Pennies From Heaven DVD
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Dennis Potter's astonishing six-part miniseries Pennies from Heaven 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), in an interesting, Potter-scripted adaptation; it's one of the reasons the original has been unavailable on home video for so long. --Robert Horton [show more]
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Piers Haggard directs this disturbing drama set in England in the 1930s depression, first shown as a six-part serial in 1978 to great critical acclaim including the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Drama. Bob Hoskins stars as Arthur Parker, a song-sheet salesman frustrated by his work and his marriage. Desperate for romance and understanding, Arthur falls for an innocent young schoolteacher called Eileen (Cheryl Campbell), with harrowing results.
Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Arthur a sheet music salesman has an ear for the hit tunes but nobody will trust it And his imagination often bursts into full song building musical numbers around the greatest frustrations in his life He meets an innocent young school teacher Eileen who seems to hear the same music but when Eileen learns that he&39;s married and that she&39;s pregnant with his child she runs away Arthur gives up everything to find and protect her but fate and the music haven&39;t finished with Arthur Parker
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