vincentlynch-moonoi It isn't that this is a great film. It's not. In fact, the plot is on the sappy side and totally illogical.But what shines through in this film is Bing Crosby's charisma on screen. He's just so darned smooth that it's difficult not to like and enjoy this film. The story starts out in the "big house", as a convict is going to the electric chair. He asked fellow inmate Crosby to deliver a letter to his family when he gets out. Crosby does, and ends up saving the daughter from adoption. How? By opening a sort of nightclub and falling in love with the social worker...of course! As I said, Crosby is the main attraction here and is smooth as silk. Madge Evans ably plays the beautiful social worker. Edith Fellows plays the girl, but I can't say I was enthralled by her performance. Louis Armstrong is along for the ride, and Donald Meek is delightful as the grandfather of the girl.Nothing special, but you may enjoy it.

grizzledgeezer "Pennies from Heaven" is thematically so similar to "Penny Serenade" (a classic tear-jerker) that one might think was Columbia's attempt to (forgive me) cash in on the success of "Penny Serenade" (another Columbia film). But the latter came five years later. "Pennies from Heaven" is little more than a Bing Crosby vehicle -- one badly in need of a tune-up.It starts off well enough, with a man about to be executed for murder handing a letter to a self-styled "troubadour" (Bing Crosby) to be delivered to the family of the man he killed. Once Crosby finds them, he makes a half-hearted effort to help (he's on his way to Venice), but his affection for the man's daughter (Edith Fellows) encourages him to stay. When a social worker (Madge Evens) comes after the girl to put her in an orphanage, Crosby announces a plan to open a restaurant.It is at this point that the story runs off the rails of plausibility, crashing into a chasm deeper than any Wile E Coyote ever fell into. I need not describe the fore-ordained and saccharine ending, made possible by the miracle of Arbitrary Plotting.There are good things. If you like Der Bingle, you get to hear him introduce the classic title song. Louis Armstrong (whom Crosby insisted be hired) is a treat, Edith Fellows is an agreeably anarchic child, and Stanley Andrews (the host of "Death Valley Days") has an unbilled role as a plainclothes officer. Evans, though, is sufficiently blah one wonders how a woman-hater like Crosby's character would ever find her attractive.Jo Swerling wrote better scripts than this one, but Norman McLeod's direction is tight and brisk. Note his unusual camera angles, as when Fellows looks through her opera glasses at Crosby.Nevertheless, "Pennies from Heaven" is one of those "less than the sum of its parts" films in which everyone's contribution is wasted on a poor story. You may safely skip it.PS: Crosby's character says at one point that he was born in Washington state -- which the real Crosby was. (Different city, though.)

AVache1 Pennies from Heaven 1936 is a great film and has a wonderful scene with Louis Armstrong singing "Skeleton in the Closet" while chasing a skeleton all around the room. It works great for school kids on Halloween.Does anyone know if this movie is available on VHS or DVD for sale? If so where can I purchase it? Please email me

willrams I was ten years old and this was one of Bing Crosby's earliest films. Oh how I used to enjoy all his films! I believe this is the first film he did with the great Louis Armstrong. What a joy and thrill to all that great music; same for Birth of the Blues.