The Juggler (1953)

Interesting facts

The Juggler is a 1953 American drama war film starring Kirk Douglas as a survivor of the Holocaust. The screenplay was adapted by Michael Blankfort from his novel of the same title. It was the first American feature film that was made in Israel.

Production

The film, described as a "prestige ingathering" for Kramer, was directed by non-Jew Edward Dmytryk, who had directed Crossfire, a 1947 film about anti-Semitism. The musical score was by avant-garde composer George Antheil, whose best known composition was the Ballet Mécanique. Douglas had worked with Kramer in Champion, the 1949 film that earned Douglas an Academy Award nomination.

The Juggler was one of the movies that producer Stanley Kramer made for Columbia Pictures as part of a $25-million thirty-film deal in 1951. Screenwriter Michael Blankfort was initially supposed to have directed the film, but was denied a passport because of his failure to exonerate himself of alleged membership in the Communist Party. His replacement, Dmytryk, ironically was a member of the Hollywood Ten accused Communists.

Israel was anxious for the film to be made, for financial as well as propaganda reasons, and Israelis were upset that while all but one outdoor scene was filmed in Israel, indoor scenes were shot at studios in Los Angeles for contractual reasons.

Filming took place in Israel in late 1952 in Haifa, the kibbutz Hanita on the border with Lebanon and other locations in the Upper Galilee. One scene was shot in a ruined house in Iqrit, a Christian Arab town whose residents were relocated by Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

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