Customer Reviews

Penny Serenade - 1941 (Digitally Remastered Version)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When one considers how many poor or downright bad releases there are with this and other public domain movies, It is good to be able to report that no-one will be unhappy with the qaulity of the restoration offered by Digicom.
The Picture is sharp and clear with good contrast and resolution.They are obviously working with good raw materials and not the cruddy rehashed ancient video copies of copies that other companies have released.
The sound quality is clear if not a little over done in the equalization. There are no extras with the disc.
I grade this as 89/100 for restoration and 60/100 for the package / Price.However as there is no viable alternative, I would recommend this to anyone looking for a very good copy of this movie.
I can also recommend this company's release of LIFE WITH FATHER 1947 - equally as good and with good color restoration as well. Avoid any other releases of these two titles.
Mark Hood - writing from Germany

This is without doubt the best quality version of Penny Serenade I have come accross. It is sharp and clear with good sound and good quality resolution. I am pleased to finally get hold of an excellent version from DigiComTV. I highly recommend this.
Jacky Day UK

George Stevens framed this entire film using flasbacks, an old phonograph playing the songs from various stages in the lives of two people who fall in love and are nearly torn apart by tragedy. The screenplay of Morrie Ryskind based on a story by Martha Cheavens is sentimental and heartwrenching. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne make it all seem real and director Stevens gives the film a romantic glow which makes this one of the most fondly remembered films of the 1940's.

The story opens as Julie (Dunne) is getting ready to leave Roger (Grant) because of the pain caused by a tragedy in their lives he can not talk about so that they can begin to heal. She laments that they simply don't need each other anymore. When she finds an old stack of records she begins to trace the various stages of their love through the memories recalled by each song.

Roger sees Julie through the window of the record store where she works, and though he doesn't have a phonograph player, he ends up buying a big package of songs just so he can spend time with her. He pretends he is going her way after work and it isn't long before she becomes "his funny little redhead." There are some wonderful scenes like Julie and Roger sitting in a cabana by the beach reading fortune cookies which gives the story a very romantic atmosphere.

When Roger, who is a reporter, has a chance to go to Tokyo for a few years, the two get married and have a truncated honeymoon on a train which results in them becoming prospective parents. But an earthquake takes their happiness away and prevents them from having another child. Only when Roger gets an inheritance do they move back to the states and consider adoption while he starts the small town paper he has always dreamed of. What follows is warm, sweet and heartbreaking, and will result in Julie standing at the phonograph as she recalls their lives together before leaving.

Whether their love and marriage can be saved is only resolved in the last few moments of this beautiful film. Edgar Buchanan as Apple Jack is absolutely wonderful as he lends both support and humor to this true screen classic. Beulah Bondi is also memorable as the kind Miss Oliver, going out of her way to create a family for two people who love each other. A warm and sentimental film every film lover needs to own.

Despite the improved quality of the mastering, this is still not the entire film as released by Columbia Pictures in 1941. This DVD is mastered from a reissue print, and lacks 2 1/2 to 3 minutes of film from the initial release.

While those who love the movie regardless of its content or completeness may not be that put-out, purist (like myself) should be warned that this is NOT the entire 120 minute version.

SONY needs to pony up and release the consumate version!