Director: Edward Dmytryk
Script: Michael Blankfort
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Milly Vitale, Paul Stewart, Joey Walsh, Alf Kjellin, Charles Lane
Running time: 86 minutes
Year: 1953
Certificate: Unknown
Based on the novel by Michael Blankfort, who also scripted the film, The Juggler follows a once famous German juggler, Hans Muller, as he copes with PTSD after his arrival in Israel, as a Jewish refugee from Germany, where he spent a tragically lengthy spell incarcerated in a concentration camp.
The post war refugees are all initially taken to Camp David for processing, but Hans (Douglas) suffers from fear of authority and claustrophobia so does a runner, after being confronted by an overly persistent doctor. Unfortunately, when he’s later cornered by a policeman he knocks the man down, seriously injuring him, resulting in him falling unconscious.
The attack on the policeman results in a nationwide manhunt, with one particular detective -Karni- piecing together the clues to the assailant’s identity and subsequently leading the hunt for Muller.
During his evasion of the authorities, Hans meets up with a teenager, Josh, – Joey Walsh – who idolises him, and later they both end up at a kibbutz, after failing to navigate their way safely out of a mine field resulting in Josh being injured. At the kibbutz Hans falls for one of the women, Yá El – Milly Vitale – helping to run the place. She encourages him to try and relax and integrate with the other residents, so he puts on a show for the children. Sadly, during the show the cops turn up and Hans ends up hiding himself away in Yá El’s accommodation, threatening the police with a friend’s shotgun. With the cops surrounding his hide-out things don’t look so good for Hans.
Much of The Juggler focuses on Han’s two most significant encounters; firstly with the boy, Josh, who becomes his guide through the multi-layered land of Israel; and then, secondly, with the young woman, Yá El, who grows to love him, as he does her. Both these relationships are believable and quite sweet, especially his mentoring of the teenager. They share great chemistry together.
Those expecting The Juggler to be full of incident and excitement will be somewhat disappointed, but as a character study of a man on the edge, who desperately wants normality after losing his family to the Nazis, it’s hard to fault. Kirk Douglas is excellent in the role of Hans Muller, conveying more in a soulful look than a thousand clever soliloquies. He’s also clearly learned how to juggle, very well in fact, so obviously fully immersed himself in the role.
The film was nicely photographed in black and white by Roy Hunt, with the visuals underplayed by a sensitive and moving score by George Antheil. Plus, it’s professionally directed by Edward Dmytryck, although there’s little in the way of ‘wow factor’ in his choice of shots, etc.
Overall The Juggler is well worth a watch, and is hard-hitting in its own quiet way. Imprint is to be praised for bringing this decent title out of the shadows and giving it an excellent 1080p high-definition presentation. Sadly there are no extras on the disc, which is a shame as this issue could have done with some kind of commentary or featurette to provide a little more information about the feature.
