Crusader -- "Fear" Screenshots & Summary

Today I'm giving commentary on an episode Bobby did in 1955 for the show Crusaders called "Fear."  It was the second on the disk of Bobby's TV work I received from a friend.  He is Josef, a German orphan who came to live in the U.S., but was immediately targeted by a suspicious member of the police force who had been terrorizing immigrants for the past few years.  I've never heard Bobby take on an accent for his work before aside from a very subtle Southern draw for a couple of radio shows, but he did take one on here.  He did a pretty passable job, actually!  The execution wasn't flawless as it might have been later on in Bobby's acting career with practice (had he had that opportunity), but it definitely wasn't as bad as so many fake accents I've heard actors try to pull off.

Here are our first screenshots, the opening scene in which a brooding Josef has been brought a letter by a man helping refugees stating he's found a place for him to live in America.

Not sure why we're rocking some wild, wolfman hair on this show, but it's kind of precious and James Dean-y.  I wonder if this was how Bobby was just doing his hair at this point, not something he did for the role.  He was 18 here and freshly graduated from high school, so maybe he was feeling bold and brassy.  :)

By the way, I feel pretty sure I've identified a mannerism that might have actually belonged to Bobby.  We've probably all seen it before, but in a good deal of scenes spanning his work, when someone addresses him and he turns to them, his eyes flit to theirs for just a moment before he drops them and seems to gaze down in deep thought, brow furrowed.  I realize an actor is paid to fake emotions, but when you can trace little consistencies like this, you wonder if you've actually hit upon something that belongs specifically to the actor that mirrors onto the characters.  What is acting, anyway, if not, essentially, "What would I do if I were in this situation?"  Something tells me that little nuance of the eyes is all Bobby, and he probably did it alot in life.

Anyway!  Moving onward.

Josef is sent to live with a man in a poor but happy little neighborhood of New York, and instantly makes friends, but doesn't forget his connection to Matt Anders, the freelance journalist who helped him settle in the U.S.  Here are some amazing shots of them together after he pulls up to check on Josef, who was outside playing ball with another boy.

I love these shots, by the way, as Bobby looks so handsome and happy.

So Josef seems to be doing well at his new home, were it not for the suspicious Martin, a police officer bent on profiling those involved with Germans, who comes to his home one night after Josef runs out for ice cream and shoots his new adoptive father.

Of course Josef is instantly disheartened about this, despite Matt's promise to get to the bottom of the racial injustice he sees here.  In this scene, he lashes out about the fact that Americans are all afraid of him, just as he knew they would be all along.

Here we're treated once again to Bobby's unique little eyebrow trick, where, when he's wrought with emotion, his left one drops way lower to his right.  He's able to show desperation with such sincerity...

So next thing we know, Josef's late father's best friend's wife has taken him in, determined she isn't going to be frightened off from showing kindness to the boy.  The friend himself, however, is not on board, and we catch him shunning Josef the next morning at the breakfast table.  What follows is a game of "Look over and then away" that each of them seems to play as the awkwardness grows.  Finally, however, the man stands up....

....And surprises us all by placing a fond hand on Bobby's arm.  He's decided to stand up for Josef along with his wife.

This is just about all we see of Bobby, but the story ends by Martin being apprehended due to the great detective work and advocacy of Matt Anders.

At the very end, we see Josef walking happily out of his apartment, free of fear, with his new adoptive parents, who look on proudly.

This was a good little show!  It was obviously meant to try to help the public change perspectives during the Cold War and in the wake of WWII regarding war refugees.  The acting was good all around.

Hope you enjoyed my recap!  Next week we will have TV Reader's Digest "A Matter of Life or Death."