Musical

Originally conceived as a televised novel, Pennies From Heaven gave Dennis Potter the chance to flex his creative muscles. Potter had previously written many one-off drama's for the BBC in such programmes as Wednesdays Play and Play For Today, but Pennies From Heaven was the first multi-part production which allowed Potter to embellish and mix complex drama with darkly laced, musical fantasy.

This is a masterpiece, with a career-making performance from Bob Hoskins, which looks at the dark underbelly of post-war (WWII) Britain. Hoskins plays Arthur, a frustrated sheet music sales man; frustrated, though, in more ways than one. All he wants is to be loved by his wife, Joan (played masterfully by Gemma Craven), who is repressed and less than willing to give herself to Arthur's desires. Whilst on a business trip he falls in love with the innocent, but passionate schoolteacher Eileen (Cheryl Campbell) and when she becomes pregnant with his baby his life starts to slowly unravel.

This was groundbreaking and thought provoking when it first came out - the fact that, at any given moment the cast break out into song & dance routines from the 1930's is never explained, and heightens the unreality of the series. It also helps to further distance Arthur from his reality - in some respects I wonder if the whole series is portrayed from Arthur's point of view; even when we look at what is happening to the other characters, it's possible that we're seeing Arthur's own fantasies being enacted. This mixture of music hall and drama would be solidified with The Singing Detective and taken to new heights.

Pennies From Heaven has not aged at all and it is still far better and deeper than many drama's that have been produced since. All the performances are exemplary and Bob Hoskins proved to the world just how talented he really was. A timeless classic!

This ranks as 20th on the BFI's list of 100 Greatest British Television Programmes and, to me, is Dennis Potter's crown achievement.

The story is fabulously labyrinthine blending flasbacks; music-hall routines; hallucinations and fantasy. Michael Gambon gives the performance of his career as crime writer, Philip Marlow who is in hospital recovering from psoriasis. Whilst in the hospital he undergoes therapy to try and determine the psychological causes of the horrible affliction.

This is as deep as television can possibly get as Marlow is forced to come to terms with past torment and repressed memories as they threaten to erupt into his present and possibly destroy any chance of him ever having a future.

Throughout this epic mini-series Marlow's personality is peeled away as we see, through various invasive flashbacks, his childhood is laid bare. Inter-cut throughout this are various music-hall numbers -which were introduced thematically in Pennies From Heaven- but are actually given context throughout one of Marlow's hallucinations (he has an alter-ego, a private eye hired to clear another character's name).

It's so difficult to do The Singing Detective justice in a small review; it has to be seen to be believed. It's not an easy series to get into as it switches between past; present and fantasy (seemingly) at the drop of a hat, but it does reward the persistent. This is British drama at it's best and certainly deserves to be in the BFI's top one hundred!

There is something about this film that, for me, defies explanation. The plot is epic and labyrinthine as it follows Mick Travis - yes, that Mick Travis... - in various stages of his life, his various ups and downs to his final enlightenment through a form of shakubuku.
The characters and situations are quite complex with many of the actors play multiple roles. Throughout the film I got the feeling that there was more to the film than what I thought, that there was a layer of meaning that I hadn't quite penetrated. The first time I saw this film I understood the zen-like ending and it had quite an impact on me, and each time I see it I still feel the same way, but not how it linked into the rest of the story.

Now, I think it has more to do with the path to enlightenment that we all must take -from innocence to ruin, to finding ourselves once again...!

Malcolm McDowell is superb as Mick Travis, a multi-layered, multi-faceted character - this is, for me, his best role.

The music plays an important part for me. The soundtrack is by Alan Price, and all the songs are uniformly charming and wonderful -especially the title track.

It's a shame this film isn't more widely recognised - it's a classic for so many reasons, and needs to be seen by more people!!

To my blinkered, Hollywood-ised eyes this film should not have worked. It's an obscure story about a visionary entrepreneur / madman who dreams of building the first Opera House, in the middle of the Amazon! To do this he opens up a shipping route in order to transport huge quantities of rubber in an old passenger liner and at one point he enlists the help of the rain forest inhabitants in transporting this liner up a mountain to a parallel river running down hill! This is a scene that needs to be watched in order to be believed - it is truly remarkable and only Werner Herzog would have both the genius and tenacity to conceive of it!
Klaus Kinski is electrifying as the title character -and his performance onscreen was as "exhilarating" off-camera as it was on - there was even a documentary made of his many exploits.

This is a stunning film and once seen never forgotten - it's a dark reflection to David Lean's epics and deals with personal obsession and determination to a obscene scale! Be warned, it is a long film but ultimately rewarding.