In Pennies From Heaven, Dennis Potter evokes, at first sight, a fey, dreamy, even innocent mood of 1930's prewar England through the popular music of the day, such as the song which doubles as the title of this miniseries. These songs were clearly special to Potter, as they were songs of his childhood, and he saw something sublime and almost-mystical in them. Indeed he sang a verse from one of the songs in a lecture shortly before he died. The lyrics seemed to come to his rescue when his own words had failed him.
It is then not surprising that, characters generally being versions of their author, in Pennies From Heaven the songs come out of characters mouths when words fail them. This is a clue to the deeper psychological level and significance of this miniseries, and the songs it celebrates. Arthur Parker (Bob Hoskins, in the role that made his name), the main character in Pennies From Heaven, breaks out in song when he- all too often- cannot express himself. But then he is a travelling song sheet salesman, playing the latest hits to provincial vendors, a fitting career for a man from the working class with repressed creative instincts. His rise to the ranks of the middle class, via marriage, has presented him with a crisis of identity. Linked to this, again via marriage, is the fact that he is a libidinous, distressed wreck with a repressed wife who only confirms his own horror of sex. In short, Arthur Parker is a man in deep crisis.
Clearly, Pennies From Heaven is no musical nostalgia trip back to a better day. Its theme is the connection between repression (of sex and class) and its creative expression, in this case through song, and the source of repression in suppressed libido, linked to class because it (ie sex) is seen as a lower class instinct. The songs are consequently the result of sublimation. What Potter does is view historical characters in a so-called golden age from a modern, psychological and sociological angle. Potter uncovers the effects of repression on people at a time of ignorance in such matters. Repression manifested itself other, mostly deleterious ways. And in Parker's case he ends up being accused of rape and murder.
It seems to me that Potter's ultimate aim, expressed in the core of all his work, is to pull the rug from under the rose-tinted viewer- whose mind has been narrowed by the very English mindset of the belief in the golden past, by revealing the underlying horror of English inter-war society. In this way, Potter is a truth-teller, and Pennies From Heaven is remarkable in that it escapes anachronism with, generally, astoundingly complex characterization and sinuous, involving narrative.
However, Pennies From Heaven does have flaws. There was a misogynistic streak in Potter. He is said to have boasted of sleeping with hundreds of prostitutes. It appears, to an extent, in his work. Female characters are all-too-often seen from a heavily sexual angle. Gemma Craven's Joan, Arthur's wife, suffers from this. However, Parker's other woman, Eileen Everson is a far more atypical female character of the period whose sexuality is far more rounded and complex- though this is perhaps because, unlike Joan, she breaks out of her mould and loses her sense of repression.
There is also the overemphasis of class in Potter's work. Potter was an angry young man of the fifties generation, who brought a left-wing, socialist point-of-view to British Television. The low-level class conflict apparent in his work now looks out of date.
Another flaw is that Pennies From Heaven hasn't dated well in terms of length or pace. Six one hour long parts is far too long, or so it seems to my twenty first century eyes, and Pennies From Heaven would be more suited to a condensed three parts. Moreover, the direction is dull and uninspired, betraying the cheapness and staginess of TV productions in this pre-Brideshead period.
Still, despite these flaws, Pennies From Heaven is a landmark of British Television (an overused term but one which, in this case, is truly applicable), an unprecedented and original historical musical drama.
It is then not surprising that, characters generally being versions of their author, in Pennies From Heaven the songs come out of characters mouths when words fail them. This is a clue to the deeper psychological level and significance of this miniseries, and the songs it celebrates. Arthur Parker (Bob Hoskins, in the role that made his name), the main character in Pennies From Heaven, breaks out in song when he- all too often- cannot express himself. But then he is a travelling song sheet salesman, playing the latest hits to provincial vendors, a fitting career for a man from the working class with repressed creative instincts. His rise to the ranks of the middle class, via marriage, has presented him with a crisis of identity. Linked to this, again via marriage, is the fact that he is a libidinous, distressed wreck with a repressed wife who only confirms his own horror of sex. In short, Arthur Parker is a man in deep crisis.
Clearly, Pennies From Heaven is no musical nostalgia trip back to a better day. Its theme is the connection between repression (of sex and class) and its creative expression, in this case through song, and the source of repression in suppressed libido, linked to class because it (ie sex) is seen as a lower class instinct. The songs are consequently the result of sublimation. What Potter does is view historical characters in a so-called golden age from a modern, psychological and sociological angle. Potter uncovers the effects of repression on people at a time of ignorance in such matters. Repression manifested itself other, mostly deleterious ways. And in Parker's case he ends up being accused of rape and murder.
It seems to me that Potter's ultimate aim, expressed in the core of all his work, is to pull the rug from under the rose-tinted viewer- whose mind has been narrowed by the very English mindset of the belief in the golden past, by revealing the underlying horror of English inter-war society. In this way, Potter is a truth-teller, and Pennies From Heaven is remarkable in that it escapes anachronism with, generally, astoundingly complex characterization and sinuous, involving narrative.
However, Pennies From Heaven does have flaws. There was a misogynistic streak in Potter. He is said to have boasted of sleeping with hundreds of prostitutes. It appears, to an extent, in his work. Female characters are all-too-often seen from a heavily sexual angle. Gemma Craven's Joan, Arthur's wife, suffers from this. However, Parker's other woman, Eileen Everson is a far more atypical female character of the period whose sexuality is far more rounded and complex- though this is perhaps because, unlike Joan, she breaks out of her mould and loses her sense of repression.
There is also the overemphasis of class in Potter's work. Potter was an angry young man of the fifties generation, who brought a left-wing, socialist point-of-view to British Television. The low-level class conflict apparent in his work now looks out of date.
Another flaw is that Pennies From Heaven hasn't dated well in terms of length or pace. Six one hour long parts is far too long, or so it seems to my twenty first century eyes, and Pennies From Heaven would be more suited to a condensed three parts. Moreover, the direction is dull and uninspired, betraying the cheapness and staginess of TV productions in this pre-Brideshead period.
Still, despite these flaws, Pennies From Heaven is a landmark of British Television (an overused term but one which, in this case, is truly applicable), an unprecedented and original historical musical drama.