DESERT CRUSADER (1968-1969) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

DESERT CRUSADER (1968-1969) – This French television series is also known as Thibaud, ou les Croisades, Thibaud, il Cavaliere Bianco, Thibaud, der Weisse Ritter and other variations of those titles. The color series ran two seasons of 13 episodes each, with those episodes lasting around 26 minutes apiece.

The setting for the storylines is the Holy Land and the trails leading pilgrims to and from that Middle East location during the fragile peace in between the First and Second Crusades. Our hero is played by Andre Lawrence and is named Thibaud (pronounced tee-bow, like Tim Tebow’s last name).

Thibaud and his sidekick Blanchot (Raymond Meunier) are part of the knightly efforts to safeguard people making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He often works alongside the Knights Templar but doesn’t seem to be an official member of their Order. 

Our hero Thibaud is a fascinating departure from the standard full-bore Crusader ready to go to war. He is the son of a French Baron and an Arab Christian woman, so he grew up exposed to elements of both East and West. Most of his and Blanchot’s efforts center around keeping the uneasy peace by gallantly outfighting roving gangs of violent, conniving people with hidden agendas, be they Christian OR Muslim.   

Desert Crusader is set sometime during the period of 1131 to 1143 A.D. with King Fulk of Jerusalem (Steve Eckardt) as the reigning monarch. And yes, the premise of Thibaud and Blanchot fighting villains from both sides of the Crusades might get ridiculed by the cynical, but it’s pure heroic fantasy, so who cares? The stories present both good and bad examples of Christians and Muslims.

In one episode during the second season, titled The Crime of the Templar, Thibaud and Blanchot even spearhead a plan against a common enemy of Christians and Muslims in the region – the original Assassin Sect under the first Old Man of the Mountain. The Assassins wage war on people of both faiths who oppose the sect’s vision of an Imamate.  

No less an authority than Elizabeth Chadwick has praised this program and stated it is far more even-handed than Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven. Continuing her praise of Desert Crusader, she said “The interaction between Christians and Muslims is one of people rather than ideologies … There are distinctions made between the different Muslim and Crusader factions. The Tuaregs and the Bedouins and the Egyptians all wear different garments and have cultural differences.”

At times Desert Crusader plunged Thibaud and Blanchot into actual events in the best tradition of historical romance. One such episode involved Hugues de Paset and his suspected affair with Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem.

Filming took place in the deserts of Morocco and Tunisia for the most part. One on one sword fights are often less than impressive in this series, but when we get to see sizable groups of mounted combatants square off against each other, the effect is much better. One battle scene even features our heroes and their allies against camel-mounted raiders.   

As you can see, Thibaud dresses more like fictional depictions of Lawrence of Arabia than like a Crusader of his time period, but it’s foolish to think that escapist fiction is presenting detail by detail accuracy regarding its backdrop.

The only aspect of heroic, sword-swinging fiction that is hard to come by in this French series is romance. Only a few – maybe four or five – of the program’s 26 episodes provide romantic storylines for Thibaud and/or Blanchot.

One such episode, Sybil and Thibaud, borrows from Tristan and Isolde. Our hero is escorting Princess Sybil to the husband arranged for her and enroute the two fall in love with each other. Here, however, the story ends with the two remaining honorable – Thibaud withdraws after “delivering” the intended bride, and Sybil faces up to a loveless marriage for the greater good.

Among the ladies who show up are Yori Bertin, Olga Georges-Picot, Marpessa Dawn, Anne Lauriault, and Dushka (no last name). The inspiring opening theme music by composer Georges Delerue sets the stage for the sweeping adventures that are in store for viewers. 

Season One of Thibaud, ou les Croisades ran from November 2nd, 1968 to January 25th, 1969. Season Two ran from October 5th to December 28th, 1969. J. Cape wrote a 13-chapter novelization of the first season, with each chapter adapting its corresponding episode number. None was written for Season Two, unfortunately.   

That 2nd season began with the episode titled The Two Crosses, in which Thibaud and Blanchot visit the former home of the White Knight’s mother and father. Yasmina (Dushka), a shepherdess that Thibaud knew in childhood, has been tending the graves of those parents for our hero.

This revelation infuriates the Muslim man Kadour (Pierre Koulak), who insists that, to atone for the “insult” of Yasmina caring for two memorials with crucifixes over them, Thibaud must convert to Islam and marry the “dishonored” woman. Our main character refuses, leading to a swordfight with Kadour, who gets mortally wounded by Thibaud, only to spitefully kill Yasmina with his dying breath. 

At the end of the day, Desert Crusader may boil down to old-fashioned “good guys vs bad guys” action and adventure, but it never tries to pin any villain’s vile nature on all practitioners of their religion, so just sit back and enjoy it on a purely escapist level. 

FOR MY REVIEW OF THE RUTGER HAUER/ PAUL VERHOEVEN SWASHBUCKLER SERIES FLORIS (1969 and 1975), SET DURING THE GUELDERS WARS OF THE 1500s, CLICK HERE.