Le carrousel fantastique

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

1969
R
1h 47m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Heironymus Merkin screens an autobiographical movie of his life, growth, and moral decay.Heironymus Merkin screens an autobiographical movie of his life, growth, and moral decay.Heironymus Merkin screens an autobiographical movie of his life, growth, and moral decay.

Directors
- Anthony Newley
- Richard Williams
Writers
- Herman Raucher
- Anthony Newley
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

4.9/10

427

YOUR RATING

Directors
- Anthony Newley
- Richard Williams
Writers
- Herman Raucher
- Anthony Newley
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win total

User reviews29

Featured review

5/10

Remember when this was made.

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.

Harlandis
Apr 9, 2005
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Trivia
When this movie was originally released in 1969, some newspapers refused to advertise it, compelling cinephiles to call up their local theaters to learn the title. A few theaters even temporarily expanded their marquees to fit the entire title. Other theaters truncated the title to "Heironymous Merkin".

Goofs
The color of Thumbelina's ice-cream cone changes between brown and white and pink.

Quotes
Hieronymous Merkin: Then the Eskimo and the Indian and the cannibal all rush over to the knight and they say, "Your dragon was here and he's looking to terrify you a great deal." And the knight sits there, and he laughs, and he laughs, and he laughs. The moral of the story is, once you understand your own dragon, you don't have to be afraid anymore. See what I mean?

Crazy credits
There are no opening credits. All credits come at the end. The actors take a bow on a custom-made, pastel-painted, portable stage on a beach as their names are credited in jagged, psychedelic print.

Alternate versions
There is both an R-rated and an X-rated version. The R-rated version removes a few seconds of the sex scene with Mercy Humppe following the carousel sequence and tones down the suggestiveness of the "Princess and the Donkey" sequence. The X-rated version contains all the footage cut for the R version.