The Day the Clown Cried (partially found unreleased Jerry Lewis drama film; 1972)
Still image from the film.
Status: Partially Found
In 1971, Jerry Lewis and Nathan Wachsberger began producing a film titled The Day the Clown Cried, which earned considerable notoriety at the time thanks to its daring content. The plot follows a down-on-his-luck circus clown named Helmut Doork, a frankly unpleasant egotist who becomes a political prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp for drunkenly mocking Adolf Hitler. While there he discovers a receptive new audience in the youngest Jewish prisoners... and ultimately volunteers to lead them into the gas chamber, remaining to make their last moments happy, and perhaps earn some redemption for himself.
Despite having been seen in its completed state by only a select handful of people, the notion of goofy slapstick comic Lewis taking on such a dark and tragic premise has guaranteed continuous interest over the years. The script had been originally written in 1962 by Joan O'Brien and Charles Denton, although it was eventually re-written from the ground up by Lewis prior to the beginning of the film's production. Personally moved by the premise and eager to try out his dramatic skills, Lewis threw himself wholeheartedly into what became a full-fledged vanity project.
Production
Production of the film was riddled with issues, not least of which was that the budget ran out before its completion. A feud ensued between Lewis and Wachberger, which ended with Lewis taking a copy of the film so that it wouldn't be lost, and Wachberger keeping the original negatives, planning to finish the film himself. Nothing ever came from Wachberger, but Lewis continued working on the film, stating in 1973 that the film was in final production, and had even been invited to play at the Cannes Film Festival, after which time it was to be released in America. To this day, the film has not been released and has become somewhat infamous among film buffs/historians.
How much this has to do with the film's quality is debated, although it's generally conceded it would have been difficult to pull off and hugely controversial regardless, in much the same way Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful would be decades later. 'Clown's critical reputation rests largely on comedian Harry Shearer, who was shown a rough cut of the film in 1979 and described it to the press in memorably horrified terms as utterly tasteless, "a painting of Auschwitz done on black velvet." He later elaborated in a 1992 magazine article:
"With most of these kinds of things, you find that the anticipation, or the concept, is better than the thing itself. But seeing this film was really awe-inspiring, in that you are rarely in the presence of a perfect object. This was a perfect object. This movie is so drastically wrong, its pathos and its comedy are so wildly misplaced, that you could not, in your fantasy of what it might be like, improve on what it really is. 'Oh My God!' – that's all you can say."
Lewis came to emphatically share this view, insisting in later years that the film was 'terrible', and an unsalvageable mistake in both tone and taste. He consistently refused to release it in any form, even private showings, despite the intense interest that would have likely guaranteed its success.
However, several screenshots from the film and photos from the set have surfaced, as well as an early draft of Lewis' re-written script from 1971,[1] a brief behind-the-scenes clip and, most recently, a half-hour Flemish behind-the-scenes documentary on the production release in 1972, featuring actual takes of a scene from the film, one of which would have presumably been used in the final product.
Release of the Film
In 2001, while giving a motivational speech, the notoriously prickly Lewis was asked about a potential release for The Day the Clown Cried and replied "none of your goddamn business!". When asked the question again by an audience member during a live 2013 interview,[2] he reiterated that the film would never receive a release, again on the grounds of its quality.
French film director Xavier Giannoli publicly revealed in 2012 that he is in possession of an incomplete (1h 15m) 35mm copy of the film and has stated that he has held a few private screenings of it, perhaps most notably for French film critic Jean-Michel Frodon, who wrote about it in his 2013 publication The Last Laugh: Strange Humors of Cinema.[3][4][5] Frodon argues for a critical reassessment of the film, claiming that the frankly 'bizarre' stylistic choices that disturbed Shearer and others actually give the film a 'great power'. He further praises it for not limiting itself by adopting a stereotypically earnest and respectful tone towards the material.
In 2015, the LA Times reported that a copy of the film had recently been donated to the Library of Congress by Jerry Lewis, but with the condition that the film not be shown for 10 years. [6]
On February 3, 2016, German public TV channel ARD aired a 2-hour documentary called "Der Clown". German filmmaker Eric Friedler shows interviews, original footage and re-staged scenes from the original scripts with some Swedish actors who participated in Lewis' movie. The highlight of the film is the first full interview with Lewis about his work after 43 years. Later in February 2016, the discovery of an unfinished documentary by Traces Films was mentioned in several relevant YouTube comment threads. The documentary makers are Australian based and posted a six-minute teaser in 2012 which includes exceptionally candid and emotional interview excerpts with Jerry Lewis discussing his involvement with making The Day the Clown Cried. The documentary makers have refused to make any detailed comment other than state the film has reached a critical juncture in its production process.
On June 16, 2016, roughly 30 minutes of footage from the film was discovered on Vimeo. The footage included dubbed film scenes from the German documentary about the film, while other sections were filled in with title cards as well as certain scenes from Patton Oswalt's live staging of the script. Despite all the missing material, it’s far and away the most comprehensive assemblage yet seen of the project, and while the original video has since been deleted, it has since been re-uploaded to other sites.
Gallery
References
- ↑ The 1971 early film script. Retrieved 28 Dec '16.
- ↑ 2013 live interview with Jerry Lewis. Retrieved 29 May '13.
- ↑ French interview from 2012 in which Giannoli claims to own a copy of the film. Retrieved 24 Aug '13.
- ↑ Translation of the first few minutes of the aforementioned Giannoli interview, in which he discusses the film (courtesy of conductivor). Retrieved 24 Aug '13.
- ↑ Extract from the 2013 publication The Last Laugh: Strange Humors of Cinema; a chapter on The Day the Clown Cried. Retrieved 11 Mar '14.
- ↑ Silent movie buffs search the screen for clues to origins of 'Mostly Lost' films; LA Times. Retrieved 5 Aug '15.