The Best Things in Life Are Free (film)

The Best Things in Life Are Free
film poster
Directed by	Michael Curtiz
Produced by	Henry Ephron
Written by	William Bowers Phoebe Ephron Frank Tashlin (uncredited) Story: John O'Hara
Starring	Gordon MacRae Dan Dailey Ernest Borgnine Sheree North
Music by	Lionel Newman
Cinematography	Leon Shamroy
Edited by	Dorothy Spencer
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release dates	September 28, 1956 (1956-09-28)
Running time	104 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.16 million^[1]
Box office	$2.7 million

The Best Things in Life Are Free is a 1956 American musical film directed by Michael Curtiz. The film stars Gordon MacRae, Dan Dailey and Ernest Borgnine as the real-life songwriting team of Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown and Ray Henderson of the late 1920s and early 1930s; and Sheree North as Kitty Kane, a singer (possibly based on Helen Kane).

In 1957, the year after the film was released, it received an Oscar nomination for Lionel Newman in the category of Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.

Cast

Gordon MacRae as Buddy DeSylva
Dan Dailey as Ray Henderson
Ernest Borgnine as Lew Brown
Sheree North as Kitty Kane
Tommy Noonan as Carl Frisbee
Murvyn Vye as Manny Costain
Phyllis Avery as Maggie Henderson
Larry Keating as Winfield Sheehan
Tony Galento as Fingers
Norman Brooks as Al Jolson
Jacques d'Amboise as Specialty dancer
Roxanne Arlen as Perky Nichols
Byron Palmer as Hollywood star

Reception

Critical response

Premiering in September-1956, The Best Things in Life Are Free was greeted with mixed to positive critical acclaim. Reviews said "the biggest new musical this year" and others said "a musical-comedy that could've been produced on a higher budget with bigger and better production numbers".

Box office performance

Being a musical, though a modestly produced one, the movie was fairly expensive to produce. The film ended with a budget of $2.86 million and made just over $4 million at the box office, earning $2,250,000 in North American rentals in 1956.^[2]

Songs

"Lucky Day"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

Sung by Dan Dailey

"If I Had a Talking Picture of You"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

Sung by Byron Palmer

"Here Am I, Broken Hearted"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

Sung by Gordon MacRae

"Button up Your Overcoat"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

Sung by Dan Dailey and Gordon MacRae

"Good News"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

Sung by Gordon MacRae

"You're the Cream in My Coffee"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

Sung by Dan Dailey

"The Best Things in Life Are Free"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

Sung by Sheree North (dubbed by Eileen Wilson)

"Lucky in Love"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

Sung by Gordon MacRae

"Black Bottom"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

Danced by Sheree North and Jacques d'Amboise

"Birth of the Blues"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

Danced by Sheree North and Jacques d'Amboise

"Sonny Boy"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

Sung by Norman Brooks

"Follow Thru"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

"One More Time"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

"Thank Your Father"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

"This Is the Missus"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown

"Together"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

It All Depends on You"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

"You Try Somebody Else (We'll Be Back Together Again)"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

Without Love"

Music by Ray Henderson

Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva

References

↑ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p250
↑ 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1956', Variety Weekly, January 2, 1957

External links

The Best Things in Life Are Free at the Internet Movie Database
The Best Things in Life Are Free at the TCM Movie Database
(in German)

Films directed by Michael Curtiz

1910s	The Last Bohemian Today and Tomorrow Captive Souls My Husband's Getting Married The Exile The Borrowed Babies The Princess in a Nightrobe Prisoner of the Night Bánk Bán Golddigger One Who Is Loved By Two Seven of Spades The Strength of the Fatherland The Karthauzer The Black Rainbow The Wolf The Medic Mr. Doctor Master Zoard The Red Samson The Last Dawn Spring in Winter Tartar Invasion Secret of St. Job Forest Nobody's Son The Charlatan A Penny's History The Fishing Bell Earth's Man The Colonel Peace's Road Jean the Tenant The Merry Widow Magic Waltz A skorpió I. The Devil Lulu Lu, the Coquette Júdás The Ugly Boy Alraune 99 The Sunflower Woman Liliom (unfinished) The Lady with the Black Gloves

1920s	Boccaccio The Star of Damascus The Scourge of God Mrs. Tutti Frutti Good and Evil Mrs. Dane's Confession Labyrinth of Horror Sodom and Gomorrah Young Medardus Avalanche Nameless A Deadly Game General Babka Harun al Raschid The Moon of Israel Red Heels Cab No. 13 The Golden Butterfly The Third Degree A Million Bid The Desired Woman Good Time Charley Tenderloin Noah's Ark Glad Rag Doll Madonna of Avenue A The Gamblers Hearts in Exile

1930s	Mammy Under a Texas Moon The Matrimonial Bed Bright Lights A Soldier's Plaything River's End Demon of the Sea God's Gift to Women The Mad Genius The Woman from Monte Carlo Alias the Doctor The Strange Love of Molly Louvain Doctor X The Cabin in the Cotton 20,000 Years in Sing Sing Mystery of the Wax Museum The Keyhole Private Detective 62 Goodbye Again The Kennel Murder Case Female Mandalay Jimmy the Gent The Key British Agent The Case of the Curious Bride Black Fury Front Page Woman Little Big Shot Captain Blood The Walking Dead The Charge of the Light Brigade Stolen Holiday Mountain Justice Kid Galahad The Perfect Specimen Gold Is Where You Find It The Adventures of Robin Hood (with William Keighley) Four's a Crowd Four Daughters Angels with Dirty Faces Dodge City Daughters Courageous The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex Four Wives

1940s	Virginia City The Sea Hawk Santa Fe Trail The Sea Wolf Dive Bomber Captains of the Clouds Yankee Doodle Dandy Casablanca Mission to Moscow This Is the Army Passage to Marseille Janie Roughly Speaking Mildred Pierce Night and Day Life with Father The Unsuspected Romance on the High Seas My Dream Is Yours (with Friz Freleng) Flamingo Road The Lady Takes a Sailor

1950s	Young Man with a Horn Bright Leaf The Breaking Point Force of Arms Jim Thorpe – All-American I'll See You in My Dreams The Story of Will Rogers The Jazz Singer Trouble Along the Way The Boy from Oklahoma The Egyptian White Christmas We're No Angels The Scarlet Hour The Vagabond King The Best Things in Life Are Free The Helen Morgan Story The Proud Rebel King Creole The Hangman The Man in the Net

1960s	The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn A Breath of Scandal Francis of Assisi The Comancheros

Short films	Jön az öcsém (1919) Sons of Liberty (1939)

Productions	Bright Lights (1935)

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