Pennies From Heaven

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Film noir parody with a detective uncovering a sinister plot. Characters from real noirs appear as scenes from various films are intercut. A brain surgeon marries a femme fatale, causing his life to turn upside down.

Things go more awry when he falls in love with a talking brain. With the help of a talking freeway billboard, a wacky weatherman tries to win the heart of an English newspaper reporter, who is struggling to make sense of the strange world of early s Los Angeles. Arthur, a sheet music salesman, has an ear for the hit tunes, but nobody will trust it. And his imagination often bursts into full song, building musical numbers around the greatest In Chicago during the s depression, sheet music salesman Arthur Parker is trying to sell his products, but it's not easy to convince unwilling music store owners to buy them.

Although he's already married to the somewhat drab Joan, when he meets school teacher Eileen in a music store, he falls in love with her. Written by Mattias Thuresson. Much has already been written here saying positive things about Pennies From Heaven, but the best reason for the excellence of the film lies in the fact that the screenplay was written by Dennis Potter. There is so much more to this story than can be told in a single film.

Both were dark films with more than their share of irony. Potter interjected popular music of the eras into the story lines in their original versions lip-synced by the actors.

These films aren't for casual viewers. You need to keep your brain attached and operating all the time, so smart is Potter's writing. Those of us who make the effort are rewarded with stories of sheer genius. I give all the credit to the producers who had the good sense to have Potter do the screenplays for both films.

They are translated to a similar mood and setting and the music is well integrated. On the other hand, the cast of Pennies is a powerhouse of musical talent with Bernadette Peters and Christopher Walken and the surprisingly good Steve Martin. With lesser talent in both the writing and acting the big production numbers would have overwhelmed the story. Make the intellectual investment and reap your rewards. These BBC series are brilliant. If you need more mental stimulation after these two series have boosted your IQ, try to hunt down Lipstick On Your Collar.

This is a later Dennis Potter BBC series based on what turned out to be the "final straw" in the fall of the British Empire, the loss of Egypt and the Suez Canal to a considerably out manned and out gunned Egyptian army.

This, too, could work as a film obviously not translated to the US , but only if Dennis Potter could be reincarnated to do the screenplay. Start your free trial.

Find showtimes, watch trailers, browse photos, track your Watchlist and rate your favorite movies and TV shows on your phone or tablet! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Full Cast and Crew. During the Great Depression, a sheet music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent school teacher.

Dennis Potter written for the screen by , Dennis Potter based on original material by. Wait, Is Mary Poppins a Witch? Favorite Christopher Walken Character. This delays Larry from following his dream and going to Venice and becoming a gondolier. Instead he becomes a street singer and, while singing in the street, meets a pretty welfare worker, Susan Sprague. She takes a dim view of Patsy's welfare under the guardianship of Larry and her grandfather, and starts proceedings to have Patsy placed in an orphanage. McLeod, no relation to the musical of that same title featuring Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters, stars Bing Crosby, on loan from his home studio of Paramount, in a forgettable but likable story with a notable title tune that underscores the film opening credits, presenting pennies falling from the thundering clouds above bouncing to the wet ground below.

Crosby's character of Larry Poole is a drifter who lives a day-to-day existence tossing a feather into the air and heading the direction where the feather goes. He also passes the time singing by songs with the use of a 13th century flute, an instrument occasionally mistaken for a guitar. His biggest dream in life is to go to Venice, Italy, and ride on the gondolas, which, at present, seems unlikely. In the story's fade-in, Larry, serving time in prison on a supposed smuggling charge, with one more week to go before his released, is met by a man Hart John Gallaudet , a condemned prisoner on his way to the electric chair to die for his crime, who wants Poole, the only man he trusts, to deliver a letter to a family named Smith of Middletown, New Jersey, and explains his reasons.

After Poole grants him this last request, Hart is then escorted down his last mile through the green doors. Following this dramatic scene opener, quite unusual for a musical-comedy, finds the pardoned Larry drifting along to a carnival where he encounters a pre-teen but tough little girl Edith Fellows being cheated at a game booth by a slick barker who charges a dime for a throw of six rings.

Larry helps her to win her prize by letting her know how she's getting cheated and threatens the carnival barker that there will be a loud call of "Hey, rube! The girl in turn gets it.

The meaning and origin of the expression: Pennies from heaven

Larry then tells her, "Thank the nice man. He then presents them with the letter in question. It is learned that Hart's last request was that the family of the man he killed Patsy's father should inherit a large country estate that once belonged to his family.

Upon arrival to the old mansion via hayride, they have second thoughts when finding the run-down mansion might possibly be haunted. With the help of the positive-thinking Larry, he happens upon an idea of turning the old place into a roadside restaurant called the Haunted House Cafe. The second half of the story focuses on Susan Sprague Madge Evans , a county welfare agent, who feels Patsy, an incorrigible child who has been skipping school, isn't being brought up in the right atmosphere, especially when Patsy is bonding with a man who had spent time in prison, thus, threatening to take her away.

Aside from Crosby's easy-going personality and his easy-listening crooning, Madge Evans' blonde beauty and Edith Fellows' temper tantrums controlled only by Crosby, whose "taming of the shrew" is through his singing, the supporting cast also features a very young Louis Armstrong as Henry, the hired hand, trumpeter and vocalist of the Haunted House Cafe; Nana Bryant as Mrs.

Wilson as the Warden; and character actress Nydia Westman appearing briefly as the landlady. Nice tunes, compliments of songwriters Johnny Burke and Arthur Johnston include: Along with the film, young Edith Fellows, who resembles a youthful Jane Powell, in a performance that could have been played by another registered movie "brat" named Bonita Granville, is as forgotten as this movie itself.

Her chemistry with Crosby registers well here.

Douwe Bob & Jett Rebel Nominated for the Edison Pop Awards

Aside from the screen characters, the movie includes some interesting camera angles worth mentioning. One that stands in mind is the introductory scene between Crosby and Fellows as they are leaving the carnival. After she asks him what his name is, the camera focuses to the girl's point of eye-view from the bottom up as Crosby's character, appearing quite taller, looks down and answers her question. A similar such scene occurs later as Crosby sings to the tune of "So Do I" while Fellows does some street dancing to earn some extra money as the tenement people throw some loose change from their apartment windows above.

Start your free trial. Find showtimes, watch trailers, browse photos, track your Watchlist and rate your favorite movies and TV shows on your phone or tablet! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Full Cast and Crew. The family turns out to be a young girl, Patsy Smith, and her Drama Movies i Have Watched.

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