A Cause Of Anger is a decent, somewhat above average Kraft show that features some excellent performances by Brian Keith, Nancy Malone, Robert Crawford, Jr., Kevin Hagen, and Anthony Caruso. The story is at times hard to follow, as it concerns a troubled boy with a high IQ being taken from Los Angeles to a psych clinic in Kansas (Menninger?) for treatment.
No nonsense hard guy with a military background Brian Keith is in the driver's seat to make sure the boy doesn't get out of line. Nancy Malone is the compassionate nurse who connects well with Keith, who has a heart of gold, as these two become for all intents and purposes the surrogate parents of the boy in his journey.
As the plot unfolds these three are being followed by a woman and her male companion who are scheming to kidnap the boy so as to extract money from his wealthy father. The woman claims to be his mother, and as played by Audrey Totter, in pathetic-yearning Claire Trevor mode, she is a pitiful woman with emotional and well as financial designs on the boy. Things are wrapped up a bit more loosely than I would have wished but overall this was a satisfying episode. The direction, by veteran Richard L. Bare, is very good, and things move along at a good clip.
The show in its serious psychological theme is more reminiscent of doctor, nurse, teacher and social worker shows of the same period featuring regular players than a one off entry in a suspense series. It works at both levels, as a character study,--studies, really--and a kind of mystery, and it touches some deep chords, or did with this viewer, as it may well with others, even if one's personal history is quite different from the boy at the center of the story.
No nonsense hard guy with a military background Brian Keith is in the driver's seat to make sure the boy doesn't get out of line. Nancy Malone is the compassionate nurse who connects well with Keith, who has a heart of gold, as these two become for all intents and purposes the surrogate parents of the boy in his journey.
As the plot unfolds these three are being followed by a woman and her male companion who are scheming to kidnap the boy so as to extract money from his wealthy father. The woman claims to be his mother, and as played by Audrey Totter, in pathetic-yearning Claire Trevor mode, she is a pitiful woman with emotional and well as financial designs on the boy. Things are wrapped up a bit more loosely than I would have wished but overall this was a satisfying episode. The direction, by veteran Richard L. Bare, is very good, and things move along at a good clip.
The show in its serious psychological theme is more reminiscent of doctor, nurse, teacher and social worker shows of the same period featuring regular players than a one off entry in a suspense series. It works at both levels, as a character study,--studies, really--and a kind of mystery, and it touches some deep chords, or did with this viewer, as it may well with others, even if one's personal history is quite different from the boy at the center of the story.
