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List Price: $49.98 | | Label: BBC Warner
Salesrank: 39812
Released: July 27, 2004 |
| Our Price: $24.99 |
| Used Price: $25.24 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Dennis Potter's masterpiece mini-series follows the adventures, mishaps, and yearnings of a traveling song sheet peddler on a tight commission as he tries to make dreams fit the promises of the lyrics he carries.
Description of Pennies from Heaven (1978 British Miniseries):
Dennis Potter's astonishing six-part miniseries remains one of the edgiest, most audacious things ever conceived for television. The story tells of one Arthur Parker (Bob Hoskins), a sheet-music salesman in 1930s England. Beaten down by economic hard times and the sexual indifference of his proper wife (Gemma Craven), Arthur cannot understand why his life can't be like the beautiful songs he loves. On a sales trip through the Forest of Dean, he meets a virginal rural woman (Cheryl Campbell) he suspects may be his ideal. Ruination follows. Punctuating virtually every scene is a vintage pop song--lip-synched and sometimes danced out by the characters. This startling innovation makes the contrast between Arthur's brutish life and his bourgeois dreams even more dramatic.
Potter's dark vision digs into British stoicism, sexual repression, the class system, and even the coming of fascism in Europe. But it is especially poignant on the subject of the divide between art and reality. Piers Haggard directs the long piece with deft transitions between songs and story. (It was shot partly on multi-camera video, partly on film.) The cast is fine, especially the extraordinary Cheryl Campbell, who imbues her character with keen intelligence and no small measure of perversity. Bob Hoskins triumphs in his star-making part, bringing a demonic energy to his small-time Cockney, nearly bursting his button-down vests with frustration and appetite. Pennies from Heaven was remade in 1981 for the big screen (with Steve Martin), an interesting, Potter-scripted adaptation; it's one of the reasons the original has been unavailable on home video for so long. --Robert Horton
Pennies from Heaven (1978 British Miniseries) Reviews:
Great DVD 
2009-11-22 - I love this version of Pennies from Heaven. Made me a Bob Hoskins fan.
Bob Hoskins became a star; Dennis Potter became a legend 
2009-06-20 - Dennis Potter is perhaps not a household name in the US, despite notable successes like his two landmark miniseries, namely Pennies From Heaven ($49.98; BBC Video) and The Singing Detective ($39.98; BBC Video). But he towered over the UK TV industry with the combined genius of, say, Steven Bochco, David Lynch and Joss Whedon. In fact, his last work was shown by both the BBC and Channel 4, which is like ABC and FOX airing the same TV movie, which is unimaginable. Despite overwhelming acclaim, far too few of his films have been seen here. So I'm chomping at the bit to watch Dennis Potter: 3 To Remember ($39.98; Koch), which contains three TV films shown on consecutive weekends in 1980. Stars include Donald Pleasance, Peggy Ashcroft and Denholm Elliott. But I doubt any of them will equal the extra included: the riveting final interview with Potter that aired on Channel 4 in 1994 just three months before his death, with the deeply ill Potter literally drinking a morphine cocktail while talking about his life and work and desire to finish one final teleplay before he died. Visit me at michaelgiltz dot com.
Pennies from heaven (Potter)
2008-08-02 - I believe this series is one of the great artistic achievements of the age! I'm a fan of the period music which forms the soundtrack, so perhaps that prejudices me, but I think that, even if you don't know much about hot dance music of the '30's, you'll find yourself loving it very soon. The concept of the series is quirky, but it doesn't take long to find yourself mesmerized by the stunningly drawn characters, the dark plot line, the amazing production values and.....the music. It may be one of those things that you're passionately for or against, I'm firmly in the former category and would recommend this piece highly.
One of the greatest miniseries ever made....
2007-11-01 - A long time ago, television stations would take great chances and produce TV that was intelligent, thought provoking, and profound. This is one of those examples. Dennis Potter's Pennies from Heaven is one of the greatest TV miniseries ever made. While not as good as The Singing Detective (which is Potter's masterpiece), this is still magnificent and worth investing all 7 hours or so. This is far superior to the film version. The film isn't terrible, but taking a 7 hour miniseries and condensing into a 108 minute is a big mistake. The characters' motivation in the film version is questionable, because they've taken out big chunks of story. But we're here to review the miniseries, not the misguided film version.
The performances here are absolutely first rate, from Hoskins and Campbell, to Kenneth Colley as The Accordion Man, to Freddie Jones as a headmaster, and Hywel Bennett as a deeply cynical, cruel man who uses Campbell. The miniseries has a rather disturbing tone to it for many reasons. The songs that Potter uses are the cheery songs of the depression, which were in major contrast to what was really happening. The songs are at first quite jarrring, but soon you get used to it, and realise it's a great narrative device. Hoskins plays a sexual obsessive man who feels neglected at home, and the language is rather frank for its time. The miniseries features an abortion, prostitution, murder, and just plain old fashioned cruelty of life. One of the most memorable scenes is the farewell that Freddie Jones gives to Cheryl Campbell in the film. Campbell teaches at a rural school, and she becomes pregnant by Hoskins. Jones learns of this, but instead of doing a Puritannical thing on her, he is quite moving in his speech to her, realising that he cannot have her teaching at the school, despite the fact that he knows she's really a beautiful woman and a gentle soul who just made a stupid mistake. The miniseries takes the viewer on quite a journey, and it's really one of the most unique experiences in TV ever made. Potter was as much an auteur as any director, and he was one of the greatest teleplay writers the U.K. ever produced. This and The Singing Detective are his legacy, and it's a great one.
Pennies from Heaven worth the wait
2007-05-16 - I've been looking for this series on DVD for YEARS! It's finally available, and it was definitely worth the wait. Dark, poignant, and funny all at the same time, this series uses poopular music from the 20s and 30s -- often inappropriately -- to express the inner heart of the characters. A young Bob Hoskins plays the lead: a sleezy traveling salesman who is hard to love, except that he does such a wonderful job of playing this character. Writer Dennis Potter is at the top of his form.
