The Maltese film industry remains stillborn, the island serving mostly as a location for big-budget Hollywood productions—from Oliver Stone's Alexander through Ridley Scott's Gladiator to, most recently, Brad Pitt's World War Z. Most 'Eurovision' of all, though, was 1969's 'Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?', a showcase for British singer-songwriter Anthony Newley, whose then-real-life wife Joan Collins co-starred, as the memorably-monikered Polyester Poontang. Given the 'groovy' costumes for this farrago (which also starred Milton Berle, Playboy's Miss January 1968 and Brit TV mainstay Bruce Forsyth, and included a number titled, 'Oh, What a Son of a Bitch I Am!'), she was aptly named. Vincent Canby, reviewing the film for The New York Times, said Newley so over-extended his talents here—as screenwriter, lead actor and composer—that the result 'came to look like an act of professional suicide.' Malta, however, looked delightful.
