MUBI

Watch a new film every day for $4.99.
Try MUBI for FREE.

Learn More

The Day the Clown Cried

United States

1972

Color

English

Currently 3.0/5 Stars.
1
2
3
4
5

SCR Joan O'Brien, Charles Denton, Jerry Lewis

CAST Jerry Lewis, Harriet Andersson, Bo Brundin, Serge Gainsbourg, Jonas Bergström

PROD DES Max Douy

Synopsis

Helmut Doork, a once great and famous clown, is fired from the circus. Getting drunk at a local bar, he pokes fun at Hitler in front of some Gestapo agents, who arrest and send him to a prison camp. Helmut angers his fellow prisoners by refusing to perform for them, wanting to preserve his legend. As times passes, Jews are brought into the camp, with fraternizing between them and the other prisoners strictly prohibited. Eventually, Helmut is forced by the others to perform or be beaten. His act bombs and he leaves the barracks depressed, trying the routine out again alone in the prison yard. He hears laughter and sees a group of Jewish children watching him through a fence. Happy to be appreciated again, he makes a makeshift clown suit and begins to regularly perform. His audience grows, but a new prison Commandant orders Helmut to stop. When he refuses and continues to perform, he’s beaten and thrown in solitary confinement. But the Nazis soon come up with a use for Helmut, keeping the children quiet as they are loaded into a boxcar to be sent to another camp. Helmut complies, but is accidentally locked in with the children and arrives the next day at Auschwitz. —IMDb

Director

Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis (born March 16, 1926) is an American comedian, actor, film producer, writer, film director and singer. He is best-known for his slapstick humor in stage, screen, television, radio, and recording and is also known for his charity fund-raising telethons and position as national chairman for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). Lewis has won several awards for lifetime achievements from The American Comedy Awards, The Golden Camera, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and The Venice Film Festival, and he has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2005, he received the Governors Award of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Board of Governors, which is the highest Emmy Award presented.

On February 22, 2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Lewis the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. As an innovative filmmaker, Lewis is credited with inventing the video assist system in cinematography (some doubt now exists about this, due to… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 8 wall posts.

see all

Marcus Killerby

1Sep12

I know this is a long shot but does anyone know where I can see this film? Surely it has to be available somewhere

J. Nyhuis

7Dec12

You could break into Jerry Lewis's home, tie him up, and force him to show it to you. Bring along Sandra Bernhard, too, just to make things interesting.

Subterranean Cinema

3Jun11

The "holy grail" for rare film collectors!

Sean Patrick Stevens likes this

CJ Roy

24Dec10

I would do a lot of things to see this film. A lot of sexy things.

Johnde and 7 others like this

Bitė, Jordan C Wellin, Harry Rossi, Sean Patrick Stevens, Subterranean Cinema, DADA WEATHERMAN, localdjango

Pierre

24Oct10

Rubbernecking for sure.

Related Films

Hardly Working

The Big Mouth

The Errand Boy

Anna

Ådalen '31

Meteor

Lady Oscar

The Great Waldo Pepper

Fans

Displaying 5 of 12 fans.

see all

tussilago73

tenletters

sabre lou

Marcus Killerby

Salem Kapsaski

Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.

Daily Briefing. La Furia Umana 12

By David Hudson on April 3, 2012

The new issue features a walloping dossier on Jerry Lewis. Also: New books and old docs.

read article

Lists

Displaying 5 of 9 lists.

see all

Reviews

Displaying 1 of 1

see all | write a review