Title: Penny Serenade

Year: 1941

Country: USA

Language: English

Genre: Drama, Romance

Director: George Stevens

Writer: Morrie Ryskind

based on the story Martha Cheavens

Music: W. Franke Harling

Cinematography: Joseph Walker

Cast:

Irene Dunne

Cary Grant

Edgar Buchanan

Beulah Bondi

Ann Doran

Eva Lee Kuney

Wallis Clark

Dorothy Adams

Rating: 7.0/10

The film reunites Irene Dunne and Cary Grant for the third and the last time, after their successful pairing in Leo McCarey's THE AWFUL TRUTH (1937) and MY FAVORITE WIFE (1940). Under the tutelage of George Stevens, PENNY SERENADE is a good-natured and polished melodrama where mishaps and glee alternately emerge around an average couple Julie (Dunne) and Roger Adams (Grant).

Opening with Julie assuming her deliberated departure from Roger in medias res, the narrative consists of a nexus of chronological flashback segued by various melodies in an album coined“The Story of a Happy Marriage" playing from the phonograph, as signifiers to Julie’s memories, how a tuneful and glitched YOU WERE MEAN FOR ME brings Roger to her life, their sequential romance, a spur-of-the-moment marriage and their spell in Japan due to Roger’s work where a seismic shock (both literally and metaphorically) leaves an irremediable missing link in their otherwise content life.

Back to US, Roger starts his print business from the scratch in a small town, that missing link will be mended through adoption, a new life is put into their care and they must get familiar with parental skills(where we get great comedic moments in its slice-of-life simulation)and fight for their baby girl against their unstable financial situation, only to come in for another hammer blow that will (almost) sabotage their marriage, if not for the problematic and expedient ending, the fond memory of a departed can be so quickly and miraculously displaced by the arrival of a new one, is it a blind faith deeply entrenched in the psyche of America at then or that marriage is so unbearable if not for the presence of an offspring? One would gratingly wonder.

Save for that reactionary deus ex machina, the film is a heartfelt blessing from Hollywood-land in a less glamorous and often depreciated genre of melodrama, the two leads give sterling performances here, both shorn of star vanity and completely carry the rather corny story on their own shoulders and shore it up with significant effort to sustain a touching but also realistic vibe that transmogrifies the picture with enduring charisma and yesteryear nostalgia. Cary received his first-ever Oscar nomination for this picture, his Oscar moment is that earnest plead in front of the judge, which rarely emblazons his dramatic showmanship to great extent, but Dunne, admittedly, is the fulcrum of the film here, she is self-deprecating but never shy of inner strength and orthodox femininity, quite a leading lady in her early 40s, why isn’t she more worshiped by new generations? She is the convention-bucking heroine of a sexism business and an impressive 5-times Oscar nominee. Also,Edgar Buchanan andBeulah Bondi both need a shout-out for their supporting turns, the former’s uncle Applejack is the bee’s knees every family needs whereas the latter is so primly respectable by her sheer appearance as the rule-breaking head of the adoption faculty, lastly, to sing a little praise to directorGeorge Stevens, what an even-handed actor’s director he is, his style is un-showy but after all, it is the torrid human emotion gets our attention and keeps us watching closely to his performers, that is a different kind of cinematic expertise which no one can deny.

referential point: George Stevens’ A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951, 8.1/10)

關于一個普通甚至比較困難的家庭收養(yǎng)孩子的故事。

影片里的家庭，丈夫不是一個很有責任感的人，也許是還年輕，他對工作不那么珍惜，有點錢花起來很隨意，有點好高騖遠，沒有長遠打算以及認真工作的態(tài)度，以至于家庭的經(jīng)濟一直不怎么好，而妻子沒有工作。不知道這算是當時典型的美國家庭么？當然，年輕的家庭也許是會這樣。

在這樣一個家庭里，由于發(fā)生了點事故，導致妻子不能生育，他們便決定領養(yǎng)一個孩子。領養(yǎng)很順利，他們也很有愛心，但基本的經(jīng)濟沒有保障，導致他們一年后差點失去繼續(xù)領養(yǎng)的資格。雖然最后感動了法官，得到了繼續(xù)撫養(yǎng)的資格，但幾年后孩子生病突然死去了，于是家庭又陷入即將分裂的局面。一對相愛的夫妻，那么渴望孩子，然而經(jīng)濟基礎又不穩(wěn)固。不是很能理解這樣的情況。如果真有養(yǎng)孩子的意愿，至少要成熟些，理解這背后的責任和義務，而不僅僅是為了維系感情或者自己想要孩子的意愿。畢竟孩子需要的不僅僅是有愛的父母，還有物質(zhì)保障等一系列的需求。因此，影片的最后有點匪夷所思，竟然給他們又一個領養(yǎng)的機會。家庭難道必須要有孩子來維系嗎？沒有孩子的家庭一樣可以幸福。家庭里的兩個人則需要不斷成長。不得不說，孩子的到來可以加速家庭的成熟度，但前提仍然是，大人需要有意愿接受生活的挑戰(zhàn)而自我成長。

據(jù)說加里.格蘭特很喜歡此片，并演出了一個不同于其以往的詼諧幽默睿智的形象，這里是一個有點浮躁但有愛心的父親的形象，對孩子很溫柔，特別是為了爭取繼續(xù)撫養(yǎng)而在法官面前慷慨陳詞感動落淚，這是他演過的影片中極少見到的脆弱形象，他演得很感人。想到他自己的童年經(jīng)歷，這個角色對他興許是有非凡意義吧。他在影片中可以表達他的父愛，雖然他在經(jīng)濟上的責任是不完美的，但愛孩子仍然堅持撫養(yǎng)孩子，也愛自己的妻子?，F(xiàn)實中他突然失去了母親，隨后被父親拋棄，完全靠自己生存，童年的經(jīng)歷給他帶來巨大創(chuàng)傷。這也許賦予他在影片中不同的經(jīng)歷和體驗，他的表演很棒?，F(xiàn)實中，他也是一個好父親，自女兒出生后便息影，盡量陪伴女兒的成長。