Penny Serenade

A stalwart icon of the Hollywood studio system, George Stevens directed this mawkish, sentimental, but also beloved 1941 romantic melodrama, pairing Cary Grant with Irene Dunne for the third time. The story of their characters' bittersweet years together is told through the recurring device of popular songs playing the soundtrack of their life (they first meet in a music shop). Penny Serenade begins near the end, with Julie (Dunne) placing records on a turntable that revolves into flashbacks of key events from the couple's courtship and marriage. Much of this is endearingly charming, with bumbling, good-hearted Roger (Grant) taking a chance on love and on becoming the publisher of a small newspaper. But counterbalancing the sweetness and light is recurring tragedy, mainly involving children—both Julie's inability to give birth and the couple's adventures in adoption. Stevens does a fine job with the story and his stars, without whom Penny Serenade would be a pretty maudlin soap opera. Grant is appealing as an unlucky sweetheart in an Oscar-nominated turn, while Dunne projects grace and gentle strength, and Edgar Buchanan shines in a supporting performance as Applejack, the crusty friend who's a sage in matters of philosophy, love, and changing a diaper. Recommended. (T. Fry)