Penny Serenade with Irene Dunne: DVD Cover

    Penny Serenade Director: George Stevens Cast: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Beulah Bondi, Edgar Buchanan

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    • DVD Release Date: 01/01/2003
    • Original Release: 1941
    • Rating: Not Rated
    • Sales Rank: 4,286

    Viewer Rating: (4 ratings)

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    DVD$5.99
     
    • Overview
    • Editorial Reviews
    • Scenes
    • Customer Reviews
    • Cast & Crew
    • Full Product Details

    Scenes

    Features

    Interactive menus; Original graphics; Chapters -- Direct scene access (Go straight to your favorite scenes); Biography; Facts and trivia; Film information; Special collector's photo gallery

    Full Product Details

    Scene Index

    Side #1 --
    1. Wedding Bells [31:18]
    2. Baby Arrival [28:16]
    3. Tragedy [25:53]
    4. New Beginning [33:32]

    Scene Index

    Editorial Reviews

    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

    Customer Reviews

    What an Actor!by Anonymous

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    April 13, 2007: While Cary Grant excelled in comedic roles (I love a handsome guy that can be funny and make you laugh), I think this role proved what an accomplished all-around actor he is. When an actor does a scene and can make you BELIEVE like he does when he pleads for his little girl, and can make you cry for his grief, that's a GOOD ACTOR PAR EXCELLENCE. I think the only other actors (two in particular) who could do that were Jimmy Stewart (for instance in "Shenandoah") and Tony Perkins (see his role as Jimmy Pearsall--great mad breakdown scene and "Desire Under the Elms").

    Excellent Classic Movieby Anonymous

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    December 07, 2006: This movie is an enjoyable classic. One of the best romantic movies of all time! Cary Grant is masterful in his portrayal of a husband and father. Irene Dunne is also spectacular in her role as the love interest of Cary Grant. I've never seen as moving a scene as when he goes before the judge pleading to keep their adopted little girl after he's lost his job. This movie is not for the faint of heart. More than once will your eyes well with water. The special effects are good for 1941 especially in the earthquake scene while they are living in Tokyo. I never can understand why people like "an affair to remember" so much. This movie is so much better. It's not even in the same league. Definately "Penny Serenade" is one of Cary Grant's best films!


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