The Juggler **½ (1953, Kirk Douglas, Milly Vitale, Paul Stewart) – Classic Movie Review 10,059

Director Edward Dmytryk’s 1953 drama The Juggler is based on the novel by Michael Blankfort and stars Kirk Douglas as German Jewish refugee Hans Mueller, a Holocaust survivor who is so traumatised by his experiences during World War Two that he finds it impossible to stay in a refugee camp in the new state of Israel after the war, while waiting to be relocated.

He is among a shipload of Jewish refugees who disembark at Haifa in 1949, but sneaks out of the refugee camp and goes into the city where he attacks a policeman chasing him, then  flees into the countryside, where he is found by a teenage orphan Josh (Joseph Walsh [Joey Walsh]).

Director Dmytryk and writer Michael Blankfort juggle with many themes and ideas but they reach no coherent conclusion. The Juggler is certainly notable though, for its good-spirited attempt to tackle important ideas, and the strong performances, with Milly Vitale outstanding as Ya’El and Paul Stewart very solid as the police detective Karni tracking the fugitive, as well as the attractive Israeli locations.

To explain the title, Hans reveals that he was a professional juggler.

Also in the cast are Alf Kjellin, Joseph Walsh, Beverly Washburn, Charles Lane, John Banner, Richard Benedict, Oscar Karlwies, Jay Adler, John Bleifer, Gabriel Curtiz, Greta Gransyedt, Michael Mark, Shepard Menken and Esther Michelson.

The Juggler is directed by Edward Dmytryk, runs 85 minutes, is made by Stanley Kramer Productions, is released by Columbia Pictures, is written by Michael Blankfort, based on the novel by Michael Blankfort, is shot in black and white by J Roy Hunt, is produced by Stanley Kramer and Michael Blankfort (associate producer), and scored by George Antheil, with Production Design by Rudolph Sternad.

It is made in Hollywood, California (interiors), and on location at Haifa, Israel; Hill of Galilee, Israel; Jerusalem, Israel; and Nazareth, Israel.

It is Italian actress Milly Vitale’s American film debut.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,059

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com