Pennies From Heaven

MGM mistakenly thought Dennis Potter's acclaimed British television miniseries "Pennies from Heaven" could be profitably condensed into a feature, so they cast Martin in the role originated by Bob Hoskins and asked Martin's flame at the time, Peters, to costar. The result is a moving, highly eccentric examination of the relationship between "real life" and popular culture that bombed at the box office.

PENNIES FROM HEAVEN is a musical in which the actors lip-synch to original recordings from the 1930s. There is no attempt to achieve verisimilitude (Martin at one point is seen singing with a woman's voice); rather, in Potter's conceit, the saccharine songs are me...