In the pantheon of movies we know exist but may never see, at the top might be The Day the Clown Cried, Jerry Lewis’ infamous film about a circus clown in a Nazi concentration camp. At this point, we know The Day the Clown Cried is real (just ask Harry Shearer!) and that there has been occasional discussion of its release, but nothing official has ever come to fruition. In other words, Joe Blow (or JoBlo) will never see it in its entirety…or are we?
The source of the copy of The Day the Clown Cried in question goes to a guy named Hans Crispin, who stole the film 45 years ago and made a copy of it. The only problem was that he didn’t actually have a complete copy—until someone got wind of the fact that he had the most comprehensive version and sent him the missing first six-minute shot in Paris. The film was shot largely in Stockholm, where Crispin and his copy currently reside.
In a post from a rare film employee, a video rundown outlines Crispin’s quest and proof that The Day the Clown Cried is on at least one piece of physical media. As the post goes, “This is incredible, it turns out THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED does exist! It was reported today on Swedish TV that a former employee of Europafilm illegally copied the film onto VHS and held on to it for 45 years. Thanks to him, we might finally get to see this film in its entirety.”
So that’s step one (or maybe 1,000). But what about having the general audience see it? As Crispin said, he plans to “hand it over to the next generation. With today’s techniques, it can be restored. I want to sell it to a serious producer who either restores it and keeps it locked in or restores it and shows it to people for studying purposes. I mean, it must be seen!”
As it stands, only a handful of private screenings (of various interactions of the film) have been held, including a much-publicized one courtesy of the Library of Congress just last year. It’s worth noting that The Day the Clown Cried is officially considered incomplete. Still, it sounds as if Crispin’s version is just what fans will be after, especially after being teased for all these decades with only snippets that leaked online. (Heck, I wrote about the film for JoBlo 13 years ago!) The question now is the same that has always been: Will we ever see The Day the Clown Cried? I say #ReleasetheCrispinCut!
The complete story of Hans Crispin and his copy of The Day the Clown Cried is a hell of a journey, so we recommend you check out a more thorough account by reading this article.
