Can I add, the full cut of The Wicker Man, which was completed during the takeover of the parent studio. The new owner was a devout Christian and was horrified by the screening he saw. A large amount of footage was removed and was never released. Christopher Lee went through a lot of trouble to try and track down the removed scenes, but it has never been found. The popular belief is it was buried under the M3 Motorway which was being constructed at the time, so that nobody could get to it. We only have the screenplay now to imagine what some of those scenes would have been like. A length exposition of apple production was one of the key scenes and, in my view, is essential for a proper understanding of the film. It takes you a lot deeper into Summerisle's mindset.
I can't remember the whole thing or who was in it, so maybe they were. I saw the YT version years ago (which may still be there just not listed as such), and it was a decent film but not the best music doc ever. A lot of footage of Wayne Kramer talking and giving tours of Detroit.
(note (of self): favorite "The Thief and the Cobbler" version: "Arabian Knight (The Thief and the Cobbler) 1995 Miramax Cut [Richard Williams]")
Haven’t read up on it for a while but I don’t think either of the released versions are very highly rated. The fan edit had too much rough footage for me, but it’s a miracle they managed to do what they did.
I think one of the issues with Batgirl is that she is that isn't that interesting of a character. It wasn't until she became Oracle that she became really interesting. As Batgirl, she was surrounded by many similar characters. As Oracle, she was unique and an important member not only of the Batfamily but also the Justice League.
At some point in the late 1980s, Peter Bogdanovich shot about 5 weeks of footage in NYC for a film starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. However, at that point the producers deemed the footage unreleasable - so they fired Peter and ended up reshooting the entire movie in Los Angeles with a different director. That movie was released as Another You. However, I sure would like to see Bogdanovichs version.
Love this paragraph: Justman wanted a new screenplay, so a writer named Janice Shapiro flew to Richmond to rework Dvonch's script. “Most screenwriters hate being rewritten,” Dvonch says, “but in this case I didn't mind. I was thinking, ‘Great! Somebody else is going to take the blame!'”
I know, I downloaded it and now I can't find the damn thing. Years from now when poor Louie is gone they will exhume this film and marvel at its quality. The tone isn't sleazy at all, it's a portrait of a man ill-equipped to be the father of a teenage girl. Or in Louie's case, two. Does the Rolling Stones C---s----- Blues count?
Supposedly The footage from the Day the Clown Cried can be released to the public in 2025, ten years after Lewis' death, according to Jerry's instructions to the film archive he donated it to. It is not completed from what I hear, in a very roughly edited form. I was gobsmacked a few years ago when about thirty minutes of the movie showed up on Vimeo. No question this was Day the Clown Cried, including the scene with the gas chamber. Naturally it was soon taken down and I haven't ever again found it. I remember one scene where he's sticking things up his nose to entertain some kids on the other side of a barbed wire fence, and another scene where he is drinking in a bar. He also argues with a Nazi commandant in an office in another scene. My main impression was that the film seemed very bare bones. They must have had about fifty dollars for the budget. Some interesting tidbits on this site: The Day the Clown Cried (partially found unreleased Jerry Lewis drama film; 1972) - The Lost Media Wiki Here's a 30 minute behind-the-scenes Dutch documentary from the time it was being shot:
I think Bob Furmanek, who was Lewis' archivist for a time, has questioned Shearer's story. Furmanek posts here occasionally; he may chime in.
Gilbert Gottfried worked on the film (Bogdanovich's version) and told some very funny stories about the experience on his podcast. As did Bogdanovich himself, who was a guest on one episode.
His interview on the Dick Cavett show around the time he was making this is worth seeing. Probably more than the actual footage.
Well, to be fair, they were the same project just recut by others and retitled by others. You are right that Williams film as intended was never released. it wasn’t uncommon for some studios to destroy footage. Some just saw no value in keeping it. We do at least have the three other cuts for the film which is better than what we had when I saw this in theaters. I think films like this and Heaven’s Gate, The Thief and the Cobbler, etc. fall more under films that had studio meddling. They did result in a finished release just not the one that the director intended. Just my take.
It’s an interesting idea for a movie to be sure. The execution, for the footage I’ve seen, is the problem along with the tone.
Right - it reminds me of the Life is Beautiful film from several years ago. It’s not that it can’t be done, or shouldn’t be done, it’s that it has to be handled carefully.
Yes and, as talented as Jerry Lewis is, he’s never demonstrated the ability to do anything as complex as this.
In Batman The Animated Series Joker, mentioned in batman's mock funeral. The day the clown cried lots of luck.
I found a lengthy clip containing some of the video I saw mixed with re-enactments of other scenes. It has no audio, but you can get a sense of what the film is like:
I believe I read a synopsis of the script online years ago, and this reenactment is consistent with what I recall. The footage itself doesn't look bad but the material really needed a very delicate touch and Lewis didn't have it. He was wise to shut it down.
I remember one of the Golden Turkey awards books talked about a movie called the Extraordinary Seaman, and how it was basically shelved after a very limited release. I was excited to talk about it here, but it does look like it has been shown on TV from time to time (there's a page about it on TCM), and it is available on Youtube as well. Still, I'll tell you about it anyways. The 1969 film stars Alan Alda pre-MASH, Mickey Rooney, David Niven and Faye Dunaway. In the closing hours of WW II, a few Navy sailors get lost at sea, washing up on an island where they discover Niven and his old ship. He wants to launch another attack against the Japanese to make up for previous failures. We later learn that he is in fact a ghost who is condemned to forever haunt his ship until he can redeem himself. It was directed by John Frankenheimer, and it was so hated by critics that it barely got a release in 1969. My understanding is that it essentially disappeared into the vaults after that. But according to the below article on TCM's site, it did get a very limited release and a few TV showings but otherwise is a very hard to see film. Article about the movie Of course, now anyone can see it thanks to YouTube...
According to a book about movie comedians by Leonard Maltin, in the chapter on Jerry Lewis one of the issues with him was that eventually there was no one to reign him in and that he would sometimes have to try a gag severals times and have it repeatedly fail before he was convinced it would not work.
