1956 film by Michael Curtiz

The Best Things in Life Are Free (film)

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In 9 languages

Key facts

publication date1956

instance offilm

directorMichael Curtiz

genremusical film

All data from the card 16

Directed by: Michael Curtiz
Screenplay by: William BowersPhoebe EphronFrank Tashlin (uncredited)
Story by: John O'Hara
Produced by: Henry Ephron
Starring: Gordon MacRaeDan DaileyErnest BorgnineSheree NorthTommy NoonanMurvyn VyePhyllis AveryLarry KeatingTony GalentoNorman Brooks
Cinematography: Leon Shamroy
Edited by: Dorothy Spencer
Music by: Lionel Newman
Productioncompany: 20th Century Fox
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release date: September 28, 1956
Running time: 104 minutes
Country: United States
Language: English
Budget: $1.16 million
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
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.