Penny Serenade (1941)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Cary Grant and Irene Dunne as a married couple with regrets who tearfully plan to part; the wife's recollections of their union (via her phonograph records!) tell the story: they were childless after lucking into the adoption of a six-week-old baby girl, whose health suddenly grows worse in her formative years. Producer-director George Stevens smoothly steers this star-vehicle from light comedy to tragedy without hitting so much as a bump. The comfortable leads obviously do a lot to make the scenario an involving one, though Morrie Ryskind's script, from an original story by Martha Cheavens, is little more than a novelette. Grant received an Oscar nomination for his work; while Dunne works the audience over with sentiment--with faraway eyes and a faraway voice--Grant's honest, forthright husband connects with the audience in a more direct way. His reluctance to take on an infant--a girl even!--has to be nimbly handled so that this character doesn't come off cold or stubborn. Dunne has a standout bit trying to change the baby's diaper with a crowd watching (it's a funny/emotional scene many new mothers may recognize), but Grant's portrait of the 'ordinary man' with money worries and job troubles becomes the focal point of the picture. With Beulah Bondi as the adoption agent (she's directed to glow with grandmotherly warmth and yet look upon this couple with skepticism, often in the same scene) and Edgar Buchanan, who uses his humorous brand of cracker-barrel wisdom to get through a baby-bath. **1/2 from ****

I remember first seeing this film on the early, early morning movie as a very young child in the 1960s. It was the first Irene Dunne movie I ever saw and she was of particular interest to my older family members since she hailed from our hometown of Louisville, KY. I think the most masterful scene (the one that displays George Stevens' qualities as an auteur the best) is the train sequence when Roger and Julie have just been married but Roger must leave immediately to take up his assignment in Tokyo. To leave Julie without benefit of a honeymoon is too much for both her and the audience to bear. What complete romance, he makes good his promise and gets her off at the next stop. Notice the sign on the train platform viewed from the train window indicating just how far this young couple has traveled through the night on their impromptu honeymoon. They are in and we are out. All is left to the imagination and there is nothing more romantic nor sexier than that. And lo and behold, when Julie is finally reunited with Roger in Tokyo she informs him of their impending parenthood. A successful honeymoon indeed!

Cary Grant is one of my favorite actors of the twentieth century, and thus, it is difficult to give this film a bad review. It is not that it was poorly made or the actors were inadequate, but I think the storyline used nostalgic sentiment as a sort of crutch to move along, and that often happened quite slowly. The use of flashback is well done, but seemingly overplayed. The photography in the film was not really above-average, but I also don't have any complaints with it. I suppose if nothing else, Penny Serenade is a perfect example of how pace and editing can make or break a movie, and for me, it didn't quite make it.

With a well organized story line and a decent amount of sympathy this film comes across to me as the ever so common love story. Most of this is due to the fact that a movie like this one comes to theaters about 5 times a year now a days, but put in perspective of the early 1940's and you got yourself a film with quite uniqueness. The amount of over dramatic scenes was found a bit to often but again compared to movies today it was a nothing out of the ordinary. I'd have to say the actors sold their roles and were very believable. Now what made this film different from many of the films out there was the way Dunne went through all the flashback scenes in the movie by playing records that reminded her of their life together. It was a very strong idea that got the concept across fairly easily.