The Movie You Were Never Meant to See (The Day the Clown Cried)

YT: / placid5
IG: / placidfive
TikTok: / placidfive
The subject matter of this film is very dark so viewers' description is advised.
That is the month that a certain movie will be released. A movie that has been kept under wraps and out of the public eye for nearly 50 years. And in this video, you are about to see why.
When you think of Jerry Lewis you think of his hilarious antics and long comedy career. He awed the world with his cartoonish and tongue-in-cheek comedy style. He was able to manipulate his face and body to create timeless characters. But who would’ve guessed that nearly 50-something-odd years ago he would be manning a movie about the holocaust, the polar opposite of his comedic style. And not only that but it would be riddled with production problems and controversy from the beginning to the end of its production.
His movie was called “The Day the Clown Cried” and as the screenwriter, director, and star of the movie, a lot was riding on this. I’m going to just say the synopsis of the movie and then go into detail later but this is really heavy stuff.
The movie follows a washed-up circus clown by the name of Helmet Doork, in a Nazi concentration camp during World War 2. The clown's job is to entertain Jewish children walking to their deaths in the concentration camp. This is essentially the premise. That sounds dark as it is, but from the few people who ended up seeing the final cut it was confirmed that’s it a lot worse than it sounds.
The development of the movie was riddled with problems from the get-go. Film equipment was either lost or delivered late, and the necessary money was nowhere in sight. Lewis was repeatedly assured that money was forthcoming. The funder of the movie, not only ran out of money before completing the film, but his option to produce the film expired before filming began. And thus Lewis was forced to use 2 million of his own money to finish shooting.
As you can imagine, a movie with that premise is bound to catch some fire. In 2001 a Spin article came out that essentially criticized 3 films for shamelessly using the Holocaust, and the impeding death of children.” The 3 movies were Life is Beautiful, Jakob the Liar, and of course, The Day the Clown Cried. While many were not able to see it there was an aura of mystery around the movie and a dark and sinister curiosity because of its bleak subject matter.
Because of this Lewis faced decades of questions by reporters. Lewis offered the opinion that it was all bad, an artistic failure because "I lost the magic". Quoted in Entertainment Weekly: "You will never see it. No one will ever see it, because I am embarrassed at the poor work."
In October 2012, Australian-based film production company Traces Films recorded one of the most candid and emotional interviews with Jerry Lewis about the movie. He spoke on the motivation behind the movie.
Going further he spoke on the emotional toll that the movie took on him “I had a talk with myself in the mirror and I said 'Understand one day you'll feel great and the next day you'll want to throw up because reading it disgusts you but playing it is a double disgust'”
On August 5, 2015, the Los Angeles Times reported that Lewis had donated a copy of the film to the Library of Congress, under the stipulation that it not be screened before June 2024. The Library of Congress intends to eventually screen it at its Audio Visual Conservation campus. curator of the Library of Congress has stated that they will not be able to loan the film to other theaters or museums without permission from Lewis' estate. Stone has also stated that they do not have any intent to release the film in any form of home media.
During the movie, the clown finds himself caught in the train that’s taking the children to the camps and he eventually used to help lead the children to the chambers. The movie ends with a dark and twisted fate for everyone involved. Knowing the fear the children will feel, he begs to be allowed to spend their last few moments with them. Leading them to the "showers", he becomes increasingly dependent on a miracle, but there is none. He is so filled with remorse that he remains with them, taking a young girl's hand and walks with them into the chamber.
An absolutely gutting ending and that is the story of the Day the Clown Cried.