Pennies From Heaven

Best known in America as a 1981 film starring Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters, Dennis Potter's bittersweet yarn set during the Great Depression was originally staged as this eight-hour miniseries broadcast by the BBC in 1978. Pennies From Heaven made a star of Bob Hoskins, perfectly cast as Arthur Parker, an unsuccessful sheet-music salesman who blots out his dreary life with imaginative daydreams that take the form of lavish production numbers of his favorite songs. Arthur isn't happy at home--his marriage to Joan (Gemma Craven) is an in-name-only union--so he's ripe for the subsequent affair he begins with shy schoolteacher Eileen Everson (Cheryl Campbell). Veteran TV director Piers Haggard didn't have the financial resources available to Herbert Ross, who helmed the Hollywood feature-film adaptation, but he managed to replicate the drab Depression era with astonishing success, bringing a doom-laden mood to the story's “real” portions that makes the fanciful production numbers even more effective by contrast. Considered a real breakthrough upon its initial broadcast, Pennies From Heaven is just as riveting today as it was a generation ago. Featuring commentary by Haggard and producer Kenith Trodd, this is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (E. Hulse)