Main Cast: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Beulah Bondi, Edgar Buchanan, Ann Doran
Release Year: 1941
Country: US
Run Time: 117 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
While listening to a recording of "Penny Serenade," Julie Gardiner Adams (Irene Dunne) begins reflecting on her past. She recalls her near-impulsive marriage to newspaper reporter Roger Adams (Cary Grant), which begins on a deliriously happy note but turns out to be fraught with tragedy. While honeymooning in Japan, Julie and Roger are trapped in the 1923 earthquake, which results in her miscarriage and subsequent incapability to bear children. Upon their return to America, Roger becomes editor of a small-town newspaper, just scraping by financially. Despite their depleted resources, Julie and Roger want desperately to adopt a child. It seems hopeless until kindly adoption agency head Miss Oliver (Beulah Bondi) helps smooth their path. Alas, their happiness is once more short-lived: their new daughter, Trina (Eva Lee Kuney), succumbs to a sudden illness at the age of six. Reduced to hopelessness, Julie and Roger decide to dissolve their marriage, but Miss Oliver once more comes to the rescue. Sentimental in the extreme, Penny Serenade is also enormously effective, balancing moments of heartbreaking pathos with uproarious laughter. Only director George Stevens could have handled a scene with a copiously weeping Cary Grant without inducing discomfort or embarrassment in the audience. Since lapsing into the public domain in 1968 (though released by Columbia, the film was owned by Stevens' production firm), Penny Serenade has become almost as ubiquitous a cable-TV presence as It's a Wonderful Life. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The third pairing of Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, Penny Serenade differs from their earlier films by being a tragic melodrama rather than a lighthearted comedy. Indeed, sometimes the soap operatics are laid on so heavily that bathos threatens to overwhelm the pathos, and with a lesser pair of stars or director, this would surely have come about. Fortunately, George Stevens shows a sure hand in knowing how far he can let the emotions be manipulated before it becomes ludicrous, and while he directs the scenes for all the emotional turmoil they're worth, he doesn't let them get out of hand. Of course, with Grant and Dunne on board, Stevens' work was made considerably easier. Both stars play with the perfect mixture of charm, class, and effortlessness, and both are willing to put themselves on the line emotionally. Grant's bravura courtroom scene is justifiably famous and a stellar example of the kind of beautifully judged work that the actor was capable of. And, though she lacks this kind of set piece, Dunne is a perfect match for Grant, turning in work that is a bit quieter but every bit as fully realized. Serenade's screenplay may be the stuff of the standard tearjerker, but its stars not only rise but fly above the material. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Lionel Banks - Art Director, Fred Guiol - Associate Producer, George Stevens - Director, Otto Meyer - Editor, W. Franke Harling - Composer (Music Score), Morris W. Stoloff - Musical Direction/Supervision, Joseph Walker - Cinematographer, George Stevens - Producer, Morris Ryskind - Screenwriter, Martha Cheavens - Short Story Author
Roger (Cary Grant) and Julie Adams (Irene Dunne) suffer a tragedy when she miscarries in an earthquake during their trip to Japan. They are told that she cannot have children. They request to adopt a two-year old boy, but ultimately adopt a much younger girl. They struggle to make ends meet and to retain their parental rights when Roger loses his job. When the little girl dies suddenly, the emotional strain threatens to destroy their marriage. Songs mark episodes in the action from records from their collection -- the title refers to a song of the same name. In the end, they are offered the opportunity to adopt a little boy who matches their original request, miraculously saving their marriage.
Cast
Irene Dunne ... Julie Gardiner Adams Cary Grant ... Roger Adams Beulah Bondi ... Miss Oliver Edgar Buchanan ... Applejack Carney
Ann Doran ... Dotty 'Dot'
Eva Lee Kuney ... Trina (at the Age of 6 Years)
Leonard Willey ... Doctor Hartley
Wallis Clark ... Judge
Walter Soderling ... Billings
Baby Jane Biffle ... Trina (at the Age of 1 Year) (billed as Baby Biffle)
Copyright status
Although the film was released by Columbia Pictures, George Stevens' production firm owned the copyright of Penny Serenade at that time. In 1968, the film went into the public domain.[1]
Reception
On the film review website Rotten Tomatoes, Penny Serenade receives a "Fresh" rating with 93% (15 of 16) of its T-meter critics reviewed the film positively.[2]
Adaptations to Other Media
Penny Serenade was dramatized as a half-hour radio play on the November 16, 1941 broadcast of The Screen Guild Theater, starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in their original roles. It was also presented as an hour-long drama on Lux Radio Theater, first on April 27, 1942 with Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck, then on May 8, 1944 with Joseph Cotten and Irene Dunne.
