From Darkness to Light

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT (2024) Well done documentary on the history of Jerry Lewis' legendary uncompleted THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED (circa 1972). Over the decades, much of the speculation has focused on why Lewis never finished the film and why he didn't "allow" it to be shown. A couple of years before his passing in 2017, Lewis' materials were donated to the Library of Congress with the proviso that they not be shown until this year (some scholars have seen the half hour incomplete assemblage - as well as, Harry Shearer).

What Directors Michael Lurie and Eric Friedler do so well in this documentary is to trace the film's ill-fated progress which led to Lewis abandoning the project - or, did the project abandon him? It's generously illustrated with both behind the scenes footage of the film being made as well as raw footage of CLOWN itself (presented mostly chronologically, one can put together a shortened rough cut of what the final film might have been like).

Still, the real coup here was their ability to get Jerry Lewis himself to sit down and talk at length about the trials and tribulations of making the film - and its aftermath that haunted him to the grave. Lewis had long grown weary of discussing his "failure", but here, shortly before his death, he opens up. Of course, being Lewis, one must always be leery of how truthful he is at all points. Still, he seems refreshingly frank for the most part. His deep self-criticism of himself as a writer, director and actor rings true. Honestly, much of the CLOWN footage backs up his hesitance about what he made.

The behind the scenes machinations about getting the film produced are astonishing themselves, with the shocking reveal that the underlying rights were never properly secured - nor was the footage! Just as disturbing is just how far the screenplay of CLOWN itself goes. OMG. OMG! OMG!! Give Lewis credit for following the story to its horrifying conclusion.

THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED is such a holy grail (or is it "Unholy"?) that it's best that it was never completed nor released. No single film could ever match one's expectations of it - for good or for ill. The surviving footage is sufficient to approximate what Lewis and the unfinished film would have been like. Make no mistake here - THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED does not exist as a full motion picture. There is missing footage. Scenes never filmed. Even the edited sequences are very rough. Most importantly, Lewis isn't here to edit nor complete whatever exists into his vision. An extraordinary amount of digital work would have to be done just to make it presentable even as an extended short subject.

Let it be.

For now, FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT (and a German documentary, DER CLOWN) is sufficient evidence of the production. Some things are best left to fate.

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT had it's U. S. premiere on TCM. So far no further screenings have been publically announced.

"From Darkness to Light" shows us as much of Jerry Lewis' "The Day the Clown Cried" as we are likely to ever see. I'm sure Jerry's movie would be a hard one to sit through but I would like to give it a try. The scenes that directors Eric Friedler and Michael Lurie show are interesting but they also give the impression that "The Day the Clown Cried" would be a pretty hard movie to get through. But then again, maybe not. I didn't grow up watching a lot of Jerry Lewis movies. My parents didn't like him. As I got older, I started watching his movies and I became a fan. Jerry Lewis was a genius when it came to filmmaking. He might have actually been able to pull that movie off. Sadly, we'll never really know.

A current documentary on the infamously abandoned Jerry Lewis holocaust vehicle The Day the Clown Cried. Back in the early 70's Lewis set out to make a film about a circus clown who ends up in a concentration group who manages to keep the spirits of the children up while imprisoned there until the wheels of cruelty move them towards their ultimate fate. Lewis felt he had a winner on his hands as evidenced by the various talk shows he went on at the time where he was hyping the near completion of it but then through budget cuts from an unreliable producer & the dawning realization the material was not shaping up to his standards put the film's release into limbo for many years which even by the time of his death & asked about it, he'd say the project was dead. Through interviews w/some of the survivors of the project w/Lewis himself interviewed in length before his passing, we get an idea of what went wrong (especially those who have seen an assembly of the film like Harry Shearer). A fascinating watch since I'd heard about this film within the last few years w/this doc providing actual scenes cobbled together so an audience could make heads or tails of what could've been. Considering subsequent films like the Oscar winning Life is Beautiful & I think Robin Williams made one entitled Jakob the Liar, one wonders if Lewis' take on similar material might've beaten the others to the gate for acclaim & recognition. We'll never know.

Bottom line, Jerry Lewis made a good movie. With all the doubt that the idea behind the movie that was created, none of it adds up to the fact that Jerry Lewis made a movie worth watching and worth talking about. My previous review covered why the movie was shelved and had given multiple reasons why due to endless speculations that have come from the mystery on the movie. Now, with this amazing documentary, the mystery has less speculation and more promises behind the reason why it was made. I was not expecting the amount of empathy that Jerry Lewis accepted in his struggles to make this movie. That alone showed his devotion to not only his craft as an Artist but his strong devotion to telling an important story with an equal message.

Like its subject, From Darkness to Light is not entirely complete, but it doesn't cut the viewer short on some jaw-dropping revelations. The Day the Clown Cried has always been an odd fascination with me, as is the case with a lot of lost or rare media, and this is as close as we'll ever probably get to seeing the film in its entirety. The documentary stems from a place of affection and respect, Lurie and Friedler giving us a compelling account of how this beloved entertainer tackled the darkest subjects. The duo trace the film's ill-fated progress which led to Lewis abandoning the project, or, did the project abandon him? It's generously illustrated with both behind-the-scenes footage of the film being made as well as raw footage from the film itself, presented mostly chronologically. The real coup here was their ability to get Jerry Lewis himself to sit down and talk at length about the trials and tribulations of making the film and its aftermath that haunted him to the grave. Painting a picture of a compelling story of Hollywood hubris that's by turns moving, shocking and blackly funny, whether or not The Day the Clown Cried will ever receive a release remains to be seen, but we can always hope.