Rent Penny Serenade (1941)
3.6 of 5 from 71 ratings
2h 0min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Newspaperman Roger Adams (Cary Grant) falls for record store worker Julie Gardiner Adams (Irene Dunne) and the pair marry New Year's Eve, shortly before Roger leaves for a new job in Tokyo. His new wife joins him 3 months later and announces she is pregnant, but a major earthquake in Tokyo leads to her losing the baby and unable to bear any more. The pair eventually return to America where Roger buys a small country newspaper and Roger and Julie begin the process of adopting a child. When the newspaper folds it looks as though Roger and Julie will lose the child, being forced to make a heartfelt plea to the judge... The story is told in a series of flashbacks, each introduced by a piece of music from Julie's collection. Cary Grant's performance earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. - Actors:
- Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Beulah Bondi, Edgar Buchanan, Ann Doran, Eva Lee Kuney, Leonard Willey, Wallis Clark, Walter Soderling, Jane Biffle, Stanley Brown, Bess Flowers, Eddie Laughton, Adrian Morris, Edward Peil Sr.
- Directors:
- George Stevens
- Producers:
- George Stevens
- Writers:
- Martha Cheavens, Morrie Ryskind
- Studio:
- Elstree Hill Entertainment
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Romance, Thrillers
- Collections:
- All the Best: A Celebration of New Year Movies, Holidays Film Collection
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Reviews (1) of Penny Serenade
Tears on the Turntable: Penny Serenade at 3PM - Penny Serenade review by griggs
Penny Serenade feels like something you find halfway through on Talking Pictures TV, realise Cary Grant is about to cry, and decide to stick with out of curiosity. The famous judge’s-office meltdown is the big draw and, fair play, he goes for it. The problem is the rest of the film keeps waving a hankie in your face, desperate for the same reaction.
The Japan prologue is an odd highlight, complete with an earthquake sequence that looks like it’s wandered in from a different, more interesting picture. Then we’re back home with the records, flashbacks and a very firm sermon about babies as the one true route to fulfilment. Every now and then it half-admits life doesn’t work like that, then promptly forgets.
It’s sentimental, lopsided, and not nearly as profound as it thinks it is. But as an afternoon melodrama – Grant crying, the needle dropping, emotions pushed to eleven – it’s… fine. You watch it, you feel a bit, you move on.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.