Penny Serenade (1941)

93% of critics liked it
(15 reviews)
75% of users liked it
(5,016 ratings)

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… More 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, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: G, 1 hr. 57 min.
Directed By: George Stevens
Written By: Martha Cheavens
Genres: Drama, Romance, Classics

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1941 Wide
On DVD: Jul 14, 1998
Studio: Columbia Pictures

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff, Variety
George Stevens' direction and the excellence of the stars' playing make the film.
Bosley Crowther, New York Times
If you are prone to easy weeping, you might even take along a washtub.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
If you have any tolerance for soap opera, this is one of the classics.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
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.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
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.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...entertaining enough to warrant a mild recommendation...
, Time Out
This is a classic 'women's picture' in every sense.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A women's weepie picture.
Steve Crum, Kansas City Kansan
Lesser seen Cary Grant, but very compelling.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Brilliantly made soaper with superb cast.
David Poland, Hot Button
One of the greatest weepies ever made

Read all 11 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Featured Audience Ratings

AJ V

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.
Jennifer D

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… More
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.
Stella D

i cry every single time! i guess that makes it a weeper
Lanning :

After seeing None but the Lonely Heart the other day, and hearing Robert Osborne and Jack Klugman compare it to Penny Serenade, I had high hopes for this. Don't get me wrong, it's good. It's much less Cary Grantish Cary Grant.… More
After seeing None but the Lonely Heart the other day, and hearing Robert Osborne and Jack Klugman compare it to Penny Serenade, I had high hopes for this. Don't get me wrong, it's good. It's much less Cary Grantish Cary Grant. And Irene Dunne is always worth the watch. Still, I think I suffered a bit from the Van Helsing effect: If you truly expect something to be good, it very often won't be. On the flip side, however, the Van Helsing effect can work to your benefit: If you truly expect something to be bad, it might actually surprise you and turn out to be good. I can still recommend this, but it you want to see the best Cary Grant, you must see None but the Lonely Heart

Cast

            Irene Dunne as Julie Gardiner Adams

            Cary Grant as Roger Adams

            Beulah Bondi as Miss Oliver

            Edgar Buchanan as Applejack

            Ann Doran as Dotty

            Eva Lee Kuney as Trina age 6

            Leonard Willey as Dr. Hartley

            Wallis Clark as Judge

            Walter Soderling as Billings

            Dorothy Adams as Mother

            Billy Bevan as McDougal

            Baby Biffle as Trina age 1

            Mary Bovard
            
            Lynton Brent as Reporter

            Stanley Brown as Man

            Edmund Elton as Minister

            John Ferguson as Father

            Bess Flowers as Mother

            Charles Flynn as Bob

            Otto Han as Sam the Cook

            Georgia Hawkins as Girl

            Eddie Laughton as Cab Driver

            Frank Moran as Cab Driver

            Rollin Moriyama
            
            Adrian Morris as Bill Collector

            Edward Peil Sr. as Train Conductor

            Al Seymour as Bootlegger

            Grady Sutton
            
            Ben Taggart as Policeman

            Fred 'Snowflake' Toones as Train Porter

            John Tyrrell as Press Operator

            Dick Wessel as Joe

            Lillian West as Nurse

            Jack Buchanan
            
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