The Best Things in Life Are Free (film)

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 byMichael Curtiz
Produced byHenry Ephron
Written byWilliam Bowers
Phoebe Ephron
Frank Tashlin (uncredited)
Story:
John O'Hara
StarringGordon MacRae
Dan Dailey
Ernest Borgnine
Sheree North
Music byLionel Newman
CinematographyLeon Shamroy
Edited byDorothy Spencer
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • September 28, 1956 (1956-09-28)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
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.

Cast

Reception

Critical response

Premiering in September-1956, The Best Things in Life Are Free was met with mixed reviews. Some reviews called it "the biggest new musical this year" and others "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
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

References
  1. 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
  2. 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1956', Variety Weekly, January 2, 1957
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