Pennies from Heaven (1936)

Director:

Norman Z. McLeod

Writers:

Katherine Leslie Moore (novel)
William Rankin (story)

Release Date:

25 November 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Musical

Tagline:

FUN...when Crosby croons himself out of jail and lands on a merry-go-round with the meanest of brats! (original poster)

Plot:

Larry Poole, in prison on a false charge, promise an inmate that when he gets out he will look up and help out a family...

Plot Keywords:

Singer | Welfare | Singing | Promise | Street Singer

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Bing Crosby	...	Larry Poole
Madge Evans	...	Susan Sprague
Edith Fellows	...	Patsy Smith
Louis Armstrong	...	Henry
Donald Meek	...	Gramp Smith
John Gallaudet	...	J. C. Hart
William Stack	...	Clarence B. Carmichael
Nana Bryant	...	Miss Howard
Tom Dugan	...	Crowbar Miller (as Tommy Dugan)
Nydia Westman	...	Slavey - Hotel Maid

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #2402) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

General Service Studios - 1040 N. Las Palmas, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Emanuel Cohen Productions

Trivia:

Louis Armstrong was hired for this movie at Bing Crosby's insistence. Crosby also insisted that Armstrong receive prominent billing, the first time a black actor shared top billing with white actors in a major release film.

Quotes:

Susan Sprague: Are you married?
Larry Poole: No, I'm sane!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Lady with the Torch (1999)

Soundtrack:

One Two Button Your Shoe

Dated But Pure Crosby

Bing Crosby is one of the few performers who while he performed in over 70 films while he was alive, was so talented he has now appeared as a performer in just as many after his death in archive footage. He was a very shrewd Businessman too. This film, released by Columbia, was really made by a production company partly owned by Bing. A lot of film historians forget how Democratic the earlier years of films were where often the actors owned their own productions before the studio system really took over in the late 1930's. The big stars like Crosby even later than this had the power to own their own films and get a piece of the box office.

This film has the major attraction of Crosby in his prime with plenty of support and a fine performance by Louis Armstrong who is one of the great musical performers of the era too. Directed by Norman Z McCleoud who is a comedy director with Monkey Business & Horsefeathers, 2 of the great Marx Brothers films already on his resume, this film flows along quite nicely. The script is light hearted and puts together just enough plot to get through all the great musical numbers.

This is the type of film that isn't made anymore but is great to see, especially since a lot of Crosbys work is very entertaining. This one holds up well even today after all these years.