For over half a century, the tale of a missing movie has puzzled Hollywood: what happened to Jerry Lewis’ infamous dark comedy “The Day the Clown Cried”? Shot in Sweden in 1972, the film told the tale of a clown taken to a concentration camp and tasked with walking children to gas chambers. Controversy in front and behind the cameras meant the film was never released, with only a handful of people having seen snippets of the footage. Until now.
Eric Friedler’s and Michael Lurie’s documentary “From Darkness to Light,” world premiering at the Venice Film Festival, shares sections of the 1972 film with audiences for the first time while chronicling the making and the downfall of the famed film. “Everyone interested in film somehow heard about this story. It was always fascinating to us. I grew up with Jerry Lewis and thought it was worthwhile to find out a little bit more about the story,” Friedler told Variety.
“I heard about this interview Eric had conducted with Jerry Lewis and decided I wanted to work together on the documentary. It’s a fascinating interview, the backbone of the doc and without it, we wouldn’t have as rich a story to tell,” added Lurie. The interview, shot with Lewis in 2017 shortly before his death, shows Lewis in a state of rare vulnerability as he discusses the “heartbreak” of not being able to finish and release the film. Other interviewees include the film’s original cast and crew and longtime Lewis friend and admirer Martin Scorsese, interviewed by the film’s executive producer, Wim Wenders.
“From Darkness to Light”
Courtesy of Untold LLC
“I was fascinated to hear that Lewis let his guard down and finally opened up about what really happened,” said producer Thore Vollert. “Jerry Lewis wasn’t especially known for being nice to journalists and he could be quite strict in what he answered and what he didn’t.”
When asked how he managed to get Lewis to open up about one of the lowest points in his iconic career, Friedler said they just “took a chance.” “It was a lot of luck that he gave us so much trust. I had the feeling during the interview, and especially afterwards, that it was like a testimony. Maybe, for him, it was the right place at the right time with the right people together. I didn’t expect him to answer so openly and forwardly.”
“From Darkness to Light”
Courtesy of Untold LLC
On top of footage from the original film and interviews, “From Darkness to Light” also uses archival footage of 70s talk shows and snippets of Netflix’s “The Last Laugh” to tell the story of how “The Day the Clown Cried” became an industry myth. Speaking about juggling rights and licensing, Vollert says the project felt like an “extensive jigsaw.” “We never had the intention to release the unfinished film, because what we obtained was rushes, dailies and disjointed sequences. There were people walking in the background, cars on the highway that belonged to the 70s… We stumbled upon a Pandora Box.”
Despite being in the making for almost a decade, the intention was always to release the film to coincide with “The Day the Clown Cried” becoming available to view at the Library of Congress, one of the last stipulations left by Lewis in life. The film will be made available in 2025. Until then, audiences can become acquainted with the story via the doc, described by Vollert as “a story about artistic redemption and the courage to shelve something very dear to your heart if it doesn’t live up to your ambitions.”
