Cary Grant Retrospective – Penny Serenade Review

This is Batgirl, and you're listening to the

Geekcast Radio Network. Hello, and welcome to

episode 225 of the Cinema Geeks. I am one of

your Cinema Geeks Optimus Solo, and joining me,

as usual, is the comic concierge. How you doing,

Dan? I'm doing well, how about yourself? I'm

doing well. We're recording this after... Labor

Day weekend not to date the record too much I

guess but So we're on a Wednesday here. I don't

know if it feels more like a Tuesday or Thursday.

I'm lost I don't know what's going on in the

world. I we ordered a Piece of furniture that

was supposed to come Friday, which was gonna

work out fairly well because I have a pretty

easy schedule Friday and it showed up today and

I don't know why I opened it and started it but

I did and that ended up taking A long time when

you get a box that has parts, you know, like

the hardware, like all of the screws and stuff

like that. And they're labeled, right? Like they

usually have like a number or letter system or

something. So these were lettered and it got

to the point where certain parts were. Double

a like we've gone through the alphabet and now

we're on to AA. And that's too many parts. When

you get all the way through Z and you have to

start doing the double up lettering, I feel like

I didn't sign up for that, but it's together,

it's looking good and it's over. Now I have a

lot of catching up to do from work I should have

got done today. So how are you doing though after

your holiday weekend and as we get ready to record

another in our Cary Grant series? So you mentioned

furniture I guess I don't know why Labor Day

is furniture weekend, but a lot of sales so we

ourselves some new couches and it's been way

too long it's been like 15 years since I got

a new couch and yeah, and the Technology has

changed a great deal since last time I got a

couch. I'm like there's like no phone chargers

and the couches and things like that. I'm like,

dude, like this is crazy. It's like, I just need

a couch. I don't need like a complete entertainment

system within the couch. I would like one, but

yeah. So, but I'm lucky. Hopefully you didn't

have to put it together though. No, we getting

it delivered soon. Uh, but yeah, that's funny.

You say that though. Cause like we're, you know,

we're, you know, we're telling our kids when

we're getting it, it's like, Oh, so we're, we're

going to have to put it together. I'm like, no,

this is. Pretty sure we finally don't have to

put together ourselves. We're just used to getting

stuff from Ikea and things like that, because

we just got a big thing for trying to sort out

their Legos, particularly this thing from Ikea.

So that was crazy. But outside of that, you know,

just getting ready for football season. I think

by the time people hear this, it's probably kicking

off. Giants probably have lost like three games

already, even though it's only like week two.

But that's how they're that good. They'll find

a way. They'll find a way. Oh, goodness gracious.

We are back at it, like I said, to talk a little

bit more of Cary Grant as we get to another movie

in his filmography. And it's gonna be interesting

here on the reactions I think that we have to

this one. But before we get into our actual thoughts,

let's have Dan go ahead and lay the groundwork

on the ins and outs of the 1941 film Penny Serenade.

Take it away, Dan. And now for something completely

different. This week we are discussing Penny

Serenade, released in 1941, directed by George

Stevens, starring Cary Grant and Irene Dune.

In the film, Julie Gardner, played by Dune, is

preparing to leave her husband Roger Adams, played

by Grant, and listens to old photograph records

that trigger memories of a life together. She

recalls their whirlwind courtship, marriage,

and move to Japan, where a tragic earthquake

causes her to lose her and learn she cannot have

children. Back in the US, the couple adopts a

baby girl, Trina, who becomes their Joy. They

experience the ups and downs of parenthood, but

when tragedy strikes yet again, it looks to separate

them in a way they cannot recover from. Cary

Grant received his first Academy Award nomination

for best actor for this film. Many critics still

consider his courtroom plea to keep his adopted

daughter one of his most powerful dramatic moments

of his career. He lost to Gary Cooper's portrayal

of Sergeant York at the 14th Academy Awards.

Irene Dune and Cary Grant were frequent co -stars.

This was their third film together after The

Awful Truth in 1937 and My Favorite Wife in 1940.

Both screwball comedies, unlike those, Penny

Serenade was given a chance to be a straight

drama. This film uses records as a storytelling

device. Each song Julie plays triggers a flashback.

This was a creative structure at the time and

tied directly to the title Penny Serenade, referencing

cheap records. So how well do those techniques

stand to the test of time years later? Does Cary

Grant truly pull off a performance worthy of

an Oscar nomination? Back to Kevin and myself

to discuss. All right. Thank you for that. Dan,

as always, does a great job of setting the stage

for us. So I'm going to have one comment and

then I'm going to have a question and kind of

throw it to you, Dan. So my one comment is I'm

very thankful that we did this in chronological

order and that we did not watch Penny Serenade

after bringing up Baby because I feel like that

would have been whiplash that my old body would

not have been able to recover from. as far as

two different ends of the spectrum. So the question

I have for you is, I think a lot of, like Penny

Serenade is not a film that has a lot of name

recognition these days, I feel like, especially

probably outside of movie lovers and film Twitter

and letterbox accounts and stuff like that. I

feel like the common person doesn't know or has

probably not heard of Penny Serenade. I feel

like it's one of those that's kind of been forgotten

over the years. It doesn't have the name recognition

of a lot of the films that we watched in the

Hitchcock series, even the ones that we've watched

so far, like the Philadelphia story and His Girl

Friday and things like that. Whether people have

watched those or not, I feel like they still

know the name. So it seems like it's kind of

been lost to time in a way. On the other hand

though, this is one of Cary Grant's only Award

nomination for best actor films. He's only he

only got nominated to believe twice and this

is one of them It's also according to what we've

read on him. This is perhaps his best performance

in his mind According to comments that he's made

in interviews. It's also Irene Dunn's one of

if not her favorite films as well so my question

to you Dan is Did we get it right with letting

penny serenade kind of be lost to time or do

we need to take up the mantle? Is it our mission

Dan yourself and my enemy to? Bring penny serenade

back into the forefront of modern movie discourse

What was your reaction to penny serenade? I'll

be honest like I was not emotionally ready for

this movie, you know, as you mentioned the even

The last movie we did being The Philadelphia

Story, which was comedic, had some drama, but

it was melodrama. It wasn't really high stakes

drama. Pretty much every Cary Grant movie we've

had has been like either thrilling with the Hitchcock

films or heavily comedic. And going into this,

I purposely just tried to know nothing about

it. I didn't like watch the trailer, read anything.

I just like, let's go and find, see what it's

like. I know he was nominated for an Oscar, so

I'm like, oh, it's probably a bit more serious,

you know, or it's maybe, who knows, maybe it's

just it was really good. I didn't know why. So

we're going through it and like, okay, it's clearly

a romance film and we're, it's really heavy on

that. It must be that type of story. Oh, they're

going to get divorced. So it must just be them

trying to fall back in love with one another.

I was not expecting this to go to the places

it did. You know, we're in Japan. They're getting

ready to have to have a baby and then suddenly

an earthquake. I'm like, oh wow This is serious

and then like realizing putting starting to put

things together of what's really happening and

what this could lead to I was like, wow, I was

not expecting movie of this ilk of this time

to like get into things like miscarriages it

doesn't like directly mention that or even say

that word, but it's clearly what happens and

and the law, you know that the pain of that.

And then, you know, it starts, it starts to kind

of, you know, see them go through the adoption

process and everything like that. I'm like, okay,

at least we're seeing, at least this is coming

on the other side of this and being a bit more

happy. And then suddenly we start reading a note.

And I'm like, wait, at first I was like, I wasn't

going to read the note along with it. I was just,

okay, let's go. And then I'm realizing, okay,

they really want me to read this. I'm like, wait,

what up now? That's awful. This has gotten even

worse. So I just wasn't emotionally prepared

for it. Not necessarily a bad way, but I was

not expecting this type of level. And I do think,

speaking of Cary Grant, he is really good in

this, and it is a different version of what we're

used to. We do get some of those comedic bits.

You do see him, you know, especially when they're

like first having the baby and there's some funny

moments there and seeing him go from this reluctant

father to like really caring for this child was

something. And the performances, you know, Irene

Dune, as you mentioned, she's really good as

well. I think they have strong chemistry and

I don't know. I thought this was a much stronger

film, obviously much more dramatic. And I thought

they all kind of worked well. I like the Editing

choices utilizing music to kind of get out certain

moments within their life and how it relates

I thought that was a clever and effective way

even like how it's like edited scene to scene

So I thought it was not the most pleasant laughing,

you know entertaining watch perhaps like The

ending was, I had issues with that, we could

get into it, but again, I can think that's just

part of the code that they were living under,

as we mentioned a lot with the Philadelphia story,

which is probably why they had to kind of get

that type of ending. But beyond that, I don't

know, I thought this was, I do think this deserves

to be talked about much more, even if you're

not just talking about the quality of it, just

the willingness to talk about a certain subject

matter. I don't know, even films today struggle

with, so how about yourself? So before I get

into my thoughts, I would just like to know,

or like to state for the record, that whoever...

So we've been watching Cary Grant. Like you said,

he's had a lot of comedic stuff that we've...

Obviously some of the Hitchcock stuff is a little

bit more thriller and suspense, but we still

get North by Northwest, in which he's funny.

We still get his comedic bits even in the thriller

type. Genre and then we go in and have bringing

up baby and his girl Friday, which are you know,

just ridiculous comedy it's not ridiculous in

a bad way, but just like, you know full -on comedies

and Whoever made the film poster for this film

It says penny serenade. It says the director's

name. It says the two stars names Irene done

gets for spilling by the way and The quote on

the poster is there's the love we all dream of

finding which grammatically does not make sense.

But anyways it It's there and it's like a picture

of the two of them and it looks like it's a party

sequence there. You know, Cary Grant's given

us a wink. Irene Dunn seems like she's celebrating.

Who who made this poster? This is the most misleading

not since I've ever seen in my life. There was

maybe one sequence in there where they were enjoying

themselves and having a good time. That was it.

But man, I two things that kind of stand out

in my head for this one that were kind of more.

very minor notes in my watching of this, but

I've thought about them more as I've kind of

been digesting where I land on this film. One

of which was I was actually watching this film,

I believe on Labor Day. I know it was a day that

I wasn't working. And sometimes I watch movies

like later at night when everybody else is sleeping

or different things and it's not always like

a full house or whatever. I was actually out

in the living room this time watching this film.

This film is from 1941. It is black and white.

It has music from, you know, the 1920s, 30s,

et cetera. And not necessarily the most accessible

for like children or people of this generation.

Sometimes people don't like black and white films.

Sometimes people, you know, don't like that style

of music, et cetera, et cetera. I'm watching

this out in the living room and You know, I see

probably the first third of it, first 20, 30

minutes of it by myself. By the end of the film,

my wife is watching it. My five year old is watching

it. And it struck me that it roped both of them

in. And like they were even asking questions

about what, you know, my wife was asking me questions

about what she had missed. try to catch up like

she was invested in it and like my daughter was

watching it like she was just following along

real good too and i'm just like what is it about

this film that is like getting their attention

and bringing them in but it has to be something

right otherwise they would just walk out and

go do something else and go play with toys or

you know go in the pool or whatever they would

do so i thought that was kind of interesting

the other thing that i thought it did which was

somewhat subtle i guess or I don't even know

if it was intended, but the part that they had

not seen is the beginning part where we get to

the point where we know that Irene Dune's character,

Julie, is in this apartment and we know that

stuff has not turned out well. Like that's given

away fairly early on in a conversation she has

with the best named character, possibly in film

history, Applejack Carney. So she has a conversation

with Applejack, and you know that they have alluded

to the fact that this isn't, this relationship

didn't work out. In our heads, that's what we're

told. You know, like that's our perception is

something has happened along the way that this

relationship has not worked out, that there is

no children. Like that's, that they tell that,

like, we pick up on that, that's communicated

to us in the beginning. And then we go through,

like Dan said, the sequence of playing these

records and kind of going down memory lane and

reliving memories of her past. And we get to

see the blossoming of their relationship and

things like that. So when my family came in,

they hadn't seen that first part. So they don't

know how things are going to end. And in my head,

I know something has to happen that's going to

derail this. added like a bit of suspense almost

that I wasn't expecting from something that is

so serious and so dramatic as what we're getting.

I was literally on the edge of my seat at one

point. There is I'm not going to this movie is.

84 years old, so I don't think there's any need

to like kind of. put the disclaimer out for spoilers

but there's a sequence that happens at a school

play and I'm seeing that my wife and my daughter

have been like sucked into this movie and I know

something terrible is gonna happen and I'm convinced

that it's gonna happen at this school play and

like there's a misstep and I'm like my heart

is in my like throat I'm like oh my goodness

like do I need to tell my daughter to like leave

the room Yeah, and and it's totally a misdirection

because nothing happens there necessarily that

that that is that bad and it obviously happens

in a completely different sequence that we read

about later, but it was like I was like wow like

I was actually like on the edge of my seat like

buying into the suspense of this moment because

I know something bad is gonna happen and I don't

know how or when but I know that other shoe is

gonna drop so like I was surprised at that amount

of almost suspense that was built in At the same

point like I guess we can't get suspense away

from from Carrie Grant, but did you? Were you

in the same situation where you know something

bad is going to happen, but you weren't sure

exactly how or when it was going to happen? I

definitely that sequence you do. I did think

something was going to happen just the way. It

was taking its time so much. I'm like what is

because you know it was just walking really slowly

there. Going carrying now. She's moving this

little cloud which one I thought that like that

stage design super clever like oh wow that's

actually really nice like that's in that's pretty

that's pretty well done and I'm like, okay, it's

something gonna like happen here like it you

do get that and then she falls down and and then

Oh, and then like, you know, then they're like,

oh it actually ends up being fine So yeah, I

think a little bit and within that sequence because

you know, there's a lot of movie laughs Right.

You're just wondering, even if it wasn't like

something like harm coming, just like something

messing up, like a fight or something like negative,

like we knew something was going to happen to

lead to them, you know, potentially having this

divorce. So well, and I thought, I thought it

was somewhat obvious at the beginning that there

was no, I thought one of the, one of the comments

that she makes to Applejack implies that there

is no child anymore. There may have, I completely,

by that point may have, may have like, it's slipped

my mind completely. Or maybe I just read into

it, but I was convinced that this child that

we're watching and growing to love in this situation

is not gonna end well for us. And I was like,

oh my goodness. But it kind of goes back to another

thing you were saying too. I know some people

would claim that it's like unrealistic when I've

heard this critique before on different movies

where they see like negative happen. upon negative

upon negative thing happen and they almost try

to throw a flag that says like well it's unrealistic

nobody's been through like that many bad things

in a row which i always have a problem with because

that literally is how life happens for some folks

like and you know we have this situation where

we have the earthquake right so we have the miscarriage

we have the first attempt at trying to go to

the adoption agency and looks like it's not gonna

go well, right? Like they're getting read the

riot act, like you have a very small percent

chance it's gonna take years, et cetera. So we

have that. Then we have what happens, you know,

with their first child and, or first, then the

court's gonna take the child away, right? Like,

so it's like, and then something happens to the

child and then the relationship breaks down.

So it's like, you know, we're into like the fifth

or sixth traumatic event that's happened between

this. this couple, and it is a lot to stomach,

but I never thought it was necessarily like unrealistic.

I was, you know, along for the ride and thinking

like this is very much a tale that could have

happened to an actual couple. So I didn't see

that as an issue with it, like being piled upon

it, but it is something that you have to be like

emotionally ready to take in as a viewer. Just

like the time after time where you're like, oh,

it's going well. No, it's not. and it's like

it does that like three times but did you think

it was uh too much at any point or did you kind

of feel like it was natural the way that it progresses

from like one traumatic event to the other thought

it was it was naturally done because there are

it's not all it's not like every event is a bad

event like we get some moments of hope in glee

and that ultimately that that uh Christmas pageant

sequence is a very pleasant one It's a you know,

it's a very nice and quaint scene and we get

a lot of that and I think the adoption stuff

Was also it felt very realistic to me and maybe

a little bit, but you know over but it traumatized

of course for for a film, but That having to

go through all those if anything It's made it

a lot easier than it sometimes is because it

skipped over a bunch of stuff and but I didn't

I never felt it was overbearing with these things

happening. You have earthquake ramifications

for that. You have, of course, him starting a

paper. And everything seemed like it had reasoning

behind it, like him losing his job. It made sense,

because he was starting up a newspaper of doing

it without really being prepared to make that

type of decision. But at the same time, We did

get moments of them together, happy, having those

moments where it's like, okay, you could see

why they would stay together, why, you know,

I'd liked his progression of F first, like, going

to see this baby, it's like, well, go see if

you want, I don't really, I'm not that interested

in it, it's a girl, so why do I care? And then

that changing around, that to me was probably,

at least the most joyous sequence, them trying

to learn how to be parents. And I felt those

struggles were very, Realistically handled where

you don't we feel like you're over your head.

You don't know how to do anything I'm glad I

lived in an era what were diapers weren't that

hard to put on because I would have been screwed

Yeah, we have to like fold it and put it and

I'm like, man I'm glad we just had the things

on the side and that was it and we were good

to go because I could understand those frustrations

so I felt nothing felt over like Overblown like

it wasn't didn't feel like melodramatic or like

a soap opera Like I said the ending or the, you

know, the death of the child certainly felt like

it did kind of come out of nowhere, but in a

sense, that's kind of how it would happen. Like,

I don't know that in, you know, kids that age

during that era, it wasn't super uncalled for

or uncommon, you know, illnesses and, you know,

luckily we have things called vaccines, unless

you're in Florida, that we can utilize and to

help prevent that type of stuff now. So I don't

know, I never felt like it went through Emotions

in the sense of just like let's make you sad

again and do it again and let's do it It really

on a realistic and overbearing fashion. We're

like my goal here is to make you sad right, you

know, there are movies like that trying I can't

think of anything on top of my head where it's

like Oh, there's like endless sadness. And it's

like why even why am I watching this? Right.

I didn't get that feeling watching this No, and

I also I think you bring up a good point. I think

it was very cool to see Cary Grant's performance

as transformative as far as going from someone

that was probably not even interested in having

kids to someone that wanted a boy to someone

that's putting up with the you know his his love

to kind of appease her and then like seeing him

like gradually fall in love with you know the

girl and etc i thought he did he played that

off fairly well um another thing i wanted to

get your opinion of this is obviously somewhat

of a limited set limited cast I know we go to

different places. We kind of have at the beginning,

there is a few more people involved as they're

kind of going through their, I guess, the courting

phase or things of that nature. But for the most

part, we're dealing with the main two characters

here in Julie and Roger. We have their friend

Applejack. We have the adoption. I don't know

what her official title is, but Miss Oliver,

the head of the adoption agency. And it's really

like those four and then the twins that play

the child at different times. I think there's

two different sets of twins. One is the newborn

and one is the youngster because of how many

rules they had back in the day of our restrictions.

So in order to do it, I believe they decided

to cast twins so they can get twice as much filming

done as they otherwise would have. But outside

of that, I mean, you do have a judge that appears

very briefly. You have her friend when she's

younger, but they're kind of are very minor parts.

You basically have like four adults and then

this child. How do you think they handled that

as we kind of jumped into the different moments

of their life? Like did you appreciate that we

were just kind of limited to just a few characters

and how do you feel like the side characters

of Miss Oliver and Applejack played into that

and did you enjoy their performances? I'd say

I didn't even notice that there was that like

that short of a cast because I feel like with

a lot of movies we've done so far, that's kind

of been the case. You know, the Philadelphia

story was mainly like, I guess, you know, five

or six people with, I guess you could say a little

bit of cast. This girl variety, of course, had

a lot of extras, but the main characters were

just a few. So I didn't, it doesn't, it didn't

even cross my mind until you brought it up, but

that definitely makes sense. I thought that the

cast overall was strong. I think Applejack, like,

legitimately was such a great, like, we all need

a friend like Applejack because like, Guy just

like had the folksy wisdom and Coming in to save

the day like he always was able to kind of say

that And like that all shucks attitude like I

could like if we had an Applejack spinoff I would

I'd be the first person to watch that movie It's

a really like this character But yeah, I thought

overall the cast was strong the child actors

were pretty good, you know, they I think they

told their part well and even like the babies,

you know, they use them as the fact that they

use actual babies and not like Right just dolls.

Uh, so uh, but I Speaking of being stressed out

when they brought the baby into the bed I was

like, oh no, I was like, oh no Is this how it

like is there something that something gonna

happen here? Because like, you know in it So

it's like who knows but but also you got to appreciate

their uh, their makeshift crib that they made,

too Yeah, also very real feeling where like you

go to find it, you know, and they're gone. You're

like what you're just always worried about the

baby or Like is it breathing she make sure it's

like that's yeah, we've all been there So but

now I thought the cast was overall strong about

yourself I did too and I did some reading up

and I thought I found a couple of interesting

tidbits the girl that plays the guess the toddler

version of the child like the Six -year -old

or however old she is seven -year -old whatever

The name of that character is Ava Lee Cooney,

and she actually played one of she was an extra

in the Wizard of Oz to fill in the munchkin scenes.

Oh, because they didn't they didn't have enough

of. What's the proper term? Little people, yes,

they didn't have enough little people, so they

use some kids to kind of fill in the scenes and

she was one of them. So I found that was kind

of interesting. Very short. Filmography, I think

she was only in like 10 films, but she did go

on to dance and as a dancer in Vegas I think

and I think she performed with like Dean Martin

and Frank Sinatra and stuff like that so quite

the career from her and from a couple of different

angles and Edgar Buchanan who plays Applejack

Had an extensive both film and television career

He like tons and tons of credits, but look at

like the kind of stuff that he was in the Partridge

family He appeared in there He appeared as the

same character in both the Beverly Hillbillies

and Greenacres. I didn't know there was crossover

characters unless they both just had the same

name. Uncle Joe Carson in both of them. And if

you go through his filmography, it's almost all

as either judges, doctors or uncles. He plays

an uncle. He does have that type of... Atmosphere

around him like he does feel like he just feel

like the fun Uncle or like the uncle you'd go

to if you had issues and I didn't know that there

was this like a Multiverse in the TV world because

he plays the same exact character in three different

shows So he played uncle Joe Carson in 222 episodes

of Petticoat Junction in seven episodes or in

three episodes of the Beverly hillbillies and

in 16 episodes of Greenacres same character So

I didn't know those shows were connected at all,

so now I need to let go do some research. He

also played an uncle in Leave It to Beaver, Uncle

Billy Cleaver. He was in Dennis the Menace, he

appeared in the Andy Griffiths show, like he

was in like the Bonanza, the Rifleman, Maverick,

like every show that was famous back in the day,

he appears like in some way and a lot of Western

stuff as well. Especially when it came to the

movies, he was in quite a few Westerns towards

the end of his career as well. So he has an impressive

filmography, I'll say that much. And Bula Bondi,

who plays Miss Oliver, the adoption agency representative,

she was born in 1888. I think that's interesting.

She also got an Emmy Award for a guest star role

in The Waltons. And get this, she played the

mother of Jimmy Stewart in four different films.

Interesting, including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

and including It's a Wonderful Life. So four

different times she played Jimmy Stewart's mom

like that's a crazy tidbit of trivia that I thought

was interesting. Yeah, I did not know that. Yeah,

so quite the cast that got to do a whole bunch

of stuff in their career for sure. And obviously,

we know Irene Dunn and Cary Grant are Hollywood

icons from that time period of what are they

called? The golden age of Hollywood. So we don't

need to get into theirs too much. But Dan, I

wanted to get one more time. I know you said

you kind of enjoyed how the music played throughout.

And I know they were very conscientious of having

songs that fit the time periods that they were

depicting and that matched up with songs that

could have been heard in that time period. What

did you think of the actual editing with the

records being put on and then us going to the

center of the record and going into the scene

and then kind of going in and out of that? I

think they did that maybe like at least six times.

How did you feel like that as far as the transition

effect? I thought it was effective in the sense

of it allowed it so. You able to kind of jump

around in a way that made sense and you kind

of understood that you're more you're getting.

Snippets of their life, but also you understood

like the importance of music and how that connect

how that connects us I also think it works in

the sense of like often the way memories work

because often you know, I have a very I'm an

auditory learner so like that is often like how

Hearing certain music or even listen to certain

things like that triggers memories for me. So

I thought that was a good use of that and then

you know the Raw editing of just the look of

it. I thought it was a little shaky at times.

Also, I don't know if that was like just the

version I was watching because I know this entered

the public domain so there's a lot of like shaky

and not great versions of it like this I watched

it on Prime so I don't know but it wasn't overall

I thought it was well done and it was able to

it made it easy to follow in the way it was segmented

and it made it transitions from one scene to

the next all make sense that was varied enough

plus I was surprised that they actually used

the real happy birthday song because that was

one of the most expensive songs ever to use until

like it just went into public domain like two

years ago so like they spent a lot of money using

that using that song so uh i thought i was just

like oh wow they're they're going on out here

and how did it work for you um i thought at first

i was a little bit nervous about the number of

times they were going to be doing it potentially

and I didn't like at first I didn't know if it

was just going to happen once and then you kind

of get the feeling that's going to happen a few

times and then uh obviously it happens you know

like I said almost a half a dozen times so I

was somewhat worried that it was going to grate

on me over time but I actually did appreciate

it because like I'm someone that definitely had

you know a certain song plays and it takes me

right back to a certain time in my life so I

totally get how it's working with her and how

she would want to put a few more on and which

memories that's going to conjure so I thought

it worked well enough for, I guess, a unique

way to transition between sequences that I had

never seen before. So I at least appreciated

that part of it for sure. Another question I

had for you, Dan, and then I'll get some of your

kind of final thoughts as we start to wrap this

up. But I know some people would have some people

have issues with what they call exposition dumps

where we have like a certain time where everybody

is catching us up with a plot or, you know, a

monologue that's more to like advance storylines

and stuff like that. We in a way get something

here with that with this letter that is written

from Julie to miss Oliver kind of explaining

some of the stuff that has happened and and Advances

some things that events that happen in their

life. I Don't know if part of that is done to

get around Some of the codes and the sensors

of the time I don't have I haven't studied those

for you know thoroughly to know what they could

and could not show What did you think about that

because I know when you were talking about in

the beginning you. When we have text on screen,

a lot of times we have to choose whether we're

going to like pause it and try to read it or

read it with it or not. Read it and just see

if we need to or not. What did you think of the

execution of that sequence and kind of what it

does to progress the plot and the use of a letter

to do that? Interesting choice. I would like

I mentioned when I first came on I just thought

it was like oh here's a letter to this person

to kind of thinking them We're allowing us to

have this child and everything. I'm like, okay,

that's sweet. And you know, so I wasn't really

That like okay. Let me take time to read this.

I wasn't really You know paying that much attention

to it But then it like it stayed with it and

then I think we like turn the page and there's

like more to it And I'm like, oh, this is really

important. I should read this And then that's

just going on. I'm like, oh, it kind of hit me.

And I do wonder, like you mentioned, is it just

part of the censorship at the time? Because I'm

certain it was limited in being able to show

a child dying on screen like that, I would assume.

So it's one way of being able to do it. It's

like, OK, we need this to happen. This is the

choice we have. call me off guard and kind of

put you in the shoes of that character. So I

don't know, but I don't know. It also, like you

mentioned, it is a lot at once and it's like,

okay, here's a big, huge event that we're going

to just show you through text on a screen, which

is not always the most visually. Appealing way

of telling a story and for in the movie sense.

So no and one hand is one of those things where

I understand it more so than Found it like the

right choice, right? Yeah, it's like one that

I you know Maybe this is not the best way to

do this, but I also have not educated enough

to know How much their hands were tied on what

they couldn't couldn't do? So it's like maybe

this was their creative way to do this I know

it even said one of the trivia bits in the show

said that they were surprised that they could

even apparently they couldn't even at this time

show two adults sharing a bed. Yeah. And they

do show that in this film. So there was like

some questions as to how they got away with even

doing that. And I think there isn't a they allude

to the fact that they have had, you know, sexual

relations at one point. And that was a big no

no. So like, it's hard to put yourself in that

time and know what could and couldn't be done,

I guess. You know, during the Hayes code and

different things of that nature so anything else

that you wanted to bring up about penny serenade

that you like this like your final thoughts you

haven't been able to share yet. The thing i want

to talk about is is that ending where it seems

like they. And again we talked about this like.

During that was with the code if you got the

voice if you brought up the forest and they had

to get together by the end so i knew that was

happening but it's not just a choice of like

oh but we found you another kid. and it's like

it's a dog or something it's just that like that

like ending is just like that's a little that's

a little gross and again i get like that of the

time but like that's to me if you're like looking

at the biggest issue with the movie it is trying

to solve that problem so like what if you just

you know they don't have a kid they have to work

through it and i get like that probably wasn't

an option for them even if they wanted to go

that way But it just also just feels a little

icky where it's like, oh, we can not have to

worry about the kid we lost because we can replace

them. And it just right. It's a. My wife definitely

had a reaction to that. She was like, oh, they're

just going to replace them with another one.

Got it. And I think the other problematic part

about that is it doesn't give like word to believe

that this has completely devastated this relationship

between these two adults. Like they're not. Speaking

hardly they're not hardly able to be in the same

room. It's destroyed the love that they had all

this other stuff and then like one Quick note

about like hey, they found you know a boy And

it's like a light switch and all sudden they're

cool with each other. I was like that's a little

too tidy Yeah, I get like part of that is it's

so it's it's a time period and but also there's

a lot of a lot of issues there that they're glossing

over because I really like I clearly went through

it and it doesn't necessarily address A lot of

the problems that were lingering but that was

also no society issue at the time as well So

I think it's hard to like blame the movie for

that when society wasn't quite there yet as well

but I feel bad for Applejack because he's got

to move everything back in and like because he's

a nice friend and Yeah, I yeah, I get app justice

for Applejack cuz he did he did so much he gets

yelled at for You know making the paper because

it's making noise in the beat, you know He was

going ham on that thing though. Yeah, he was

he was going True. I love Applejack. He's definitely

gonna be in the running for best supporting character

when we get done with this So coming up next,

after Penny Serenade, we're going to jump a couple

of years into the future. Going to go from, I

believe, 1941 to 1944, where Cary Grant actually

does a pair of films. So we're going to cover

two films from 1944. And the first of those films

is going to be a film called Arsenic and Old

Lace. So we're going to go from slapstick comedy

in the beginning to super serious in Penny Serenade.

And now we're going to go right back to comedy

with Arsenic and Old Lace. Dan, what is Your

history or knowledge of this next one we're going

to cover So this one I have a pretty good history

and knowledge of i've seen seen it before also

in high school We read we read the play and like

we acted it out in like our english classroom

And for some reason it's always stuck with me

I played the role of teddy the guy who was like

the guy who thought he was teddy roosevelt and

then later on watched the movie in high school

and watched it again, probably like seven or

eight years ago and I was a big fan of it then,

so curious if that all remains the same. But

at that time, that was probably the only Cary

Grant movie I saw or one of the few. So I'm interested

to see now watching all these movies, how does

it compare with all that? So looking forward

to it. How about yourself? I think this is the

first time in a while that we're actually going

to go into a film that we've both seen before.

Okay, so that's gonna be interesting so and it's

a very oddly similar story so our we had a Community

theater, I guess you can call it that in the

beginning all it was was It basically went from

the school producing a play once a year that

the students did and then it turned into like

a community theater that would Hosts kind of

a school play but then would also do their own

plays throughout the rest of the year and It

was just like a small community theater and so

we would have one of the Productions every year

would be the school one and the rest would just

be community people or from people from around

you know the different communities neighboring

us and stuff like that and When I was a junior

I want to say in high school They came to us

and you know the idea of this next school play.

It was one of the first ones they were doing

at that time and a bunch of my friends and I

were like, hey, you know, like, why not? Like,

let's do this. And so with this is the play that

they put on was arsenic and old lace. And I actually

got to play Jonathan Brewster in this place.

So I was the villain of one of the two villains,

I guess you can call it in this play. So anyways,

I didn't know anything about acting or anything

about what this was going to be like. So, you

know, I know some people say don't watch the

source material and some people say do. I don't

know. I was like, 16 or 17. So I went and got

the movie and was like, I need to see like what

this is. I have no clue what this is otherwise.

And I was just going to be kind of going in blind.

So I watched the film at that point. And then

obviously we we did the play. And I don't know,

I think there was maybe like eight or nine productions

of it that we had to do so or shows. So I definitely

got very familiar with it. Obviously, we we did

our own take on it. And there was some ideas

that were added and different things. So it's

going to be hard for me to separate like. what

was ingrained in me versus what actually happens

in the movie because we, you know, emphasize

different things as you're going to do with a

live play. So it's very interesting. We both

have like a background of not only seeing the

movie, but, you know, being involved with the

play itself. So I remember one of the things

that struck me about the play was that, you know,

this was like 1998, 99. I know I'm dating myself,

but we're talking about the late eighties or

the late nineties. I mean, and. What struck me

was that something from 1944 still came across

and played as funny as it did when we did this

for both ourselves as like teenagers doing it

we thought it was funny and like obviously the

audience thought it was funny and stuff like

that so like it was funny to me that something

that old like in my Young mind at that point.

I didn't associate humor translating like that

So it was like a somewhat of an eye -opening

thing that was like, oh, you know even stuff

from other time periods that you may not think

Would still hold up can be just as funny as anything

you've seen nowadays. So I Appreciate the humor

in this one a lot. So I'm looking forward. I

haven't seen the film though since then so it's

been 25 years since I've seen so I'm definitely

looking forward to it. And, you know, at the

time I didn't know I was watching, you know,

Cary Grant and et cetera. So it's definitely

going to be interesting on this, on this rewatch

and I'm looking forward to it. So, all right,

Dan, why don't you tell people how they can stay

in touch with you or if they have questions or

comments, how they can get them to you. I just

searched Comic Concierge on all social media

platforms. You'll find me there. All right, you

can search us out on all the social media platforms,

Letterboxx, things of that nature. If you want

to keep up with our film thoughts and opinions,

definitely search us out on Letterboxx. You can

also get to me on X or Twitter or whatever you

call it, at Optimus Solo. You can find the show

if you search out the cinema geeks or you can

search out the website at GeekCastRadio .com.

network to find out all things that we've done.

And if you're just joining us recently, just

for this Cary Grant retrospective, then we encourage

you to also go back and join us as we went through

quite a few, I think 15 of the Alfred Hitchcock

films as well. And we can have a good time talking

about those as well. So that does it for this

episode. Tune in next time for another chance

to listen to more of the Cinema Geeks.