Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Anthony Newley
Anthony Newley
Joan Collins
Milton Berle
George Jessel
Stubby Kaye
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Aware that at the age of 40 his life is more than half over, Heironymus Merkin brings his mother and his two children to a deserted beach to show them a filmed account of his life. As a child, he is persuaded by his dying Uncle Limelight, an old vaudevillian, to embark upon a stage career. Under the supervision of his agent, a leering minion of Satan named Good Time Eddie Filth, Heironymus rapidly achieves success, and, despite the objections of Eddie Filth, he marries Filigree Fondle, a young woman whom he has impregnated. While Heironymus is projecting the film, the production crew that helped shoot it arrives on the beach. He continues to dally with other women, however, right up to the birth of his child. When the baby is stillborn, a white-clad Presence appears before Heironymus, just as it did when Uncle Limelight died. To Heironymus' delight, Filigree eventually runs off with another man, thereby leaving Heironymus free to pursue the beautiful Polyester Poontang. Meanwhile, the film crew, the producers, and the writers are fretting because Heironymus has not yet devised an ending for his picture, and also because a trio of film critics are now present at the beach. After impregnating Polyester, Heironymus marries again. While Polyester is bearing him two children, Heironymus takes up with the seductive Mercy Humppe, but when Polyester loses her third child, and the Presence once again appears, Heironymus finally decides that it is time to settle down. With the coming of dawn, the film ends and Heironymus' producers continue to berate him. Then, a police car arrives, and a furious Polyester threatens to divorce Heironymus for keeping their two children out all night.
Director
Anthony Newley
Cast
Anthony Newley
Joan Collins
Milton Berle
George Jessel
Stubby Kaye
Bruce Forsyth
Patricia Hayes
Victor Spinetti
Tom Stern
Connie Kreski
Judy Cornwell
Berri Cornish
Roy Desmond
Sally Douglas
Desmond Walter Ellis
Gilly Grant
Isabel Hurll
Rosalind Knight
Aleta Morrison
Louis Negin
Tara Newley
Alexander Newley
Margaret Nolan
Julian Orchard
Ronald Radd
Ronald Rubin
Margo Segrave
Sue Shepherd
Bernard Stone
Yolanda
Lynda Baron
Joyce Blair
Robin Bullivant
Laurie Leigh
Robert Hutton
Eve Pearce
John Poore
Muriel Young
Sasha Newley
Crew
R. L. Alexander
William Constable
Bernard Ford
George Fowler
Ray Frift
Dennis Gardiner
Hilda Geerdts
Neil Ginger Gemmell
Johnny Greenland
Bernard Gribble
Otto Heller
Peter Hutchinson
Peter Knight
Herbert Kretzmer
David Lindup
Philip Martell
Mervyn Medalie
Wally Milner
Don Mingaye
Anthony Newley
Anthony Newley
Anthony Newley
Herman Raucher
Harry Robinson
Ken Scrivener
Scott Slimon
Loudon St. Hill
Richard Williams Studio
Connie Willis
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Location scenes filmed on Malta. Opened in London in June 1969; running time: 107 min (cut from 117 min).
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Spring March 1969
Film was formerly distributed theatrically by Regional Films.
Released in United States Spring March 1969
