Anyone know about an old Jerry Lewis movie that is banned?
 

I was listening to a morning radio show today and the host said that the movie that he is most looking for is an old Jerry Lewis movie that was locked away by the studio and never sold. It had Jerry as a clown hired by the nazi's to entertain kids at a concentration camp. Obviously this was not received well so the studio locked away all the records of it. A caller said he had a tape of the it when it was on tv. But the host didn't believe him. Anyone have any info about or know anything about it?

I did a check on IMDB and found a film called The Day the Clown Cried. Here's a link:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068451/plotsummary

The trivia page says Lewis keeps the only copy locked up in his vault, never to be seen again.

I remember reading Harry Shearer's thoughts on the film a long time ago - he being one of the handful who have seen it.

"Banned"?

Well, not in the strictest sense of the word. Or even under a loose definition.

Ya I could have used a different word but I was trying to get the thread started right before my lunch break so I was in hurry!

Thanks for the info.

Yes, it's "The Day the Clown Cried".

There's a lot of information about it here:

http://www.subcin.com/clowncried.html

including what are supposedly the rough and final drafts of the script.

This movie, Salo, and Cannibal Holocaust are the three movies that I'd like to watch, but haven't had the chance.

Eugene Levy and the SCTV folks spoofed it in the Cinemax Comedy Experiment The Enigma of Bobby Bittman (as "The Day The Clown Died").

Isn't there a movie similar to this coming out pretty soon?

Great link, thanks!

Yeah, no DVDTalk on your personal time! :grunt:

Anyone else reminded of "Life is Beautiful"?

Would love to see this film and I'm not what you would call a Jerry fan.

-Gunshy

INT. CHAMBER - DAY

ANGLE to the door as Helmut and little girl enter. Suddenly,
the door slams shut behind them. Helmut whirls to it
instinctively, as if to shove it open or cry out for help,
but he does neither.

CLOSE SHOT - HELMUT

His face is pressed against the steel door. He fights the
panic within him. Then, he quickly wipes his eyes and turns
back towards the children. Slowly he takes three chunks of
stale bread from his coat pocket and begins juggling them,
at the same time waggling his head from side to side, slowly
at first, then more gaily. From deep inside him comes a
tiny, tiny laugh. The CAMERA PULLS BACK SLOWLY to reveal
the children in the f.g. Suddenly, Helmut tosses the pieces
of bread high, high into the air and stretches out his arms
to encompass all the children. As they gather around him,
they take up his soft laugh, timidly at first, then more
assuredly until the chamber resounds with gentle laughter.


http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/t...own_cried.html

Jerry also made a film (directed by Frank Tashlin) about an American magician who entertains a Japanese (war) orphan who lost the ability to laugh, called The Geisha Boy that might as well have been banned since it's not yet available on DVD, with no sign of it on the horizon... :D

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The Day the Clown Cried (Lewis, 1972) — The infamous clown-in-Auschwitz drama
 

I've heard The Day the Clown Cried as a punchline, but didn't know much about it.

I found an article from 1992 that goes into the story of the film in more detail and interviews people (including Harry Shearer) who have seen the rough cut.

The article is here: http://www.subcin.com/clownspy.html

More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Clown_Cried

Re: The Day the Clown Cried (Lewis, 1972) — The infamous clown-in-Auschwitz drama
 

I would be very interested to see this film, although Lewis has thus far been successful in hiding it, something that I'm sure he's made provisions to ensure continues past his death.

Re: The Day the Clown Cried (Lewis, 1972) — The infamous clown-in-Auschwitz drama
 

Re: The Day the Clown Cried (Lewis, 1972) — The infamous clown-in-Auschwitz drama
 

I have to wonder if this is a lost classic or something as terrible as Benigni's "Life Is Beautiful," which was the first time I wanted to physically hurt a movie.

Re: The Day the Clown Cried (Lewis, 1972) — The infamous clown-in-Auschwitz drama
 

for me it was the english dub of his version of "Pinocchio" (oi!)

Re: The Day the Clown Cried (Lewis, 1972) — The infamous clown-in-Auschwitz drama
 

The script is on the subcin.com webpage as well. As a semi-professional, I've seen worse but that's not saying much... It starts out very badly with lots of hammy dialogue and an unfortunate scene between the main character and his love interest (in retrospect, it was obviously inserted to increase the marketability of the movie - irony of ironies). And Lewis' character is actually kind of a passive, annoying prick. But it picks up momentum. There's even some genuine emotion towards the end, with an extremely dark tone to it. The movie I actually thought of in comparison was The Serpent's Egg, though Bergman was way less obvious in his tale of how man is taught evil and adopts it as second nature...
But I have to wonder how the acting and chemistry brought it down in the actual production. And I have to wonder if it's really unfinished (four decades to complete post-production? really?). I think Jerry really screwed this one up and is ashamed of it, despite what he said about legal wrangling and all that. So the script is all we'll ever see of this one.

Re: The Day the Clown Cried (Lewis, 1972) — The infamous clown-in-Auschwitz drama
 

:shrug: Searched for "clown" in title.

Re: The Day the Clown Cried (Lewis, 1972) — The infamous clown-in-Auschwitz drama
 

I don't think he was saying, "do a search noob", as much as providing all of us with a resource of more information on the topic.

But if you actually bothered with a search, "jerry lewis" might have been good words to try....

Re: The Day the Clown Cried (Lewis, 1972) — The infamous clown-in-Auschwitz drama
 

Fascinating read. I love Shearer's comments and brutal honesty. I'd love to see it.

Re: The Day the Clown Cried (Lewis, 1972) — The infamous clown-in-Auschwitz drama
 

I've read different things about this movie. I find it an exercise in futility if I can't actually watch the movie.