Latest news with #TheDaytheClownCried
CBC
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Man who stole copy of Jerry Lewis' notorious Nazi clown movie comes clean 45 years later
Hans Crispin still can't explain what compelled him to make an illegal copy of Jerry Lewis's infamous Nazi clown movie in 1980 and stash it away in a bank vault. But 45 years later, the Swedish actor and one-time film thief is relieved that his secret is finally out. "It's a funny feeling," Crispin, 66, told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal. "To be honest with you, it has been a curse and a blessing at the same time." Last month, Crispin revealed to film magazine Icon and Swedish broadcaster STV that he possessed a stolen copy of 1972's The Day the Clown Cried, the long-lost film that has taken on a legendary status among curious cinephiles. Since then, he says he's sold it to a new "custodian" whose name he wouldn't reveal. "I can't tell you where it is because I signed a disclosure deal," he said. "But it is in a very good hand and it's in a very good situation." Making porn tapes and doing crimes The Day the Clown Cried has been described as the "Holy Grail" for film buffs, as well as " the worst movie ever made" — despite having never been publicly screened in full. Lewis, the late U.S. actor known at the time for his slapstick comedy, was trying to take his career in a new direction when he directed and starred in the movie about a clown imprisoned at the Auschwitz extermination camp during the Holocaust. But a combination of public controversy, copyright issues and money problems prevented him from finishing or releasing the film. Crispin started hearing rumblings about the debacle in 1980 when he was 21 years old and landed a job copying adult films onto VHS tapes at Europafilm, the now defunct Swedish studio behind The Day the Clown Cried. "The company I was working for was breaking into the porno market," he said. "VHS was brand new in Sweden, and it was very lucrative, but they didn't want to advertise that this was done for regular customers. So they hired a bunch of us misfits to do this nightly." He soon learned there were nitrate film reels of The Day the Clown Cried at the studio, stored in a concrete locker because they were highly flammable. An editor who worked on the film, he says, told him not to touch it under any circumstances. "Curiosity took the hold of me," he said. Crispin and an unnamed co-conspirator found the key to the locker, pilfered the film, made a copy, then returned both the movie and the key, he said. He knew that if he got caught, his career would be "in the toilet," he said. He's still not sure why he did it, but he thinks he was motivated, in part, by a desire to preserve this mysterious movie that had captivated his imagination. "I realized that if this was to be saved, somebody has to do something," he said. "And I did." His stolen prize was, at first, incomplete. Only eight of the nine acts were stored at Europafilm in Sweden. But in 1990, he says an envelope arrived in the mail containing the missing opening act, which had been shot separately in France. Crispin edited it together to complete the film. He kept it mostly a secret for decades, but came forward to local media, he says, after appearing in a documentary about the movie, From Darkness to Light, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2024 and will air in Sweden this summer. Lewis hated the film Over the years, Crispin says, he has shown the film to "a very few select people," including most recently, Icon reporter Caroline Hainer and journalists from Swedish broadcaster STV, to prove his story was true. Despite the hype, Hainer described the film as "quite boring." Lewis also famously hated it. "It was all bad and it was bad because I lost the magic," he told Reuters in 2013. You will never see it, no-one will ever see it, because I am embarrassed at the poor work." University of Washington professor Benjamin Charles Germain Lee disagrees. Lee hasn't seen Crispin's cut of the movie. But last year, he became the first member of the public to see the unaired footage that Lewis took home from the set himself more than 50 years ago. "I think the film in so many ways looms so large in so many people's imaginations because this idea or this conceit of a clown in a concentration camp, of course, seems rather objectionable to the imagination. But what I saw genuinely surprised me," Lee told CBC. "In many senses, the film makes a more nuanced attempt to engage with this question of humour in the face of atrocities, specifically around the Holocaust." Three years before his 2017 death, Lewis donated his footage from the movie to the U.S. Library of Congress on condition they keep it private for 10 years. Lee, the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, happened to have a fellowship at the Library when those restrictions were lifted. "I thought about how the stars were aligning," Lee said. "Here I was having the opportunity to go see Jerry Lewis's own footage of him playing a clown in the same concentration camp that my grandmother was at." What Lee saw wasn't a film, but rather several hours of unedited footage, outtakes and disconnected audio. Still, he says, he found it both fascinating and harrowing, and credited Lewis for being "able to capture this idea or this tension between humour and tragedy." For Crispin, crime eventually pays It remains unclear what will happen to the movie now. Crispin would not say who he sold it to, or how much he sold it for. "I wouldn't say it's lucrative. I would say, like, somebody has given me a parking fee for taking care of it for 45 years," he said.
Miami Herald
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Jerry Lewis Holocaust Comedy Movie Believed Lost Discovered After 45 Years
Jerry Lewis' infamous Holocaust clown comedy movie that was believed to have been lost for over four decades has been discovered in the bank vault of a Swedish actor. The Day the Clown Cried, Lewis's never-released film, shot in Stockholm in 1972, was believed to exist only in incomplete fragments. Now, Swedish producer and actor, Hans Crispin, best known for his role in the 1988 Swedish comedy TV series Angne & Svullo, has revealed he has a copy. "I have the only copy," he told Swedish broadcaster SVT, The National reported. "I stole it from Europafilm in 1980 and copied it to VHS in the attic, where we used to duplicate films at night." "I've kept the copy in my bank vault," Crispin added. This is a developing story and will be updated Related Articles 'A Minecraft Movie' Hits HBO Max for Free Streaming in June: What to KnowSinners Gets New Digital Release Date – How To WatchHow To Watch the New Jesse Armstrong Film 'Mountainhead'Best Films to Watch in June 2025 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Newsweek
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Jerry Lewis Holocaust Comedy Movie Believed Lost Discovered After 45 Years
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Jerry Lewis' infamous Holocaust clown comedy movie that was believed to have been lost for over four decades has been discovered in the bank vault of a Swedish actor. The Day the Clown Cried, Lewis's never-released film, shot in Stockholm in 1972, was believed to exist only in incomplete fragments. Now, Swedish producer and actor, Hans Crispin, best known for his role in the 1988 Swedish comedy TV series Angne & Svullo, has revealed he has a copy. "I have the only copy," he told Swedish broadcaster SVT, The National reported. "I stole it from Europafilm in 1980 and copied it to VHS in the attic, where we used to duplicate films at night." "I've kept the copy in my bank vault," Crispin added. This is a developing story and will be updated
Fox News
01-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Jerry Lewis' son is on '30-year quest' for star's lost Holocaust film
Jerry Lewis' son, Chris Lewis, has been searching for his late father's most controversial film — one that never saw the light of day in its entirety. In 1972, the comedian left Hollywood for Europe to write, direct and star in "The Day the Clown Cried." In it, the "Nutty Professor" star plays a circus performer who is taken in by the Nazis and winds up in a concentration camp. There, he befriends the children before leading them into the gas chamber. The notorious film was plagued with problems, and it has never been officially released. Only small snippets of footage have made their way to the public. The behind-the-scenes debacle was chronicled in the 2024 documentary, "From Darkness to Light." "I have been looking for the film for the last 30 years," Chris told Fox News Digital. "It's been a 30-year quest. And we have had some pieces found. There's a rough cut that's 30 minutes shy of the final version… I have made that one of my personal goals, to try to find the elements of the film and then see if we can get the rights, or find out where the rights are, and try to put them together." Lewis passed away in 2017 at age 91. The late star, who was Jewish, is being honored at this year's Atlanta Jewish Film Festival (AJFF). On Sunday, Chris will be present for the screening of "From Darkness to Light." Chris said he was given his father's blessing to embark on his search. "My dad gave me all the production materials for the film, including his shooting scripts," he explained. "I've been archiving my dad's life since the '70s. I'm like the keeper of the flame. I've read through hundreds of documents, and it was fascinating to me. But it seemed that as the decades passed, there would be a chance that the film was gone… But I'm determined to find the missing elements and put it all together." Lewis' problems began right from the start. The movie was first scripted by Joan O'Brien and Charles Denton, The New York Times reported. According to the outlet, the film was in production when Lewis learned that O'Brien was never paid her due. The story rights hadn't been secured. WATCH: '60S STAR STELLA STEVENS TRIED TO BUY BACK PLAYBOY PICS FROM HUGH HEFNER: SON In his memoir, Lewis said his producer had "skipped town" without paying for the rights and other expenses. The Times shared that Lewis struggled to close the gaps as checks bounced. Lewis said he personally lost $2 million. Due to growing lawsuits and debts, a completed film never emerged. "It was embroiled in so many legal battles on three continents that it was just absolutely impossible to release it," said Chris. "The producer skipped town with the money, never paid the writer for the rights. It's been said that Joan O'Brien saw the film and she hated it. That's not true. I have a letter proving that she was in tears when she saw it. She was just a little disappointed that he didn't use more of her dialogue." "The film just could not be put together," Chris shared. "There were some negatives in France, some in Sweden. It was a French-Swedish co-production. The producer just torpedoed the whole thing from day one. And my dad, he could never get any of the big studios to jump in when he was trying to sell his 117-minute final cut of the film. He finally gave up in 1974 and shipped it back to Sweden." The Times shared that Lewis retained partial negatives. He told Chris that the remainder might be somewhere in France and Sweden. Then in 2016, a 30-minute sample was leaked online. The following year, French film critic Jean-Michel Frodon claimed to Vanity Fair he saw a cut in the early 2000s. The New York Times reported that when the Library of Congress acquired Lewis' archives in 2015, the Los Angeles Times revealed that the library's moving-image curator, Rob Stone, indicated that the library had whole negatives that were not to be released until 2024. Stone clarified that the library had only partial negatives, or 13 cans (almost 90 minutes) of unedited camera rushes without sound. There was also behind-the-scenes footage. Stone also said that he had been contacted by someone describing himself as a rights owner. Chris is hopeful that "The Day the Clown Cried" will finally get an audience. "I always see the glass as half-full versus half-empty," he said. "I'm optimistic that with the rough-cut footage that is available, if we can find any of the footage shot in France, that would allow us to at least put together something… But unfortunately, when Europa Films went out of business, they were filling dumpsters with old films that they couldn't identify." "My dad's final cut may have gone in that dumpster," Chris admitted. In his lifetime, Lewis had mixed feelings about whether the film should be viewed or not. In 2013, while at the Cannes Film Festival, Lewis said "The Day the Clown Cried" was "all bad." "It was bad because I lost the magic," he said, as quoted by Reuters. "You will never see it, no one will ever see it, because I am embarrassed at the poor work." But in the documentary, "From Darkness to Light," which was shot months before his death, Lewis described the "heartbreak" of not being able to finish and release the film. "The second half of the '60s was not good for his career," said Chris. "The whole film industry was changing, and the studios were trying to put him in hipper sex comedies… He struggled through the end of the '60s." "He had seen the original script of 'The Day the Clown Cried,' he said, 10 years earlier in the early '60s," Chris shared. "And in 1971, when it was presented to him, he thought it might be the right time in his life to do something like that. It was a very meaningful script for him and the subject matter. And more than that, he was a clown. He understood the clown from the inside out." The plot was taboo at the time. But aspects of the story hit close to home. "My dad was born into a vaudevillian family," Chris explained. "His parents were vaudeville entertainers. They were living the bohemian lifestyle. Therefore, my dad was left with his grandmother. "He described his childhood as 'tears of loneliness.' So the clown came out of him to be accepted, to be loved. The clown is the root of the love in his life, and all the good things came from his ability to be that clown and interpret the world and life from that point of view." "And the humor [in the film] was for the children," Chris continued. "Comedy became their outlet. That was the warm, fuzzy blanket my dad put around himself when he could make children laugh at him." Chris said that over the years, he tried to talk to his father about the film. He faced some resistance before Lewis eventually opened up. "People kept pestering him so much about it," said Chris. "It became something he hated in private conversations… But when I told him about wanting to write my book ['Jerry Lewis on Being a Person'] and wanting to tell the true stories about how felt, he thought it was a great idea. He said, 'You're the only one that can tell that story.'" "I was his road manager for years… he wouldn't answer more than two questions [about the film] and then he'd change the subject," said Chris. "But I did get quite a bit out of him over the years." Today, Chris said there are still lessons to be learned from his father's life. "Laughter is very healing," he said. "I can tell you personally of stories that I've heard all over the world about how my dad's humor helped people through the toughest times in their lives. He would say, 'I was falling down and making faces. What are you talking about being important?' I said to him, 'You have no idea how you touched people.'" "He knew he was loved," Chris reflected. "He knew there was more he wanted to do. But he was very happy with what he achieved. He said, 'I've done it all, and I'm happy with what I've done. I wouldn't go back and do anything differently.'" "From Darkness to Light" will be screened Sunday, March 2, at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. Chris Lewis will also be signing his book, "Jerry Lewis on Being a Person."
