as well as those of Jack Hazard and Lieutenant Perkins.

Hazard's contempt for the German land mine ("It kills you, but you can't hurt it") borders on the irrational, and he seems to assign it a personality of its own. We witness his unstable mentality when he frantically fires his automatic weapon into the offending stretch of ground.

The "No Man's Land" scenes are effectively photographed, simulating the Western Desert of Africa. Also evocative is director Bob Hird's use of sound effects to underscore the setting's stark desolation: wind whipping over the flat terrain.

Downward camera angles create suspenseful framing when the men's boots step across the sand dunes, and a German SMIZ-35's three-pronged igniter can be detected mere inches away from instant doom.

There really was not much chronological choice as to where to place “Hazard” in the schedule. Due to its depiction of No Man’s Land in the western desert, “Hazard” had to be set in March of 1942, roughly the same time period as “Giving and Taking.” Perhaps “Hazard” was inserted to indicate the passage of time before “Giving and Taking” was aired, thereby granting the Ashtons some healing prior to allowing us to see how they were coping with the loss of Robert. Of course, “Hazard” also served to keep the storyline of Philip going. The middle son had not been seen by viewers for eight weeks, since way back in “A Lesson in War.”

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