Bucket Snippet: Movies Lost forever
May 10th 2010 18:38
There are rare films, and then there are films that we'll never, ever see. In the vast movie world, sometimes films are lost, destroyed, or kept under wraps for one reason or another. If someone out there can arrange for me to see one of these films, I'll give you my Beret.
The Day the Clown Cried (1972)
Any fan of classic comedy will know the name Jerry Lewis. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were the biggest names in entertainment in the
1950s. While Dean went on to headline with the Rat Pack, Jerry went on to do a number of solo comedy ventures like “Cinderfella” and “The Nutty Professor” but in his own mind, his Magnum Opus was to be a bizarre period drama about a Jewish clown named Helmut Doork who is thrown into a WW2 concentration camp, where he entertains kids before they're thrown into the gas chamber. I guess to hi it sounded like a genius plot, but for most sane people it was a disgusting, terrible idea. I probably don't even have to explain why something this horrid was never released, but here goes: No one wanted to keep funding it, and no one wanted to distribute it. The producers ran out of money near the end of production and couldn't pay the screenwriter for the rights to the story and it's still tied up in court with no end in sight. While “The Day the Clown Cried” is mostly completed, the chances of anyone agreeing to show it are thankfully very slim. Harry Shearer is one of the few people to see the rough cut of this monstrosity, and has described it as “Wrong in every possible way”. It's a popular Hollywood legend that Jerry Lewis has the only complete copy of the movie in a vault in his house, and vows to keep it from being seen by anyone.
Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (1962)
Hong Kong is one of the few countries who makes movies in bulk, over the years they've mastered the art of making films, fast, cheap, and by the hundreds. In all this inundation of film, it's pretty typical for some to be lost. What makes this movie significant is that it's Jackie
Chan's first movie role. He was eight years old, and still a student at the Yuen School of Chinese Opera who often lent students as extras in Hong Kong Films. Little is known about the movie, but we do know that long time Jackie Chan collaborator Sammo Hung also was in the movie as an extra, and it stared Li Hua Li who went on to be in a number of Shaw Brothers features. The Plot had something to do with a mix-up involving two people named Wong Tin Bar, and that's all we know. If Jacky Chan himself had not mentioned “Big an little Wong Tin Bar” in his autobiography “My Life in Action” and in a few interviews, we wouldn't have even heard of it to begin with. No known Prints of the film are still in existence, aside from about three seconds of footage without sound, owned by Jackie Chan himself.
Cocksucker Blues (1972)
Who looses a documentary? Well, this 1972 documentary about the backstage antics of the Rolling Stones wasn't really lost but chances are you'll never be able to see it. Few people have seen it, and few ever will. This warrants a bit of explanation: you see the film wasn't made using traditional Documentary methods. During the
Rolling Stone's first US tour in decades, the director Robert Frank just tossed out a bunch of cameras backstage during the tour and allowed anyone to pick one up and start filming. Because of this, some very objectionable footage was captured. The band members refused to allow the movie to be released due to them being shown doing some pretty unseemly things(Most of which they probably didn't remember doing) but the director worked out a compromise with the court and the Stones. They all agreed the film could only be shown once a year, and only if director is present. Bootleg copies are rumored to be available, and thus far I haven't been able to locate any. I did find out it's a bad idea to Google a movie with the word “Cocksucker” in the title.
Humor risk (1921)
Most people think the Marx brother's first film was “The Coconauts” in 1929, based on their stage play of the same name. Not many people know about their first film “Humor Risk” witch was a bit of a disaster all the way around. Working without the ability to use dialogue, none of the brother's wiscracks, timing and expert delivery mattered at all. The plot was a goofy whodunnit with Harpo playing the detective and Groho playing the villan. Groucho himself admitted to hating it, and the other brothers would often refuse to talk about it. How and when this film was lost is a mystery, some think it was lost during a studio fire, others believe that Groucho bought up every copy and had them destroyed, others think it's still floating around out there. There were even rumors it was released overseas under a different name to try to recoup some financial losses.. We may never know for sure what happened to this little piece of cinema history.
The Day the Clown Cried (1972)
Any fan of classic comedy will know the name Jerry Lewis. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were the biggest names in entertainment in the
The clown is Crying becuase his movie will never be released
Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (1962)
Hong Kong is one of the few countries who makes movies in bulk, over the years they've mastered the art of making films, fast, cheap, and by the hundreds. In all this inundation of film, it's pretty typical for some to be lost. What makes this movie significant is that it's Jackie
A very Young Jackie chan as he would have appeared in this movie
Cocksucker Blues (1972)
Who looses a documentary? Well, this 1972 documentary about the backstage antics of the Rolling Stones wasn't really lost but chances are you'll never be able to see it. Few people have seen it, and few ever will. This warrants a bit of explanation: you see the film wasn't made using traditional Documentary methods. During the
Bad stuff is going down
Humor risk (1921)
Most people think the Marx brother's first film was “The Coconauts” in 1929, based on their stage play of the same name. Not many people know about their first film “Humor Risk” witch was a bit of a disaster all the way around. Working without the ability to use dialogue, none of the brother's wiscracks, timing and expert delivery mattered at all. The plot was a goofy whodunnit with Harpo playing the detective and Groho playing the villan. Groucho himself admitted to hating it, and the other brothers would often refuse to talk about it. How and when this film was lost is a mystery, some think it was lost during a studio fire, others believe that Groucho bought up every copy and had them destroyed, others think it's still floating around out there. There were even rumors it was released overseas under a different name to try to recoup some financial losses.. We may never know for sure what happened to this little piece of cinema history.
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Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
A lesson for us all there, Josh. Gotta see Clown - it sounds intriguing, to say the least. Nice post, man.