Synopsis: Julie Gardiner (Irene Dunne) is just a lonely girl working in a music shop when she meets handsome stranger Roger Adams (Cary Grant). The two fall instantly in love, but their courtship is cut short when Roger’s job as a newspaperman sends him to Japan. Before Roger departs, they have a quickie wedding and even quicker honeymoon. When Julie joins Roger in Japan a few months later, he is delighted to discover that she is pregnant. But their joy quickly turns to devastation when a catastrophic earthquake causes Julie to miscarry and leaves her unable to have children. When the couple moves back to the United States to start their own newspaper, their inconsistent income throws a wrench in their dream of adopting a child and becoming a real family. With the good-hearted Miss Oliver (Beulah Bondi) pulling for them at the orphanage and lovable third wheel Applejack (Edgar Buchanan) helping them make ends meet at home, will Roger and Julie be able to convince the powers-that-be that the love they have to give is enough to make their house a suitable home for a child in need?
I have a very special place in my heart for this dreadful little movie, directed by George Stevens for Columbia in 1941. Of course, Cary Grant and Irene Dunne first teamed up in the much-loved Leo McCarey screwball comedy The Awful Truth in 1937, now considered a classic of the genre; in 1940 they made My Favorite Wife, another delightful screwball and one of my personal favorites, directed by Garson Kanin and produced and co-written by McCarey. With these two brilliant and successful comedy hits behind them, Dunne and Grant teamed up one last time for Penny Serenade. I like to think of it as one cruel, vicious joke on the movie-going public. “You laughed and hooted along with their hilarious antics in The Awful Truth and My Favorite Wife; now see them in Penny Serenade, where you will CRY YOUR EYES OUT FOREVER AND EVER AS THE PAIN AND SORROW REFUSE TO CEASE.” I imagine people flocking jovially to the theater, thinking they’re going to have a rollicking good time; but as they sit down, straps and buckles shoot out from the seats, trapping them in place, where they are bombarded with two straight hours of depressing, heart-wrenching, dead-baby melodrama. The mental image makes me laugh, because I’m a terrible person.
There are a few things I like about Penny Serenade. Cary Grant was nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for his performance here; watching the movie, you may not at first understand the reasoning behind this, but once you get to his impassioned appeal in the judge’s chambers, you’ll see why. It’s the best scene in the whole picture, and Grant gives a devastatingly vulnerable performance as he pleads to keep his adopted child whom the court is threatening to take away due to the Adamses’ lack of steady income. Maybe I’m insensitive, but I really don’t root for this couple; it’s irresponsible to think they can raise a child on love alone, and it’s pretty damn entitled of them to think they deserve a baby any more than the countless other couples who can provide a more stable home. But Grant’s speech does tug on my heartstrings, and I do believe it is the most emotionally exposed I’ve ever seen him. (Keep in mind, I have not yet been able to track down a copy of None But the Lonely Heart, the 1944 film for which he received his second Oscar nomination.) Besides Grant, I also have a fondness for Edgar Buchanan’s performance as the Adamses’ sweet-natured pal Applejack. Buchanan steals every scene he’s in – quite a compliment, given the star power of his illustrious co-stars!
While it has its moments, overall I find Penny Serenade to be an overblown melodrama that tries every trick in the book to squeeze a tear out of you. There are a few comedic scenes intended to lighten the mood, but in a way they almost make it worse; given all the sorrow that bombards them, laughing at these characters’ small joys is more painful than soothing. There’s nothing wrong with melodrama, but this one just seems too overwrought and unrealistic, to the point of campiness. The last twenty minutes are pure torture as the film is finally drowning in a sea of its own tears and trying like hell to pull you down with it. We do get a very tacked-on happy ending in the last few seconds, which is laughably nonsensical and, in a way, almost crass. Because I find camp irresistible, I do get enjoyment from this film, but maybe not for the reasons I’m supposed to.
Penny Serenade (1941) – 3/5 stars
Garbo Laughs 
Page
/ January 19, 2011Nice post Caroline! I have to admit that this is my least favorite Cary Grant and Irene Dunne vehicle. As much as I love both actors and wanted to enjoy it I just didn’t care for it.
As you so eloquently pointed out I wanted a fun Cary Grant romp and instead I got pushed around by an emotional plot. (Although theres nothing wrong with a tear jerker of course).
Page
Caroline
/ January 19, 2011I think a more serious drama with Dunne and Grant would have been a bit jarring for people who were used to them as a comedy team, but it could have worked with the right script (because we know both actors were capable of it). Unfortunately this movie was just ridiculously over-the-top maudlin, as if they were trying desperately to convince us to take Dunne and Grant seriously. Let the actors do the work; just give them a solid story to move around in. Plus the “happy ending” is so unlikely and odd it always makes me laugh.
Thanks for the comment, Page!
The Lady Eve
/ January 19, 2011This is not my favorite pairing of Grant and Dunne either, but I love “Penny Serenade,” maudlin melodrama that it may be. In 1941, I WOULD’ve given a child to such a pair… in those days there weren’t scores of stable, “better suited” couples such as exist today…the U.S. only became affluent in the ’50s.
First saw this on TV decades ago and have had a soft spot for it ever since. Yes, “The Awful Truth” is a screwball masterpiece (my favorite) and, yes, “My Favorite Wife” was a fine near-replica of a follow-up…but “Penny Serenade” has special appeal for those who like the occasional “weeper.”
All that said…great post, very nice take on Grant/Dunne’s lesser classic. Wish the two had made more films together…
Caroline
/ January 19, 2011Thanks for your comment, Eve. I was just referencing the multiple parts of the film where Ms. Oliver talks about the other couples who are also waiting for babies and have priority… but then she always makes those “special exceptions” for our two lead characters.
Despite my (somewhat) negative review, I also like this film and have it in my DVD collection. It makes for a strange but interesting contrast to their other two films.
Lindsay
/ January 21, 2011Even the poster makes the film look like a delightful, breezy comedy!
Caroline
/ January 21, 2011I know! IT’S ALL A CRUEL CRUEL JOKE!
Laurie
/ March 9, 2011I agree with this review. I really wanted to like this movie, especially once that courtroom scene rolled around and Grant gave his tearjerker performance. I think his surprising emotion in this film is the main thing that keeps it afloat (and I agree about the Applejack character – loved him). But otherwise the sort of bipolar back and forth of comedy/happy family moments and sudden startling tragedy is just strange and hard to stomach. And the ending………what the…..? “Oh there’s another kid at the orphanage that looks like the kid we described earlier. We’ll just get that ‘un and it’s all good.” That’s a simplistic, cynical description, of course, but it did seem bizarre. Aaaanyway, though both leads were talented dramatic actors, I’ll stick with their other two collaborations, both of which I adore.
Caroline
/ March 17, 2011I don’t think it’s a simplistic, cynical description, because THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. I know they recommend getting a new puppy to get over the death of your dog, but a new CHILD? I find the ending hilarious at one end and incredibly tasteless at the other. I guess they were determined to draw the misery out as long as possible and have a happy ending at the very last second, and as a result came up with the most implausible conclusion of all.