The Best Things in Life Are Free

I thought the chemistry among the three leads - Gordon McRae as Buddy De Sylva, Dan Dailey as Ray Henderson, and Ernest Borgnine as Lew Brown - was absolutely perfect even if not necessarily true. Probably the hardest thing to take at first is the excessively caustic nature of Borgnine's portrayal of Lew Brown until you get to know a little more about Lew, his background, and his friends and then things begin to make sense. There's a good contrast of personalities here - De Sylva civilized but selfish versus the street-wise loud and rude Brown who'd put it all on the line for a friend. Henderson's gentle family man play-for-keeps style versus De Sylva's flavor-of-the-month attitude towards women. I don't know if any of this was true, but as cinema I liked it.

Knowing something about the early talkie musicals and the composers behind them, some things did bother me. At one point the film has the three going out to Hollywood to work on the 1929 early talkie musical "Sunnyside Up". This was largely a homespun little film in the tradition of the early Fox musicals with even a harpsichord number included. Instead, what we see on the set is an elaborate fan-dance like number with a man in a tuxedo singing "If I Had a Talking Picture of You" accompanied by dancing girls with long red boas. This is not how I remember Charles Farrell singing this one. In fact, if there is one big complaint I have is that the songs are pure 20's but the choreography and tempo of the numbers are like something out of an MGM musical ballet with Gene Kelly that would have been popular at the time of the film's release - 1956.

The key to enjoying this film is to focus on the beautiful music, good performances, and the pleasant nature of the story. Do that and I think you'll like it. I don't think this was ever intended to be a serious biopic.

It's hard to believe Michael Curtiz directed this film. Mr. Curtiz, one of the most distinguished directors of the American cinema, doesn't bring anything new to this tired 20th Century Fox movie.

Maybe the three men at the center of the movie, the great song writing team of De Sylva, Brown and Henderson were too bland to merit a film that celebrated their lives. They made their mark in the theater in the early part of the 20th century, but as it plays on the screen, this musical feels dull and out of place. Some of the trio's best songs are heard in the movie. Songs like Birth of the Blues, which Gordon MacRae sings with panache. Also they wrote that sappy Al Jolson's standard, Sunny Boy, which is sung by the star in black face.

Perhaps the casting was the wrong choice for this movie. Gordon MacRae doesn't show any spark as Buddy DeSylva. Dan Dailey is also an enigma, the way he plays Ray Henderson. Ernest Borgnine is the only one that shows some life in his interpretation of Lew Brown. Sheree North is the good Kitty Kane, who played in most of the shows this trio wrote.

I have no idea how accurate this bio-pic is about the musical writing team of Lew Brown (Ernest Borgnine), Buddy De Silva (Gordon MacRae) and Ray Henderson (Dan Dailey) is, I have no idea as information about these guys' personal lives is scant on the internet. However, I strongly believe it's mostly fiction because that was the norm for films like this in Hollywood during this time. Besides, I find it very hard to believe Lew Brown could be this angry all the time! He did die from a heart attack...so who knows? Not surprisingly, the film only focuses on a small portion of their lives--from the time they teamed up in the 1920s through their time in Hollywood and Broadway.

Much of the film is your typical 1950s musical--with some incredibly irrelevant and artsy dance numbers that are dream sequences (sort of like shorter versions of the HUGE one in "An American in Paris") and some traditional song/dance numbers. In between, there is story...but often this takes a back seat to the songs.

Did I like it? Not much. It's reasonably well made and the trio wrote some very familiar tunes that are sometimes enjoyable. But Borgnine's one-note performance wasn't enjoyable and the other characters seemed underdeveloped...though not as badly as Borgnine's. MacRae had a nice voice and was a heel. Dailey played the piano and was bland. I really wish they'd eliminated a few songs and focused much more on the story...but that is personal taste and the 1950s musicals often were more music than story. Compared to these other musicals, this one is just okay...and the Jolson sequences are, not surprisingly, dated. Seeing a guy who's obviously not Jolson and hiding it by ALWAYS having him in black-face was kind of silly...and tacky.

Mix a little "Singin' in the Rain" with a story line loosely based on the lives of the songwriting team of Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown, and Ray Henderson, throw in a little "Guys and Dolls," and you end up with a fairly entertaining film containing several beautifully choreographed production numbers featuring Sheree North, Dan Dailey, Gordon MacRae, and (of all people) Ernest Borgnine. Set in the 1920s and made in the 1950s, like "Singin' in the Rain," the movie features a great song-and-dance session filled with gangsters dancing to the tune of "Black Bottom"--a song that made flappers go wild doing the Charleston--and showcases the dancing talent of Sheree North. "Oh Boy I'm Lucky" features the guys working through the writing of a song as a trio, no easy task. Other great DeSylva-Brown-Henderson songs featured: "It All Depends on You," "Sonny Boy," "Button Up Your Overcoat" and "Sunny Side Up," and the catchy title tune. "The Birth of the Blues" number displays North at her finest, against a background of jailbirds, some black and some white. It is interesting that when the prisoners are shown lusting after North, only the white prisoners are shown, but when the prisoners are making music in their cells, the black prisoners are also shown. The most cringe-worthy moments in the film are the appearance of Norman Brooks (playing Al Jolson) and Dan Dailey in blackface trying to act like Uncle Tom. Entertaining as the musical numbers are, the film stands as a testimony to apartheid America, where many states criminalized interracial marriage, and where black women were all loyal servants and elderly black men could be mocked with aplomb and referred to as "boy."

Sheree North, a wonderful presence in too few films in the 1950's. She was up there with the best and you only have to see her in ' No Down Payment ' to see how seriously good she was. I am one of the lucky few who taped this film back in the 1980's when it was shown on UK television in Cinemascope. It leaves and breathes Cinemascope and yet crime of crimes it is only available in pan and scan. Why was this idiotic decision made ? My faded copy with dodgy faded colour is better, and many cinemas on re-runs would have shown it like this, and I am not complaining. The ' Black Bottom ' HAS to be seen on widescreen, and it is one of those great musical numbers that uses the full length of the screen, and Sheree North dances so perfectly I get vertigo just looking at her. And now where is this film in the history of musicals ? Nowhere near the top and it should be. Even Ernest Borgnine sings and he could!!! Also he gives a fine performance. Michael Curtiz, one of Hollywood's great directors gave us this treasure and it is an insult that this is a semi-forgotten film. It works on every level.