Line #3 Series/PenniesFromHeaven


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pennies_from_heaven.jpg]]
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3	Philandering 1930s sheet music salesman Arthur Parker escapes from his dull life by fantasizing elaborately choreographed musical numbers in which he and the other characters lip-sync to original recordings of popular 1930s music.
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5	Originally a 1978 Creator/{{BBC}} {{miniseries}} created by Creator/DennisPotter and starring Creator/BobHoskins, Gemma Craven, and Cheryl Campbell, it was remade in 1981 as a feature film directed by Herbert Ross and starring Creator/SteveMartin, Creator/JessicaHarper, Creator/BernadettePeters and Creator/ChristopherWalken.
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7	!!Includes examples of the following tropes:
8	* ArtImitatesArt: Four paintings are recreated as ''tableaux vivants'' in the film: ''Hudson Bay Fur Company'' and ''20 Cent Movie'' by Reginald Marsh, and ''New York Movie'' and ''Nighthawks'' by Creator/EdwardHopper. Three of the four were painted after 1934, when the movie takes place, and all depict scenes in New York City rather than the Chicago setting of the movie.
9	* CorruptTheCutie: From meek schoolteacher to hooker in a few months.
10	* {{Deconstruction}}: Of Depression-era musicals, showing the brutal reality of life in such a time and treating the musicals moments as a way of escaping such a terrible existence.
11	* CrapsackWorld: Life during the Depression is every bit as awful as you imagine from the start and it only gets worse for everyone as it goes along.
12	%%* DownerEnding: Subverted
13	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:The Accordian Man]], in the original miniseries.
14	* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Accordian Man.
15	* TheGreatDepression: The film never holds back from showing just how wretchedly awful the characters' lives are and why they are so eager to escape into a fantasy world.
16	* GroinAttack: When Arthur's wife Joan receives the evidence confirming her suspicions that Arthur's been cheating on her from the police (as they tell her [[spoiler:he's suspected of murdering a blind girl - which he's actually innocent of]]), she angrily demands that they "cut his thing off and bury it!"
17	* ImagineSpot: Arthur regularly imagines his life with musical sequences as a form of escape.
18	* JukeboxMusical: Up to eleven. Not only are all the songs used pre-existing, the actors don't even sing them, simply lip synching to them during the musical moments.
19	* LighterAndSofter: The main point of contention from critics is that it was far more optimistic than the mini-series.
20	* MiscarriageOfJustice: [[spoiler:Arthur ends up hanging for the murder of the blind girl who was actually killed by the Accordian Man.]]
21	* NothingButHits: Averted - many of the songs are rather obscure.
22	* SettingUpdate: The film version changes the setting from London to Chicago.
23	* SoundtrackDissonance: Basically the central concept of both the mini-series and the film version.
24	* ThisIsReality: The film plays quite fast and loose with the idea of fantasy interrupting reality.
25	* TranquilFury: Joan when she leans that he's been cheating on her - she demands his castration with quietly repressed rage.
26	* WomanScorned: Joan will settle for nothing less than having his family jewels physically removed (see GroinAttack above) when she learns that Arthur has in fact been unfaithful to her.

Context Series / PenniesFromHeaven