(from THE GOLDEN TURKEY AWARDS)
(Note: as was often the
case with the Medveds,
their "facts" about the history
of the film are incorrect.)
THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED (1972)
After playing an astronaut, a mad scientist, a man from Mars, and
other challenging roles in his
previous 40 films, what new worlds were left for Jerry Lewis to
conquer in 1972? What about the
nightmare world of Auschwitz? How about the premise of a lovable
circus clown who entertains
children about to be gassed by the Nazis? Sounds terrific,
huh? Startlingly original, no?
Tasteless and nauseating -- definitely yes.
This was supposed to be Jerry's first serious film, and he directed
and co-produced it as well as
playing the starring role. When interviewed by a New York
Times reporter at Caesar's Palace in
Las Vegas, he sounded as dedicated and intense about this project
as he is concerning his muscular
dystrophy telethons. "The clown in the movie is a sort of
Pied Piper who doesn't really get along with
the other internees," he explained. "It is he who is assigned
to try to keep the kids in the camp happy --
and ignorant of the crimes being committed by Hitler. And
it is he who, in the end, is expected to lead
the children -- and himself -- to the ovens." Concerning his
participation in this grim tale, Lewis
observed, "I believe that I've grown enough to go ahead with what
I feel is a very important film for me."
To underscore his serious intentions, Lewis tried to sign French
actress Jeanne Moreau for the
meaty part of the clown's long-suffering wife. (Jeanne Moreau
and Jerry Lewis??!!! Well, at first they
thought Hepburn and Tracy were mismatched, didn't they?) Fortunately
for her career, Moreau
turned him down, and Lewis had to settle for Harriet Anderssen,
Pierre Etaix, and Sven Lindberg
as his co-stars. Apparently, he never even approached Dean
Martin.
Several factors helped to sink this project, including a ridiculous
concept, wretched script, haphazard
direction, and creative conflicts between Lewis and his co-producer
Nat Wachsberger. At one point
during the shooting on location in Sweden, Lewis walked off the
set and became the object of a lawsuit
from his one-time partner. Wachsberger managed to complete
filming in spite of these difficulties, but the
final version of the movie turned out to be so hopelessly bad that,
to the best of our knowledge, it has never
been shown in public. Perverted viewers who possess a taste
for bizarre tales of clowns in concentration
camps will have to content themselves with reruns of Hogan's Heroes.
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