Penny Serenade (1941)
Penny Serenade (1941)
Penny Serenade Photos
Movie Info
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Cast
as Roger Adams
as Julie Gardiner Adams
as Applejack Carney
as Dotty "Dot"
as Miss Oliver
as Trina age 6
as Dr. Hartley
as Judge
as Billings
as Trina age 1
as Minister
as McDougal
as Sung Chong
as Bill Collector
as Man
as Man
as Flower Girl
as Press Operator
as Ohanna-San
as Sam the Cook
as Policeman
as Cab Driver
as Reporter
as Bootlegger
as Joe
as Bob
as Girl
as Girl
as Girl
as Train Porter
as Train Conductor
as Cab Driver
as Minister's Wife
as Mother
as Father
as Chinese Waitress
as Rickshaw Boy
as Rickshaw Boy
as Nurse
as Old Printer
as Mother
as Boy
Critic Reviews for Penny Serenade
All Critics (15) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (14) | Rotten (1) | DVD (1)
George Stevens' direction and the excellence of the stars' playing make the film.
This is a classic 'women's picture' in every sense.
If you are prone to easy weeping, you might even take along a washtub.
If you have any tolerance for soap opera, this is one of the classics.
George Stevens' sentimental melodrama is extremely well acted by Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, who received for his part of a depressed father the first of his two Oscar nominations.
This is a weeper from the start, with only a few moments of comedy placed in so the audience can dry their eyes before the next sentimental barrage.
Audience Reviews for Penny Serenade
Love, marriage, and parenthood, all the bittersweet magnificence of life is on display in "Penny Serenade", a sentimental little film from 1941. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne star as the lovers who, as the movie opens, seem doomed to separate. As she's packing to leave her husband, she finds a box of old records and begins to listen to them. Each record is tied to a specific place and time in her mind, unlocking memories that show a relationship unfold as the movie progresses. The song she was playing at the record store where she worked when they first met or the song that reminded her of the time they spent living in Japan, each is a poignant little chapter in the lives of these two people. But why is she leaving her husband? The answer reveals itself slowly and tragically. It's said that the human body is simply a vehicle for genes needing to replicate (Agent Scully, X-Files, season 4, episode 2), so the suggestion is that a body unable to reproduce might lose its purpose. If I can find any fault in "Penny Serenade", it's that the ending is wrapped up a little too neatly and perhaps a little too callously. There are some things in life you can't just kiss and make better. There are some losses that can't be cooled with an ice cream cone on the ride home. Dunne and Grant both deliver career-highlight performances (Grant was in fact, nominated for an Oscar), and maybe the ending was an audience appeasement. After all, when we've invested so much emotion into the characters, it would be cruel not to give some light at the end of the tunnel.
Super Reviewer
This is a very sentimental, sappy, but realistic drama of a young couple. It's good, but I'm not a big fan of the film, although I loved Grant in it.
Super Reviewer
Such a sad-y! My biggest problem with this film was the time passage in records. Cutting back to Irene Dunne and all she did was change records, circle into "a few years" later deal and it got old. There are better ways to tell passage of time. That aside, Cary Grant's cracking voice in the courtroom teared me up. The man is such an acting god.
Super Reviewer
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