An Notorious Misplaced Jerry Lewis Film Might Lastly See The Gentle Of Day

In an interview with SVT (through The Nationwide), Swedish actor Hans Crispin claimed that he stole a workprint of “The Day the Clown Cried” from Europafilm in 1980. He subsequently made a VHS dupe and has clandestinely screened the film for buddies through the years. He retains his copy in a financial institution vault however is open to sharing it with the remainder of the world. Based on Crispin, “It should be seen!”

To show he wasn’t a hoaxer, Crispin confirmed his copy to a journalist from SVT and one from Icon Journal. Now that he is gone public along with his large secret, he instructed the publication, “I believe I need to hand it over to the subsequent technology. With at present’s method, it may be restored. I need to promote it to a critical producer who both restores it or retains it locked away, or restores it and exhibits it to individuals for learning functions.”

An tried sale might doubtlessly introduce quite a few rights points that may preserve Crispin’s copy from ever seeing the sunshine of a projector. As for what Lewis would’ve wished, he was inconsistent relating to his needs through the years. “It was all dangerous, and it was dangerous as a result of I misplaced the magic,” he stated on the 2013 Cannes Movie Pageant (through Leisure Weekly). “You’ll by no means see it. Nobody will ever see it, as a result of I’m embarrassed on the poor work.” Nonetheless, writing in his 1982 autobiography “Jerry Lewis: In Individual,” the filmmaker said that “the image should be seen.”

TCM viewers obtained a tantalizing have a look at “The Day the Clown Cried” when the cable channel aired the documentary “From Darkness to Gentle” in 2024. On the time, that felt like probably the most full examination of the movie we might ever get, however Crispin has positively modified the sport. We’ll have to attend and see how he proceeds (and whether or not he is slammed with lawsuits), however for now, bear in mind what Harry Shearer instructed Spy in 1992 about his expertise viewing the film:

“With most of those sorts of issues, you discover that the anticipation, or the idea, is healthier than the factor itself. However seeing this movie was actually awe-inspiring, in that you’re not often within the presence of an ideal object. This was an ideal object. This film is so drastically improper, its pathos and its comedy are so wildly misplaced, that you could possibly not, in your fantasy of what it could be like, enhance on what it truly is. ‘Oh, My God!’ — that is all you possibly can say.”

Might this good object in the end be made accessible to the general public. It may’t presumably do extra harm to Lewis’ fame than he did personally all through his lengthy life (he is most likely finest identified to younger individuals these days because the outdated fart comic who thought ladies could not be humorous). It can also’t undo the authentic greatness of classics like “The Nutty Professor,” “The Bellboy,” and “The Girls’ Man,” or the indelible nastiness of his efficiency in Martin Scorsese’s “The King of Comedy.” It’s time for the world to see “The Day the Clown Cried.”