direct by george stevens and star cary grant and irene dunne and penny serenade be among the most admired film of 1941. but it seem the film have now drift into public domain and and the result be incredibly dire represent a very muddy soundtrack couple to a picture that shudder and shake so that you can barely stand to look at it . this a great pity and for penny serenade be a fine film that deserve much well . the concept be simple represent a wife julie ( irene dunne ) pack to leave her husband roger ( cary grant ) and she play the various record the two have collect over the year . each record recall the various phase of their life represent their chance meeting and their rather unexpected marriage and early year spend in the far east . but they be unhappy in their inability to have a child and so they return to the united state to adopt . but their happiness end in tragedy and a tragedy which neither seem able to surmount . the story be sentimental melodrama and of course and but it transcend it own genre . george stevens be one of the great director of hollywood golden age director of such diverse classic a a place in the sun and shane and and woman of the year . in less hand the film might have be reduce to pure soap and but he strike the perfect balance between charm and tearfulness . the lead be equally perfect and with both irene dunne and cary grant ( who be memorably team in such frantic screwball comedy my favorite wife and the awful truth ) discard their broad comedic skill in favor of plausible humor and sincerity . the support cast and which sport nice performance by the like of beulah bondi and edgar buchanan and be also very fine and the script be quite good and and the cinematography both functional and elegant . but all this count for nothing if you can not actually stand to watch the truly awful vhs and dvd version available . and they really be that bad . over the year i have pick up several copy of this film release by several company madacy and laserlight and and most recently front row and although the transfer vary a bit from company to company they be never more than extremely bad and quite often down right unwatchable . this be a film in desperate need of restoration and and until it receive that youre good off look for it on the late late show for i can almost guarantee that the print you will find there will be superior to virtually any home market release you can lay hand on . gary f. taylor and aka gft .