HTF REVIEW: "Pennies From Heaven" (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

Pennies From Heaven




Studio: Columbia Pictures
Year: 1936
Rated: NR
Film Length: 81 minutes
Aspect Ratio: Full Frame (1.33:1)
Subtitles: English, French and Japanese




Larry (Bing Crosby) is in prison for a trumped-up
charge. It is there that he meets an inmate on
death row that takes a liking to his singing and
guitar playing. The inmate hands him a note and
asks him, upon leaving prison, to deliver it to
the Smith family who live in Middletown, NJ.

Larry finds that the remaining members of the
family consist of a little girl named Patsy
(Edith Fellows)and her Grandfather (Donald Meek).
Both are not only completely penniless, but are at
the mercy of a social worker (Madge Evans) who
threatens to take Patsy away if the Grandfather
cannot provide for her.
The carefree Larry finds himself with more
responsibilities than he cares to handle, but
devises a money-making scheme involving a haunted
house that may just bring them "pennies from heaven."
I am having the time of my life discovering these
B&W classics that I would have never considered
watching before if not for the fact I was reviewing
them. Can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed
Pennies From Heaven, a rather simple and
enjoyable story with terrific musical numbers from
Crosby, Louis Armstrong and Lionel Hampton (watch for
a memorable "Skeleton Dance" number).
Two interesting pieces of trivia here: Pennies
From Heaven was the only film that the star made
for Columbia Pictures, and it's director, Norman Z.
McLeod, went on to direct The Marx Brothers in
Horsefeathers and Monkey Business.
How is the transfer?
Though not by any means perfect, Pennies From
Heaven looks darn good. I give the transfer
much credit for looking very sharp. Images are
finely detailed and contrast level is excellent.
Blacks also appear as black rather than gray. The
generally good image quality overshadows the fact
that there are quite a few blemishes scattered
throughout and picture jumps during the first 4
minutes of the film. Consider the fact this movie
is nearly 70 years old and you can easily appreciate
how good it looks here.

The digitally mastered mono audio is very clean.
There's only a slight amount of background hiss
and fortunately, audio doesn't become shrill. Bing's
voice shines through with amazing clarity.
I want to stop a moment and mention the fact that
Pennies From Heaven is being released alongside
You Can't Take It With You, both theatrically
released during the late 1930s. Columbia has
advertised both these titles as being High
Definition Remasters. It's sort of surprising
that Pennies From Heaven looks like something
that might have been restored while the transfer
of You Can't Take It With You looks miserable.
Special Features

Most notably absent here is the film's original
theatrical trailer. Instead, there are trailers
included for It Happened One Night and
Lost Horizon
Other than that, the cupboard is bare.
Final Thoughts

Pennies From Heaven is a real winner! For
a lazy weekend afternoon you could do no better
than sitting back and enjoying this fun, musical
film that will take you back in time to the golden
age of Hollywood. What could be better than that?!
Release Date: January 28, 2003
All screen captures have been further compressed.
They are for illustrative purposes only and do not
represent actual picture quality

 

[Mark Hanson]

Thanks for reminding me about this one. This was
our lazy weekend type of stuff with mom and grandma
and the old movies of even then.

Makes you appreciate both the gains and losses we
have had since then.

 

[Brian W.]

Thanks for the review, Ron. I'll add some trivia:

- Bing had four hit songs from the movie: his recording of the song "Pennies from Heaven" was a #1 hit single, "Let's Call A Heart A Heart" was top ten, and the songs "One, Two, Button Your Shoe" and "So Do I" both made the top twenty, according to the book "Pop Memories" by Joel Whitburn.

- Bing helped finance the film in exchange for 50% of the profits.

- Bing insisted that his friend Louis Armstrong be given top billing -- making Armstrong, in his film debut, the first African-American to ever receive top billing in a studio film.

I've been wanting to see this. I'm embarrassed to say I've seen very few Bing Crosby movies. People have forgotten that he was a HUGE star in the 1930s and 1940s, in movies, on records, and on the radio. He was by far the top selling recording artist of both the 1930s and the 1940s, racking up thirty-eight #1 hit singles and over 150 top tens.

Here's a statistic: In 1944 alone he had the #1 grossing movie (Going My Way), was voted the #1 movie star (a feat he'd repeat five years in a row, something only Schwarzenegger has matched), hosted the #1 radio show, won the Academy Award for Best Actor (well, in early '45), and had six number one hit singles. All in one year.

Now he just seems to have vanished, except at Christmastime. Partly his own fault -- he more or less retired after 1960. But I'm glad to see the studios are starting to dig out his old films.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Brian,

Thanks for the information.

I wouldn't mind reviewing a few more Bing movies.
I seem to have enjoyed all I have seen thus far.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Don't forget that High Society is being release later this year with Bing, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra. By the way, Satchmo is in this film as well with him and Bing performing "Now you has Jazz".





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