From Darkness to Light
When it comes to lost films – outside of the silent era, anyway – The Clown Who Cried is pretty much the Holy Grail. Famed comedian Jerry Lewis made this questionable Holocaust dramedy back in 1972, directing and starring as a misbegotten circus clown who is sent to a prison camp and coerced into leading a troupe of Jewish children to their deaths in the gas chambers. An unusual topic for a comedy, yes? Perhaps opportunities for laughs might feel as though they’re a little thin on the ground? From Darkness to Light delves into the making of the film and explores why it was never released, from the perspective of those who were involved in its production as well as its preservation. Although the documentary doesn’t provide much in the way of analysis, access to extended clips of the rarely-seen film is worth the price of admission.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, there were few comedians as well-known as Jerry Lewis, who shot to fame as part of a double act with Dean Martin and quickly graduated to starring in his own comedy films. But in the early 1970s, he threw everyone a curveball when he announced that he would be writing, directing, and starring in The Clown Who Cried. The Holocaust film went into production, wrapped, and then promptly disappeared. But how come it never hit theaters, and has only been seen by a handful of individuals? The short answer is that it’s complicated. Jerry Lewis talks at length about how he just wasn’t happy with the way the production turned out, accepting all the blame for its shortcomings. And interviews from some of the cast and crew speak to the fact that there was some uncertainty surrounding its tone, which is in all probability what Lewis would have most liked to fix.
But there’s also the issue of the rights to the original source material which, incredibly, were allowed to lapse by one of the film’s producers. So even if Lewis had been able to put together the capital to arrange for reshoots, they now had to go back to the writer of the original novel to get her blessing to continue production. A chaotic shoot turned into an even more chaotic post-production period, and Lewis eventually decided to wash his hands of it. But even though he wasn’t happy with the cut of the film, fans have wondered for years why he was so determined to prevent anyone from seeing it.
From Darkness to Light attempts to pull back the curtain on this long-standing Hollywood mystery – with mixed results. It doesn’t seem particularly interested in building a narrative or intellectually interrogating anything to do with this complicated story – it simply puts together a series of interviews, not in any compelling order, and calls it a day. There’s still a lot left unexamined by the end of the film, and in that sense, the filmmakers fall short of what they were presumably attempting to do with this documentary.
But at the end of the day, let’s be honest: We’re here for the footage of The Clown Who Cried. And there, at least, From Darkness to Light delivers. By seeing previously unreleased clips from the film, we’re able to get a sense of its tone and what the finished product might have looked like. At the same time, it also makes it easy to see why Jerry Lewis lost confidence in the project and didn’t want to release it without substantial reshoots. The production is trapped between melodrama and a wary attempt at humor that rarely succeeds in actually being funny. The filmmakers deserve credit for the tremendous amount of access they’re able to get with Jerry Lewis before his death in 2017, and the fact that they’ve brought this footage that has been hidden away for so long into the night. It’s just a shame that they don’t do more with the opportunity they had to explore this endlessly fascinating piece of Hollywood lore.
Directed by Eric Friedler, Michael Lurie
Runtime 108 minutes
Language English