This movie is best described in two words - "Ealing Comedy". I'll explain. Ealing is a suburb of West London where the army built lots of stuff during World War 2, but then abandoned. This became the home of British filmmaking, and what they did best was comedies. "Serious" actors went to the West End to be Shakespearean. Almost all the Ealing Comedies seem to have Alec Guinness in them, as he was too short to land a role in Shakespeare. They were all in black and white, and they all involve deceit, small-time criminals, bizarre deaths, and good guys less cunning than Baldrick. Guinness is Prof Marcus, the mastermind of the gang planning their grandest robbery.

The scheme involves renting nearby accommodation for convenience. The accommodation in question is run by a demented little old lady (i.e. interfering busybody). The gang pose as a band, though none have any musical talent, other than a gramophone, and they carry out the theft. Then things get hectic when the old lady discovers the truth and confronts the gang.

Adapted from Dennis Potter's BBC series, Pennies From Heaven is a lavish musical set in the drab world of the Great Depression. Arthur Parker (Martin) is a travelling sheet music salesman who is struggling with his business and is in a dull marriage with his wife Joan (Harper). Hoping to expand his business, he seeks money from his father-in-law, but his wife does not allow it. Lonely and full of longing, he meets and seduces a school teacher, Eileen (Peters), who seems to be everything his wife is not, but there are tragic results. Throughout the film, Arthur escapes from his dreary existence by re-imagining it in the form of Hollywood musicals. The film's schism between the grim reality of Arthur's life and the Busby Berkeley style musical numbers is sometimes jarring, but always exuberating. The stars lip-synch to the old recordings of the tunes, though they perform their own dance routines. This may be your only opportunity to see Christopher Walken perform a striptease and a tap dance number in the movies!