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Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Directed by Edward Dmytryk, "The Juggler" stars Kirk Douglas as Hans Muller, a German Jew who survived a German concentration camp during WW2. Muller is relocated to a temporary camp in Israel, where the newly formed nation state tries to rehabilitate him. As his experiences during WW2 have left Muller confused, emotionally scarred and suffering traumatic flashbacks, this proves a difficult task."The Juggler" was produced by Stanley Kramer, and feels more or less like another one of his schmaltzy "socially conscious message movies". It was written by Michael Blanfort, a screenwriter responsible for "The Caine Mutiny" and "Broken Arrow". With "The Juggler", however, Blanfort bites off more than he can chew, the film offering little insight into either Israel's bloody creation (and the philosophical questions it raises), WW2, the nature of concentration camps or the mind of a man ravaged by survivor's guilt.Incidentally, the 1950s and 60s saw a number of films which were overtly or covertly about Israel's new-found independence. Most of these were written by blacklisted writers and filmed by once blacklisted directors, which is practically a reversal of how the radical left views Israel today (Dalton Trumbo would write "Exodus" some years later, which again starred Douglas).Most of the films in this wave were also fairly cartoonish pictures, Americanizing the Holocaust and distorting early 20th century history, flattening it into fairly broad, easily digestible movements for Western audiences. We see this with "The Juggler" as well, Israel never rising above the level of a mother who assuages the pain of her brutalised flock. She is a pair of welcoming arms, a necessary haven, and nothing more.For those interested in history: Edward Dmytryk was once blacklisted for "communist affiliations" (he joined the American Communist Party in 1944) and jailed for six months. He, like many directors (King Vidor et al), then made overtly patriotic flicks to curry favour with those in power, though to no avail. He remained blacklisted by studios and slowly went broke. In 1951 Dmytryk then went before the House of Un-American Activities Committee and provided the names of 26 former members of left-wing groups, all in an attempt to get his name off the blacklist. He succeeded, and immediately directed "The Juggler" and "The Caine Mutiny", the former a love-letter to Israel (perhaps, like his anti, anti-Semitic "Crossfire"), the latter a deliberate reversal of the message found in "Mutiny on the Bounty". Where "Bounty" justified the revolt of oppressed sailors against those in power, "Caine" does the opposite, portraying rebels as an irrational mob of silly, overly educated men. This period of Hollywood history, in which artists were effectively destroyed for their political beliefs, ostracised, blackmailed and forced to comply, is fairly well known. Less well known is how left-wing movements – an extension of Hitler's own paranoia vis a vis "Marxist Jews" - were murderously suppressed by the United States across most of Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Europe and Asia (even Australia, with what was essentially a 1970's coup).What's this got to do with "The Juggler"? In a way, Dmytryk's film is all about naming names and its own low-key witch-hunts. Characters must name names to convict Hans Muller, others must name names to prove his innocence, and a little girl is asked to both sell-out and provide photographs of Muller. "Sometimes, you have to give up your friends," one character then essentially says. The message? Stop running, stop hiding, tell the truth, obey, Daddy knows best.6/10 – Douglas chews scenery well, though his vaudeville routines are at times cringe-worthy. This is surprising, as Dmytryk was the editor of "Duck Soup". See too Dmytryk's "Farewell My Lovely". Worth one viewing.

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.

Grew up in Queens, New York and had a wonderful Jewish family as my next door neighbors and one day I noticed the lady of the house had a number stamped on her arm and heard the story of what she experienced and it left a great impression on me all my life. This film directed by a very famous man Edward Dmytryke gave a great portrayal of the mental effects it had on a man named, Hans Muller, (Kirk Doublas) who was a German refugee from Germany relocating to Israel after WW II. Hans Muller was a Juggler who entertained many people and young children and was a wonderful tender hearted man, but he had serious psychological effects from his being confined in the Nazi Concentration camps and witnessed the horrors of what Hitler created for human beings being burned in ovens. Milly Vitale (YaEl) gave a great supporting role and this is truly a great great film that will show many generations what really went on during the Horrors of Nazi Germany.

KIRK DOUGLAS struggles to forget the horrors of a concentration camp in THE JUGGLER, another one of Stanley Kramer's serious socially conscious films of the '50s. Unfortunately, the end result is a film that doesn't really connect with its target audience despite a solid performance by Douglas as the troubled Jew from Israel unable to overcome his fear and bitterness.Unfortunately, Kramer had a habit of assigning George Antheil to score his films. Antheil contributes another inappropriate score heavily accenting any melodramatic moment that points up Kirk's anguish, much the way he did in Kramer's NOT AS A STRANGER. It didn't work there and it doesn't work here, especially during the "escape" scene where the music reaches a frenzied fever pitch of discordant notes.It's hard to fully sympathize with Douglas' tormented character and that is the film's chief handicap. As the man tracking down the fugitive, PAUL STEWART does his usual workmanlike job. Trouble is, there's an almost documentary feel to the story and its pivotal character is never fully fleshed out, remaining somewhat of an enigma despite Douglas' good performance. When romance comes into the story with the entrance of MILLY VITALE, Douglas' character softens a little under her compassionate care.Some vivid glimpses of Israel, circa 1949, and good location photography gives the story an authentic air, but the story values are never more than ordinary and the total effect is bland.Worthwhile mainly for Kirk Douglas fans, it fails to make the impact intended as a serious study of a man haunted by prison camp memories.