1 of 1- Tristana
- Great One
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Cary Grant in Penny Serenade (1941)
An affecting, naturalistic crying scene from Cary Grant, who petitions a judge to let him and his wife keep their adopted baby after the failure of his business. I the scene stars around around 1:24:25 (I also bookmarked it here: )
The catch in his voice around 1:29:00 is especially nice.
- White Tulip
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Re: Cary Grant in Penny Serenade (1941)
Well, that certainly was affecting! Cary Grant is an actor I'd never have thought would do a convincing crying scene (I usually think of him as funny and debonair), but he proved me wrong here!
- Tristana
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Re: Cary Grant in Penny Serenade (1941)
White Tulip wrote:
Well, that certainly was affecting! Cary Grant is an actor I'd never have thought would do a convincing crying scene (I usually think of him as funny and debonair), but he proved me wrong here!
I completely agree! I've always had a bit of a crush on Cary Grant, and this makes me appreciate him even more.
I've found a few other examples of Classical Hollywood era crying scenes:
-- The handsome Louis Jordan in Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948); the scene is brief, but there are visible tears. Also, crying aside, I think that this is one of the most beautiful melodramas ever made, and it's nice to see that it's available online in HD.
-- Gary Cooper in A Farewell to Arms (1932); a fairly intense, teary scene from the famously good-looking actor. This one really impressed me.
-- Humphrey Bogart in The Black Legion (1937); I'm not familiar with this film, but it's interesting to see Bogart's softer side.
Last edited by Tristana (July 16, 2016 3:59 am)
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Thread Starter- Squonk
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Re: Cary Grant in Penny Serenade (1941)
Oh my God, the freakin' baby gets a close-up but not Cary Grant!
Honestly, I love Grant's performance in this film and that is a beautiful speech. I like the way they held back on the sappy music until the end and just let him speak (kinda rare in those days). I also like the fact that they didn't cut his verbal stumblings and kept the camera rolling. Very naturalistic and also rare for that era (or any era I guess, where everyone must sound perfect at all times).
Climbing to a high chamber in a well of houses, he threw himself down in his clothes on a neglected bed, and its pillow was wet with wasted tears. -- A Tale of Two Cities
- Squonk
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Re: Cary Grant in Penny Serenade (1941)
Wow I am a huge Gary Cooper fan and don't know how I forgot about that scene in Farewell to Arms.
Cooper also has tears on his face in the last scene of the marvelous Meet John Doe. Unfortunately, the picture quality of all the copies on YouTube is terrible and almost impossible to see.
I didn't know about The Black Legion either. Looks interesting.
Last edited by Squonk (July 16, 2016 5:12 pm)
Climbing to a high chamber in a well of houses, he threw himself down in his clothes on a neglected bed, and its pillow was wet with wasted tears. -- A Tale of Two Cities
- Tristana
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Re: Cary Grant in Penny Serenade (1941)
Oh my God, the freakin' baby gets a close-up but not Cary Grant!
LOL. Those were my thoughts exactly!
I'll definitely take a look at Meet John Doe. I'm guessing my public library has a copy. I like Gary Cooper a lot as well -- especially in Morocco (1930) and Design for Living (1933) (although I don't recall either film having any crying scenes.) He has the most beautiful eyes.
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