Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? ** (1969, Anthony Newley, Joan Collins) – Classic Movie Review 10,490

There’s no shortage of oddities in Anthony Newley’s 1969 utterly weird, totally flashy, and very 60s surreal personal fantasy Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?, in which Heironymus Merkin (Newley) has a mid-life crisis and reviews his life and loves so far.

Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? is a sometimes amusing, often uninteresting absurdist autobiographical musical comedy piece, co-starring his then wife Joan Collins as Polyester Poontang, Milton Berle as Goodtime Eddie Filth, Connie Kreski as Mercy Humppe, George Jessel as The Presence, Bruce Forsyth as Uncle Limelight, Stubby Kaye as Fat Writer, Patricia Hayes as Grandma and Victor Spinetti.

Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? gets marks for trying and hard work, and for having a friendly, game cast. But writer-producer-director Newley is not Federico Fellini, and it all seems really silly, especially the clothes. And the songs (Music by Anthony Newley, Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer) such as I’m All I Need aren’t much good, either. Oddly, it was a hit on stage at the time.

Also in the cast are Tom Stern, Judy Cornwell, Berri Cornish, Roy Desmond, Sally Douglas, Rosalind Knight, Tara Newley, Alexander Newley, Margaret Nolan, Julian Orchard, Ronald Radd, Ronald Rubin, Louis Negin, and Isabel Hurll.

It runs 117 minutes, is written by Herman Raucher and Anthony Newley, is shot in Technicolor by Otto Heller, produced by Anthony Newley and George Fowler, and scored by Anthony Newley.

Joan Collins was married to second husband Newley from 27 May 1963 to 13 August 1971 (divorced, with two children, Tara Newley and Alexander Newley).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,490

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