Bob Hoskins Videos : Dennis Potter's 'Pennies From Heaven' - 'The Clouds Will Soon Roll By'

dennis potter pennies from heaven 1978 1932 the clouds will soon roll by bob hoskins gemma craven bert ambrose mayfair hotel elsie carlisle s

Dennis Potter's 'Pennies From Heaven' - 'The Clouds Will Soon Roll By'

'Pennies From Heaven' by Dennis Potter. Episode 1: 'Down Sunnyside Lane'. Sheet music salesman Arthur (Bob Hoskins) and his cool but caring wife Joan (Gemma Craven) wake up on a grey morning in their Metro-land dream semi. Arthur lives through his songs in their yearning, their escape, their promise of love, their reach towards a goldmine in the sky. As Arthur rolls back the bedroom curtains, the voice of Elsie Carlisle comes bizarrely but movingly from his lips affirming, that the sun will shine, that the yonder is blue, that the world is all right - really it is. The battleground of the suburban bedroom in a drab, dark studio set bursts into light and life as the change in lighting introduces Potter's trademark use of dubbed music with Hoskins lip-synching across gender lines to the wonderful voice of Elsie Carlisle. The song reinforces the dislocation and non-naturalism which is a recurring theme of the play. The effect is both comic and ironic as well as enticingly nostalgic. Music: 'The Clouds Will Soon Roll By'. Bert Ambrose and His Orchestra at the Mayfair Hotel, London. (Vocal: Elsie Carlisle). Recorded 1932. Dennis Potter's award-winning 'Pennies From Heaven' (BBC 1978). Directed by Piers Haggard, produced by long-time Potter collaborator Kenith Trodd, with choreography and design by Tudor Davies and Tim Harvey. One of the finest pieces of television the BBC has ever produced.

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