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Content warning: This article discusses themes and subject matter that some readers may find triggering, including the death of children during wartime.

"M*A*S*H" was a sitcom, but it had its serious moments. In fact, the long-running Korean War series is remembered as much for its moments of heartbreaking honesty as for its jokes and pranks. There was the time when Hawkeye's dear friend is killed while writing a book called "You Never Hear the Bullet," and uses some of his final moments to tell Hawk he did hear the bullet that shot him after all. Then there was the death of Lt. Colonel Blake, whose cheerful goodbye episode famously ended with Radar's declaration that the newly retired man's plane was shot down on its way home, leaving no survivors. The latter twist became so infamous that it prompted thousands of distressed fan responses — and the scene rarely played in reruns.

As a movie producer, Albert Zugsmith was a major player in Hollywood in the 40′s and 50′s working alongside his friend Howard Hughes for Rko, then moving to Universal where his credits included The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) and Orson Welle’s Touch Of Evil (1958). His less stellar directorial efforts from later in his career were sheer exploitation madness with such gems as Sex Kittens Go To College (1960 – with Mamie Van Doren, Tuesday Weld, and Vampira!), Private Lives Of Adam And Eve (also 1960 with Van Doren, Weld, and June Wilkinson!) and Fanny Hill which he co-directed with Russ Meyer in Germany in 1964 (sensing a pattern here?). Confessions Of An Opium Eater (1962) was his most unusual and artful film as director, a tawdry mix of Asian stereotypes and sleaze that no one should mistake for great art -but one that makes for fascinating viewing. It’s a real oddity; meditative, eerie, and...