Penny Serenade (1941)
That is what Penny Serenade is about. Director George Stevens gives us a marriage told in episodes. Julie (Irene Dunn) a music shopgirl, who meets Roger (Cary Grant) a reporter who is shopping for some records. The story is introduced by a song played on the Victrola, one of the 27 records Roger buys at the shop for he was so taken with Julie he couldn't be parted from her. The songs bring back a memory to Julie, who's playing them one last time, for her heart is broken and she feels so is her marriage. We relive these memories with her, playing the joyous moments and tragic lows.
Setting up a household while trying to establish a small town newspaper, with the help of family friend, Applejack (Edgar Buchanan).
All through this, they are trying to adopt a baby to complete their family. At the adoption agency, Miss Oliver (Beulah Bondi) is the woman who will decide whether they could be suitable parents.
The family scenes are the sweetest and we see the joys and stresses of being adoptive parents. Have Kleenex ready, you will need it. This movie is filled with "feels." The Christmas sequence is so identifiable with any parent who has a child perform in a religious pageant or school play.
Buy more Kleenex. . .
reprint from December 2017