The Best Things in Life Are Free (film)
Introduction '''''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.
Plot
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*Gordon Richards as Butler
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.
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: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*"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
External links *** (in German)**