From Darkness to Light

The truth behind Jerry Lewis’s ill-fated and never-seen Holocaust comedy The Day the Clown Cried is finally revealed.

Myths abound regarding The Day the Clown Cried, the infamously misguided attempt by acclaimed Jewish funnyman Jerry Lewis to fictionalise the Holocaust through the character of a circus performer who plays pied piper to interned kids. In 1972, sensing his career highs were behind him, Lewis declared on prime-time TV that his new film, which he would direct and star in, would premiere at Cannes. It didn’t. Instead, it remained unfinished and unseen, haunting Lewis to his grave while simultaneously gaining notoriety among cinephiles worldwide.

Decades later, reels of the film – which was previously assumed lost – were discovered in Sweden; then, shortly before his death in 2017, Lewis gave a tell-all interview with Eric Friedler (It Must Schwing! The Blue Note Story, MIFF 2019) about the production’s failure. This conversation forms the spine of From Darkness to Light, around which Friedler and co-director Michael Lurie weave together insights from talking heads including Martin Scorsese, Harry Shearer and actors, crew members and others directly involved in the project. Equally fascinating is the inclusion of actual footage from the film, which at long last offers viewers the chance to decide for themselves whether The Day the Clown Cried was an ahead-of-its-time satire or a dud worthy of obscurity.

“This riveting demystification has been worth the wait … From a place of affection and respect, Lurie and Friedler give a compelling account of the way this beloved light entertainer went about tackling the darkest of subjects.” – The Telegraph