“The Day The Clown Cried!”
Fans of the most misguided films ever made are in a frenzy today with the discovery of rare “lost” footage from the Jerry Lewis unreleased film “The Day The Clown Cried!”
The Day the Clown Cried. That’s right, the internet is going wild over the legendary, never-released footage from master Comedian Jerry Lewis!
Here is the story of this legendary, never seen film: Jerry Lewis starred and directed this 1972 lost film, which is all about a circus clown who is imprisoned in a Nazi camp. He entertains the children who are there, and in the rumored finale, finally leads them in full clown makeup into the gas chambers.
“Lost Clown Footage!”
This story just broke, and I will credit the website that I saw break the story in a second. Here is a clip now available on youtube – we will see how long it stays available:
Jerry Lewis was one of America’s most revered comedians – with such legendary performances as “The Nutty Professor” and of course, his work with Dean Martin. But it seems he wanted to be taken more seriously as an Artist…
But Wait…Doesn’t “Clown” Sound Familiar?
By now you are thinking: isn’t this legendary “lost” film somewhat similar to “Life Is Beautiful”, Italian rubber-faced funnyman Roberto Benigni’s critically-acclaimed 1997 film?
As reviews said at the time: “Benigni accomplishes the impossible in his World War II comedy Life Is Beautiful: he shapes a simultaneously hilarious and haunting comedy out of the tragedy of the Holocaust.” And he won Best Actor for it! So why not Jerry?
This is known as one of the worst ideas for a movie of all time – so why has the similar “Life Is Beautiful” been so acclaimed? It’s an interesting question to ponder as you imagine “what if ‘the day the clown cried’ was ever finished?”
I wrote a lengthy story about the most misguided films of all time – and this was on the list – because it is difficult to imagine how legendary comedian Jerry Lewis could make a film about leading children into the gas chambers during the holocaust…but as I said, “Life Is Beautiful” has a similar “idea” driving it…
There have been a few stories written by people who CLAIM to have seen it, or who say that Lewis is still bitter that nobody took him seriously about the film or his intent…
Congrats To Daily Grindhouse!
This terrific website is devoted to exploitation films and a celebration of the “grindhouse” era of film – I’ve also written a ton of stories about this genre – go to my home page and put that word in and start the celebration!
The Daily Grindhouse has a great writeup all about this amazing footage – where it came from and what it means….click the link to read the whole story!
The Ten Most Misguided Films Of All Time!
And if you want to see my entire list, click the link below and be ready to be stunned!
http://johnrieber.com/2012/02/08/ten-most-misguided-movies-of-all-time/
