In the ranking of cursed films, we could have stories as striking as those of Apocalypse Now, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote or Poltergeist. However, all these films were eventually released with varying degrees of success, something we cannot say about what is now considered the most cursed film in history: The Day the Clown Cried.
Shot 52 years ago, this film written, directed and starring Jerry Lewis (The Nutty Professor, The King of Comedy) will finally be released in 2024. It is a practically unprecedented event in the history of cinema, and the reasons why it was not released at the time are quite curious.
The movie that should never have been made
The Day the Clown Cried is about a German clown who is imprisoned in a concentration camp after mocking Adolf Hitler once he rises to power. It is there where he is assigned a despicable task but one he cannot refuse: deceiving Jewish children to lead them to their death, disguised as a clown and having to hide everything he feels inside.
This premise made the film controversial at the time, but at the same time it attracted a lot of attention: if well done, it could mean guaranteed awards for Lewis. However, not everything went as expected, and its non-release did not come about because of its dark synopsis, but rather due to a problem with the poor director and actor.
“She was bad, and she was bad because I lost the magic. No one will ever see it because I am ashamed of my poor work,” Lewis said at the time as an excuse. In addition to this, actor Harry Shearer’s statement in 1992, who was able to see the final cut: “It is so drastically wrong, its pathos and comedy are so wildly out of place, that you couldn’t, in your fantasy of how it could be, improve on what it really is.”
This was added to financial problems by producer Nat Wachsberger, which caused losses of $2 million at the time. The film, in general, was a disaster, so they decided not to release it. However, in 2014 Lewis changed his mind and gave a copy to the Library of Congress in the United States in 2014. His only condition was that no one could see it until 10 years had passed. And, surprise, we are in 2024. With Lewis deceased and curiosity higher than ever, it’s time to see this cursed work.
