The_Best_Things_in_Life_Are_Free_(film)
The Best Things in Life Are Free (film)
1956 film by Michael Curtiz
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).
| The Best Things in Life Are Free | |
|---|---|
film poster | |
| Directed by | Michael Curtiz |
| Screenplay by | William Bowers Phoebe Ephron Frank Tashlin (uncredited) |
| Story by | John O'Hara |
| Produced by | Henry Ephron |
| Starring | Gordon MacRae Dan Dailey Ernest Borgnine Sheree North Tommy Noonan Murvyn Vye Phyllis Avery Larry Keating Tony Galento Norman Brooks |
| Cinematography | Leon Shamroy |
| Edited by | Dorothy Spencer |
| Music by | Lionel Newman |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.16 million[1] |
| Box office | $2.7 million |
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.
 | This article needs a plot summary. (March 2022) |
- 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
- Gordon Richards as Butler
Critical response
Premiering in September 1956, The Best Things in Life Are Free was met with mixed reviews. Some reviews[citation needed] called it "the biggest new musical this year"[citation needed] and others "a musical-comedy that could've been produced on a higher budget with bigger and better production numbers".[citation needed]
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]
- "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
- Music by Ray Henderson
- Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva
- Sung by Dan Dailey and Gordon MacRae
- Music by Ray Henderson
- Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva
- Sung by Gordon MacRae
- Music by Ray Henderson
- Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva
- Sung by Dan Dailey
- 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
- Music by Ray Henderson
- Lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva
- Choreographed by Rod Alexander and 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- The Best Things in Life Are Free at IMDb
- The Best Things in Life Are Free at the TCM Movie Database
- (in German)
