30 minutes of Jerry Lewis’ infamous Holocaust movie have surfaced online

Jerry Lewis’ The Day The Clown Cried is like the Area 51 of cinema: Many have gone to great lengths to try to see it for themselves, but it’s held under such tight surveillance that few have managed to penetrate the security. The reason for Lewis’ reluctance to allow anyone to see it is understandable, however: The man wrote, directed, and starred in a Holocaust drama about a German clown who leads Jewish children into the gas chambers during World War II. It’s reportedly a glorious confluence of bad taste and bad choices, culminating in a perfect storm of terribleness. (Or, as Harry Shearer—one of the privileged few to have ever seen it—describes it, the film is “like going down to Tijuana and seeing a painting on black velvet of Auschwitz.”) Footage has surfaced over the years, but the complete film is still under lock and key. Lewis bequeathed it to the Library Of Congress, but only on condition it not be shown until June 2024.