The Juggler (1953)

Instant Favorite.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Stanley Kramer always made successful films dealing with social issues and this 1953 film is no exception to that rule.As a Holocaust survivor who lost his wife and children, Hans Muller (Douglas) comes to Israel in 1949.He reminded me somewhat of Rod Steiger in "The Pawnbroker," as he is unable to come to grips with what has occurred in his life and he constantly confuses his current life with what has happened to him in the past. A routine encounter with an Israeli policeman leads to near tragedy and Douglas runs away to a Kibbutz where he finds love and understanding with a woman and a young sabra who he meets along the way.The final scene where Douglas is trapped in a one- room area is similar to that of his captivity in a concentration camp. The torture expressed on his face was reminiscent of what he would exhibit in "Lust for Life" years later.

He came out of a camp, and his family was killed in a concentration camp. He is now in Israel, in another camp where they are working on his integration, but somehow he can't believe it's all over. He runs away and mistakes a policeman for a Nazi. What is nice about this film is that it shows an Israel, just after its creation, with a remarkable cinematography in black and white by J. Roy Hunt. We feel throughout the film a spirit of collaboration, of trying to help, in spite of Hans Muller's (Kirk Douglas) action of hitting the policeman, seeming inexcusable. Also a great scene of Muller's redemption dancing the Hora. Like another reviewer I first saw this film with my father ,was greatly impressed, tried to find it with no success until now. Apart from some scenes where Douglas overacted and the final scene, overdone, this film did not age. And the fact that it shows the country of Israel, the language and the people, so unusual for an American film at that time, just that, makes it worth seeing.

Kirk tries really hard, and has some amazing scenes of non-verbal acting greatness, but quite often he's a two-note nutcase, going from really nice to really angry and violent. There's not much more to the film than this. Seeing it again recently makes me wish they had taken a few more risks with non-formulaic elements. I enjoyed seeing a young John Banner playing a Dutch tourist who helps the police pursue Kirk. He's far more pleasant than the caricature we all remember him as: the bumbling Sgt. Shultz from "Hogan's Heroes"The kid from "Hans Christian Anderson" is here too, playing Kirk's sidekick instead of Danny Kaye's. And Paul Stewart, the guy who was Kane's valet in "Citizen Kane" is the cop. He was in a TON of television in the 60s.

I haven't seen this movie in years, although I remember seeing it when it was first available in the 50's when I was a child and later in the 90's when it was on TV. I recall that Douglas' acting was not as convincing as it could have been, but then the character was deeply disturbed by the War and resettlement in Israel. I recall that scenes of Israel were very convincing. I have relatives in Israel and some of them visited us in the 50's, so I learned a lot about life in Israel. Finally, I recall a wonderful child actor in this movie who does more than anyone else to draw us into the drama. Fifty years later, this film now takes on even more importance as an historical document. I hope it is released on DVD soon.