Pennies from Heaven

Adapted from Dennis Potter's landmark British TV miniseries and relocated to the United States during the Depression, Pennies from Heaven dramatizes how popular songs both shaped and reflected the thoughts of people living through economic (and emotional) hardship. Arthur Parker (Steve Martin) is a ...more

A dazzling downer of a musical and one of the more interesting works to emerge from the last gasps of '70s-era critical Hollywood, the film version of Dennis Potter's remarkable BBC series Pennies From Heaven (1981) provocatively dissects the power of movie-made fantasy. Contrasting bleak, Edward Hopper-esque Depression era reality with sumptuous Art Deco illusions, Potter and director Herbert Ross illuminate the divide between sheet-music salesman Arthur Parker's sordid life and the musical ...more