Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?

I've read some raves and some scathing reviews of this film. The reviewers seem wildly opposed.

What one should remember when viewing this work is the era when it was made. The world was a little different in the late '60s; the war in Vietnam was beginning to be opposed vehemently, nudity and profanity were being more tolerated in films, and a new era of permissiveness was dawning. Films that came out at this time were taking more "avante garde" chances, and there were as many misses as hits.

This film was a mixture of good and bad scenes, but never-the-less an interesting work. The humor in it is somewhat crude, and the music has neither enough polish, or conversely, edge to work completely.

I do remember being entertained by the film, and isn't that the bottom line? Trying to compare it to today's standards is not a valid comparison. No one would try to compare Chaplin's films with Eddie Murphy's. This work is one that will probably stay obscure, because it was more of an experiment than an expression.

Bottom line: A mixture of good and bad comedy, music and philosophy. See it for yourself and see if you can eke out a valid point of view.

Anthony Newly stars in this musical comedy about the life of Hieronymus Merkin, a sex obsessed writer/singer/director/actor/ and a truly perverse character. It seems like a drug induced dream filled with bizarre sequences, crazy songs, erie cinematography and racy exploitations which seem shocking considering it was made it 1969. The whole picture is shot on an island as it cuts between the actual film and Hieronymus screening the film while in production along with the crew, producers, and the critics. The basic plot is that Hieronymus a fatherless boy meets up with a manager (Milton Berie) who turns him into a superstar. Thousands of women line up in front of his bed waiting to make love to him. He marries a former lover of his and she gives birth to a child defected with a huge hole in its back. The baby soon after dies in hospital and Mrs. Merkin leaves Hieronymus. Hieronymus despite the objections of the writers, critics and everyone else insists on telling about the raciest most shocking part of his life. His immoral affair with the child beauty Mercy Humppe. He remarries to Polly (Joan Crawford) and switches off between Polly and Mercy and finally leaves Mercy.

The film is an absurd X rated romp though a land of sexual excess and unconventional perversion that portray women as only a 1960's film can. Although this film is not for all tastes, exceedingly fine performances, unpredictable twists, and uproarious humor make this film a true cult classic that reminds one of A Clockwork Orange at times. An R rated version also exists.

People complain that studios don't take chances anymore. Well, although sometimes when they did take a chance they made a masterpiece, they also came up with movies like this! This movie is a mess, so...weird. For much of the running time, it's fascinating to watch its insanity, though eventually it becomes tiring. The only really funny bit is the hilariously tasteless "The Princess and the Donkey" number.

With a long title and confusing plot, "Can Hieronymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?" left me befuddled. Portraying an entertainer (Anthony Newley) recounting his life story as a series of short films, the whole movie feels like something drifting aimlessly in water. It seems like a giant ego project. I'm still trying to figure out what the movie's overall point was.

Since I found this on what appeared to be a pirated video, I suspect that no one saw fit to formally release this movie on video (or DVD). Like one of Newley's later, equally confusing movies ("It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time", notable for an early appearance of John Candy), it's not terrible but seems to have no point whatsoever. You probably don't want to make it your first choice. I have to admit that I'd never heard of Anthony Newley until he died.

Also starring Joan Collins, Milton Berle, Connie Kreski and Stubby Kaye (Marvin Acme in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit").

The title alone was enough to kill it dead in the water but if you got past that and made it into the few cinemas that showed it then the first ten minutes might have finished you off but this hugely self-indulgent picture is actually worth sticking around for. Okay, the gags are terrible and Newley, who directed it, co-wrote it, composed the music and plays the lead is no Orson Welles but there is a surfeit of imagination at work here and presuming it is mostly autobiographical, (his wife, Joan Collins, and children play his wife and children), few artists, and Newley surely is that, have ever been so self-critical in public; it's as if he wants us to hate him.

Fellini, of course, is the most obvious object of his affections, (he even gets a name-check), which probably riled the critics the most. How dare he think he could remake "8 1/2" and as a musical comedy, they probably screamed, and needless to say the film was not just a gigantic flop, both critically and commercially, but often figures in lists of the worst films ever made. It's certainly not always an easy watch; like a traffic accident it's very hard to look at what's happened yet impossible to look away. It's also impossible to ignore.