Going into the documentary “From Darkness to Light,” most reasonably well-informed movie fans would know three things about “The Day the Clown Cried,” the Jerry Lewis Holocaust movie that is the subject of this doc: It was ahead of its time, it was never finished and it probably wasn’t any good.
Coming out of “From Darkness to Light,” which premiered on Sunday at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival, you’d likely know the same three things, but at least you’d have more context and more evidence that Lewis’ legendary but unseen film is indeed a bad movie. There aren’t any real revelations in the doc, just the sad and tangled story of a questionable idea being undermined by creative choices, business conflicts and a comic icon’s determination to bury something that embarrassed him.
At one point early in the film, Lewis, in a conversation described as...
Coming out of “From Darkness to Light,” which premiered on Sunday at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival, you’d likely know the same three things, but at least you’d have more context and more evidence that Lewis’ legendary but unseen film is indeed a bad movie. There aren’t any real revelations in the doc, just the sad and tangled story of a questionable idea being undermined by creative choices, business conflicts and a comic icon’s determination to bury something that embarrassed him.
At one point early in the film, Lewis, in a conversation described as...
- 9/1/2024
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
“All you have to do,” says author Shawn Levy, who wrote King of Comedy, the definitive Jerry Lewis biography, is to give the plot summary. “If you just tell people: Jerry Lewis wrote, directed and starred in a drama about a clown in a concentration camp leading children into the gas chambers, people say: ‘What? How have I never heard of this movie, how have I never seen it?’ “
You haven’t seen the film, The Day the Clown Cried. No one has. Jerry Lewis shot it in 1972, but it was never released. And it never will be. It is one of the last white whales of lost cinema, like Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Dune or Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind, except Jodorowsky never got to shoot a single frame of his Arrakis epic. And Welles’ opus was eventually finished, 48 years later, thanks to Netflix money. It screened...
You haven’t seen the film, The Day the Clown Cried. No one has. Jerry Lewis shot it in 1972, but it was never released. And it never will be. It is one of the last white whales of lost cinema, like Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Dune or Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind, except Jodorowsky never got to shoot a single frame of his Arrakis epic. And Welles’ opus was eventually finished, 48 years later, thanks to Netflix money. It screened...
- 8/30/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Stars: Caroline Munro, David Hasslehoff, Christopher Plummer, Marjoe Gortner, Robert Tessier, Joe Spinell, Nadia Cassini, Judd Hamilton, Hamilton Camp | Written by Luigi Cozzi, Nat Wachsberger | Directed by Lewis Coates (aka Luigi Cozzi)
The entire galaxy is in peril and infamous space-smuggler Stella Star, the greatest star pilot ever to command a vessel, is its only hope. The evil Count Zartharn from the League of the Dark Worlds has constructed a weapon of unlimited power capable of destroying anything in its path. Our heroine Stella Star and her loyal crew must navigate the darkest corners of the solar system to find the Count’s hideout and bring his reign of terror to an end.
The success of George Lucas’ Star Wars in 1977 led to a myriad of clones and quick cash-ins, the most famous (or infamous) of which was Starcrash. A heady mix of Barbarella, Star Wars and even the films of Ray Harryhausen,...
The entire galaxy is in peril and infamous space-smuggler Stella Star, the greatest star pilot ever to command a vessel, is its only hope. The evil Count Zartharn from the League of the Dark Worlds has constructed a weapon of unlimited power capable of destroying anything in its path. Our heroine Stella Star and her loyal crew must navigate the darkest corners of the solar system to find the Count’s hideout and bring his reign of terror to an end.
The success of George Lucas’ Star Wars in 1977 led to a myriad of clones and quick cash-ins, the most famous (or infamous) of which was Starcrash. A heady mix of Barbarella, Star Wars and even the films of Ray Harryhausen,...
- 9/11/2017
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
This is making-of footage from a film that will never-be.
The Day the Clown Cried was a 1972 Holocaust drama directed and starring Jerry Lewis that was famously decried for its bad taste before ever being released. Lewis then buried the film, denouncing it as “bad” and made him feel “embarrassed.”
The script and a few stills are all that survive for public consumption — until now, when YouTube user unclesporkums found this 7-minute clip of behind-the-scenes footage and shared it online yesterday.
It will be a curiosity to anyone interested in film history, though it is unlikely to stay online long.
The Day the Clown Cried was a 1972 Holocaust drama directed and starring Jerry Lewis that was famously decried for its bad taste before ever being released. Lewis then buried the film, denouncing it as “bad” and made him feel “embarrassed.”
The script and a few stills are all that survive for public consumption — until now, when YouTube user unclesporkums found this 7-minute clip of behind-the-scenes footage and shared it online yesterday.
It will be a curiosity to anyone interested in film history, though it is unlikely to stay online long.
- 8/11/2013
- by Anthony Breznican
- EW - Inside Movies
Starcrash
Stars: Caroline Munro, David Hasslehoff, Christopher Plummer | Written by Luigi Cozzi & Nat Wachsberger | Directed by Lewis Coates (aka Luigi Cozzi)
The entire galaxy is in peril and infamous space-smuggler Stella Star, the greatest star pilot ever to command a vessel, is its only hope. The evil Count Zartharn from the League of the Dark Worlds has constructed a weapon of unlimited power capable of destroying anything in its path. Our heroine Stella Star and her loyal crew must navigate the darkest corners of the solar system to find the Count’s hideout and bring his reign of terror to an end.
The success of George Lucas’ Star Wars in 1977 led to a myriad of clones and quick cash-ins, the most famous (or infamous) of which was Starcrash. A heady mix of Barbarella, Star Wars and even the films of Ray Harryhausen, the movie is one of those films that...
Stars: Caroline Munro, David Hasslehoff, Christopher Plummer | Written by Luigi Cozzi & Nat Wachsberger | Directed by Lewis Coates (aka Luigi Cozzi)
The entire galaxy is in peril and infamous space-smuggler Stella Star, the greatest star pilot ever to command a vessel, is its only hope. The evil Count Zartharn from the League of the Dark Worlds has constructed a weapon of unlimited power capable of destroying anything in its path. Our heroine Stella Star and her loyal crew must navigate the darkest corners of the solar system to find the Count’s hideout and bring his reign of terror to an end.
The success of George Lucas’ Star Wars in 1977 led to a myriad of clones and quick cash-ins, the most famous (or infamous) of which was Starcrash. A heady mix of Barbarella, Star Wars and even the films of Ray Harryhausen, the movie is one of those films that...
- 6/22/2010
- by Phil
- Nerdly
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