Original: Jerry Lewis (L) looks through a cine camera during the shooting of “The Day the Clown Cried” at Cirque D’Hiver in Paris on March 22, 1972. STF/AFP.

One of the film world’s biggest mysteries could be solved this year.

How horrifying is Jerry Lewis’ 1972 Holocaust film, “The Day the Clown Cried?”

Before moving forward, let’s agree “horrifying” cuts a pretty wide swath on the ultimate morality or value scale. Horrifying can be good when meant to alert people to danger (“Hey, are you sure you want to vote for that horrifying guy saying drinking bleach will cure disease?).

Of course, something can also be horrifying in a cringy, “What in the hell was that person thinking wearing those horrifying Crocs to the Academy Awards?”

Either way, Jerry Lewis took a giant leap career-wise from being Mr. Goofy Face comedian to tackle one of the most serious tragedies of the past century. Which, let’s be honest, is the kind of courage required by most great art.

Then again, it also requires courage to drop your pants and sprint around a shopping mall singing an AC/DC song about your groin, but it scores very low on nearly everyone’s subjective scale of artistry.

By the way … I didn’t. Not that there wasn’t a time it wouldn’t have seemed like a good idea.

According to Middle East newspaper The National, the legendary film none of us have seen tells the story of a German circus clown – played by Lewis – who mocked Hitler and subsequently got sent to a Nazi concentration camp. There he used his clown skills (people had those) to ease children’s fears but, ultimately, led them to their deaths.

That’s pretty horrible, however you slice it, whether there’s a moral to the story or it’s just a dark and ugly idea. I mean, a clown luring children into a sewer is just good old-fashioned cinematic fun compared to that.

Lewis also directed the film, in addition to playing the clown named Helmut Doork. The film reportedly wasn’t finished over production and financing issues, with Lewis allegedly losing a couple million dollars in the end. He took the rough cut of the film and went home.

It’s never been shown in public, though a few people did get glimpses. One of them was Harry Shearer (“This Is Spinal Tap”), who allegedly told Spy magazine it was a “perfect object.” He also said it was “so drastically wrong” and the comedy “so wildly misplaced.”

I’m guessing the “comedy” was wrapped in the protagonist’s attempts at humoring the doomed children? Which, even in that context, sounds wildly misplaced (here’s where I admit to never seeing 1997’s Academy Award-winning “Life is Beautiful,” which took some critical blows over some light-hearted moments).

Lewis went back and forth on whether to let the public have a look, allegedly saying it was “poor work,” but also saying in his autobiography “the picture must be seen,” according to The National.

In 2014, he struck a deal with the Library of Congress, giving it a copy but stipulating it couldn’t be screened in any capacity for 10 years (you know, after he was gone).

Nothing has officially been announced, but the film archivist told the New York Post in 2015 that a screening would happen at the National Audio-Visual Conservation Centre in Virginia in June 2024.

My first reaction was “Does anyone really need to see this … ever?”

Well, it’s there and we’re curious. It’s why humankind went to the moon and thought “Cop Rock” was a great idea for a TV show. Curiosity is usually enough, unless you’re wondering how Crocs look on the red carpet.

My next reaction was wondering if this is the best year to bring attention to a film involving the Holocaust. Usually, the answer is yes; especially the past decade or so. Plenty of people – far more than many of us believed – have forgotten the terrifyingly dark lessons of extreme fascism. We need to remember not only what Jewish people went through but how that same approach has, is and will be applied to other groups of people we insist on grouping together and labeling.

Some would argue modern-day Israel, and those on the other side of their current conflict, both need to realistically reexamine the Holocaust in the context of collateral damage brought from fascism, extremism and simply how we treat people over whom we may have a semblance of control.

Then again, we have no idea what the film was trying to tell people.

This could all be much ado about nothing. After all, it was from Jerry Lewis, who was an effective comedian for his time, but was likely in way over his head. There’s been no official screening announced, much less any public talk about a public release. The film could be too insulting to too many to even go that far.

But it could also inspire lots and lots of debate, which is usually a good thing until the loony fringe starts taking things the wrong way. But it’s an election year, so maybe they’ll be preoccupied. Whatever happens, I just hope a movie having anything to do with the Holocaust doesn’t become an ironic midnight movie someday.

Follow music critic Tony Hicks at Twitter.com/TonyBaloney1967.