La chanson du passé

Original title: Penny Serenade

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in La chanson du passé (1941)

A couple's big dreams give way to a life full of unforeseen sadness and unexpected joy.A couple's big dreams give way to a life full of unforeseen sadness and unexpected joy.A couple's big dreams give way to a life full of unforeseen sadness and unexpected joy.

Director
- George Stevens
Writers
- Morrie Ryskind
- Martha Cheavens
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.1/10

8.6K

YOUR RATING

Director
- George Stevens
Writers
- Morrie Ryskind
- Martha Cheavens
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 2 wins & 2 nominations total

Photos88

+ 80

Top cast53

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Cary Grant

Roger Adams

Irene Dunne

Julie Gardiner

Beulah Bondi

Miss Oliver

Edgar Buchanan

Applejack

Ann Doran

Dotty

Eva Lee Kuney

Trina (at the Age of 6 Years)

Leonard Willey

Doctor Hartley

Wallis Clark

Judge

Walter Soderling

Billings

Jane Biffle

Trina (at the Age of 1 Year)
(as Baby Biffle)

Dorothy Adams

Mother in Stalled Car
(uncredited)

Billy Bevan

McDougal
(uncredited)

Mary Bovard

Girl
(uncredited)

Lynton Brent

Reporter
(uncredited)

Stanley Brown

Man
(uncredited)

Albert Butterfield

Boy
(uncredited)

Chuck Callahan

New Year's Party Drunk
(uncredited)

Nell Craig

Miss Morgan
(uncredited)

Director
- George Stevens
Writers
- Morrie Ryskind
- Martha Cheavens
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

User reviews134

7.18.5K

Featured reviews

SoftKitten80

Classy Dunne and Grant movie

Irene Dunne is a class act all the way. A real lady, and it comes out in this film. While she and Grant always look like movie stars in the film, you can't stop noticing that they look like movie stars, they do their job and do it to perfection. Only two A-level actors could carry this tear jerker off well. The adoption lady was also realistic and convincing. The little girl or baby, whichever children played them, were the cutest and sweetest I've ever seen in film. Irene Dunne cannot hit a false note, ever, it seems. She looks marvelous in everything she wears, be it a simple housedress or pajamas. Same with Cary Grant, he wears the clothes. The penny serenade theme and the way the camera plays with the records is really magic. This film is a gift to the audience. Grant and Dunne show their adeptness at establishing and making us believe they are an intimate married couple. Irene Dunne is at the height of sensitivity and softness here, a true lady with beautiful hair and hairstyles. What a movie. And one cannot forget our beloved Apple Jack, such a sweet soul.

blissfilm

A Beauty

One of the best films made. 1941 was a phenomenal year, not least for this film and Grant's marvelous performance. Call it melodrama, but it's the stuff of life, heartbreak and love and helpless vulnerability. How unfashionable.

I could watch Edgar Buchanan wash that baby a thousand times. Find me one actor with enough life experience today to do that scene. Just one.

Independent films today often seem to strive to make the point that human drama is about the struggles and relationships of private life. We call it "sentiment" when studios made films about this sort of drama and what's ultimately important on the most private level.

Snow Leopard

A Generally Effective Bittersweet Story

With sympathetic main characters and an approach that is usually understated enough to avoid over-sentimentality, this bittersweet story works reasonably well most of the time. Irene Dunne plays this kind of role well, handling a wide range of material while keeping her emotions and reactions restrained enough to be believable. Cary Grant is better than one might expect him to be in this kind of role. It's possible that Edgar Buchanan's performance might be the most important of all in holding it together, since he is ideal in providing some down-to-earth balance, whether his character is repairing printing presses or giving the young couple some tips on taking care of their baby.

Director George Stevens does a good job with the pacing, and the story-framing technique with the various songs works pretty well. While there may be a few moments when the sentimentality gets dangerously high, most of the time it remains balanced, and certainly more so than is the case with present-day movies of this kind. It's far from flawless, but it is generally effective in telling the kind of story that takes a combination of sensitivity and restraint to tell believably.

8ram-30

When you're only option is adoption.

There are so many things to recommend about the film "Penny Serenade". This is a heart tugging yet not sappy story of a couple who realize they need a child to keep them together and their only option is adoption. The Cary Grant character starts off wanting nothing to do with children and ends up having his adopted child being his raison d'etre. There are many familiar yet well executed themes: adopted children can be just as loved as birth children; you don't have to have lots of money to be a good parent. Another thing that is very impressive about the film is a unique film technique for its time. The plot is revealed through flashbacks which happen while the Irene Dunne character is playing phonographs: the record spins and dissolves into the scene from the past. I found this transition technique quite effective and ahead of its time. The other thing that stands out is the casting of the young actresses that play their daughter. All 3 are adorable, but not in an annoying, mock precocious, Shirley-Temple way. Finally, this film is billed as a change of pace from the Dunne-Grant comedies like "The Awful Truth" but the awesome truth is that this film has hilarious moments. Grant is is fine comic form, especially in the early morning feeding scene. You can find the DVD "Penny Serenade" in the bargain bin at many stores which in a way is an insult but a great opportunity for you to add this great film to your DVD collection for pennies.

9misslv80

Unusual, but sad story

Cary Grant plays a newspaper reporter who falls in love and marries Irene Dunne, whom he meets at a record store. While abroad in Japan, tragedy strikes for the couple, which sets the course for the story. It really is a simple story about how a married couple long for having a home and a family of their own. Grant surprised me with his family man role, quite different from the sophisticated characters he played later on in his career. His monologue during the adoption hearing was one of the best scenes in the whole movie and very well done. Irene Dunne was great in her role as his wife. The little girl who plays their daughter was too cute for words. It was also an interesting insight into how a couple struggles to raise their first child, which is something many people can relate to, no matter what the time period. It was also interesting the way Dunne went through all the flashback scenes in the movie by playing records that reminded her of their life together. Beulah Bondi (who played George Bailey's mother from It's A Wonderful Life) has a great supporting role as the head of the adoption agency who has doubts about the couple at first, but then grows to care a great deal for them. The ending was a complete surprise. If you like Cary Grant or old Hollywood movies, this is something different. Sad, but sentimental. Recommended.

Trivia
Cary Grant, one of the cinema's greatest comedic actors, was only ever nominated twice for an Academy Award for Best Actor, in both instances for lesser-known dramatic roles. This was one of them, followed three years later by Rien qu'un coeur solitaire (1944).

Goofs
The dress Julie wears at the beginning of playing the records is not the same dress she is wearing when she is playing the last record. This is because she changed into a different dress as well as coat while she is packing to leave and left the record playing.

Quotes
Judge: [Judge firmly addressing two unseen attorneys] I'll give you an opportunity to better prepare your facts.
Man: [Hands Judge some papers] Adoption proceedings, the Adams case.
Judge: What?
Man: The Adams case.
Judge: [Looks disturbed] Oh yes, yes. Uh...
[turns back to attorneys]
Judge: if either one or both of you gentlemen conduct yourselves like you've been doing today I'll hold you in contempt, the both of ya!
Judge: [Walks into chambers, sees Roger, Miss Oliver, and the baby all seated. Sits at desk] Uh, oh this is the child in question. Ahem, let me see. Yes, I recall looking over these adoption papers. I see you have no income at present.
[Looks at Roger]
Judge: Is that correct?
Roger Adams: Yes your Honor.
Judge: Now what is this Miss Oliver? You know this case should never have come before me.
Miss Oliver: Well your Honor I feel that this is a special case. I kept hoping until the last minute Mr. Adams might be able to resume the operation of his paper or get a job. But unfortunately he hasn't been able to do either, so i thought...
Judge: Under these conditions I can't grant the adoption. This child will have to revert to the orphanage.
[Gestures to Roger]
Judge: Will you draw up a chair please while I prepare these release papers for you to sign? Just a matter of routine.
Roger Adams: If you please your Honor, it can't just be a matter of routine for people to have their baby taken away from them. This child is ours Judge...
Judge: [Interrupting] Those are the requirements of the law.
Roger Adams: Yes but you see we've had her since she was six weeks old. It just doesn't seem reasonable to give her back to-to-to strangers.
Judge: Mr. Adams, you're not here to plead your case. You've had the regular opportunity to prove your fitness to provide.
Roger Adams: We are *fit* Judge if you just look at the record.
Judge: Without any income I have no alternative. Didn't you make that clear Miss Oliver?
Miss Oliver: Yes your Honor I did, but I thought...
Judge: [Firmly] I'm sorry but that is the law.
Roger Adams: Look your Honor, she's not like an automobile or an icebox or a piece of furniture or something you buy on time and when you can't give up the payments they take it away from you!
[Baby starts to cry]
Roger Adams: Now sit still and be a good girl. Anyone could give up those kinds of things, but I ask you Judge how can you give up your own child? And she is our child just as much as if she'd been born to us!
[Baby continues crying]
Roger Adams: Now, now, Daddy's not going to go away.
[Baby stops crying and smiles]
Roger Adams: Look Judge, we've had her over a year now. Why we-we walked the floor with her when she had the colic. We've lost nights of sleep worrying every time she cut a tooth. We've gone through everything, everything real parents have with one of their own. Ask Miss Oliver here about the inspections we've had to have. Her-her weight charts, her vaccination certificates, h-her toys, her toothbrush! How many parents could keep one of their own and
[voice cracks]
Roger Adams: go through that? And you sit here and say it's a matter of routine for you to take her away from us.
Miss Oliver: Please! Mr. Adams...
Roger Adams: I'm sorry Judge, but we weren't as fortunate as most people. We would've had one of our own only-only... well you don't know how badly my wife wanted a child. It wasn't so important to me. I-I don't know, I suppose most men are like this but children never meant a great deal to me. Oh I liked them alright I suppose, but well what I'm trying to say is your Honor the first time I saw her... she looked so little and helpless. I didn't know babies were so-so little. And then she took a-hold of my finger and I held onto it. She-she just sort of walked into my heart Judge
[begins to cry]
Roger Adams: and-and she was there to stay. I didn't know I could feel like that! I'd always been well, kind of careless and irresponsible. I wanted to be a big shot. And I couldn't work for anybody, I had to be my own boss, that sort of thing. Now here I am standing in front of a judge pleading for just a little longer so that I can prove to you I can support a little child that doesn't weigh quite twenty pounds. It's not only for my wife and me I'm asking you to let us keep her Judge, it's for her sake too. She doesn't know any parents but us.
[starts sobbing]
Roger Adams: She wouldn't know what'd happened to her. You see there's so many little things about her that nobody would understand her the way Judy and I do. We love her Judge, please don't take her away from us. Look, I'm not a big shot now, I-I'll do anything, I'll work for anybody.
[Starts to break down]
Roger Adams: I-I'll beg, I'll borrow, I-I'll... please Judge I'll sell anything I've got until I get going again. And she'll never go hungry, she'll never be without clothes not so long as I've got two good hands so help me!
[Camera fades out as Judge, Roger, and Miss Oliver all ponder what has just been said]

Alternate versions
Also shown in computer-colored version.

Connections
Edited into Connaître son ennemi - Japon (1945)

Soundtracks
You Were Meant for Me
(1929) (uncredited)
Music by Nacio Herb Brown
Lyrics by Arthur Freed
Played on a record and sung by Johnny Johnston four times
Played as background music often