Les rois du jazz

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 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.

The Best Things In Life Are Free is once again the typical Hollywood musical biography where the main thing you come to hear are the songs. The output from DeSylva,Brown&Henderson certainly gives you enough material.

Buddy DeSylva came from a theatrical family and as played by Gordon MacRae was a man of ambition who enjoyed high living. Lew Brown who was actually born in Russia was a tough kid from the slums and Ernest Borgnine fresh from his Oscar in Marty certainly knew how to play rough characters. And the third member of the trio Ray Henderson is a family and home loving guy from the suburbs as written and played by Dan Dailey.

All three of these guys worked together and apart. It is not true as the film has it that Ray Henderson was an unknown who latched on by chance when he was visiting his sister-in-law to DeSylva and Brown. Henderson was already a composer of note when he made the two a trio.

DeSylva,Brown&Henderson as a team were together from 1926 to 1930 and wrote several Broadway shows and some early sound musicals. Another mistake shows them writing Sonny Boy for Al Jolson on the spur of the moment after a call from Jolie. Actually they wrote the entire score for The Singing Fool and then followed that up Jolson's third film, Say It With Songs.

The title song and The Birth Of The Blues are probably their best known work, but the rest of the score is like a step back in time to the Roaring Twenties. You'll find a lot here and so much more that may have been left on the cutting room floor.

I'm sure the trio did have the usual frictions that develop among creative partners. DeSylva in fact did leave the other two to become a film producer, first at 20th Century Fox and later at Paramount. In Star Spangled Rhythm, Walter Abel satirized him as B.G. DeSoto. DeSylva was the promoter of the career of Betty Hutton. The other two eventually went their separate ways.

Despite a more than usual amount inaccuracies, The Best Things In Life Are Free can't help being good with all the wonderful music these guys gave us. MacRae, Dailey, and Sheree North give us some really good musical performances, I only wish Dailey had some dance numbers for himself or at least some that made the final film. Acting wise Ernest Borgnine is memorable as the tough slum character who made it on Broadway.

There is also a very funny performance by former heavyweight contender Tony Galento as a bodyguard assigned to protect DeSylva after he runs afoul of gangster Murvyn Vye. Galento was certainly dedicated to his profession.

The film got one Oscar nomination for Lionel Newman for Best Musical Scoring and considering what Newman had to work with, maybe he should have won the award. The Best Things In Life Are Free is a great musical treat and reminder of the days when songs had real melodies.

Unlike most of today's audiences, I'm not 'alergic' to an old-fashioned Hollywood musical. Just last week, I saw "The Best Things In Life Are Free" for the first time in 15 years. It is disappointing - but not so much for what it is, but rather what it could have been: a classic. And considering the talent involved on-screen, I'd lay most of the blame at the feet of the director and the 'bean-counters'.

Fluidity and pacing are critical in a musical, and I think the direction and staging is a big issue in "The Best Things...". For example, with the exception of the 'Birth of the Blues' number, the camera feels almost nailed to the floor. By comparison, despite the raucous, finger snapping music and Sheree North's vivacious hoofing, the other big production number 'Black Bottom' feels oddly 'constrained' and 'flat' (almost one-dimensional). The musical numbers scroll by as if on a player-piano roll, with little cinematic depth or texture - despite lively action performed by talented people.

In my humble opinion, "Best Things..." has all the ingredients to make a great musical, but they somehow 'taste' like the 'generic-brand' as opposed to Grade-A fancy. This is even more strange upon looking at the 'brand names' utilized: the Set Decorations were by the same team as created the sumptuous "Daddy Long Legs" and "The King and I"(!). Costume Direction was by Charles LeMaire(!). The musical numbers were directed by John de Cuir ("No Business Like Show Business" and "Call Me Madame"). And lest we forget, director Michael Curtiz is the man who gave us "Casablanca," "Yankee Doodle Dandy," "Mildred Pierce," and just two years before, "White Christmas." While decidedly nearing the end of his career, Curtiz still had Elvis' "King Creole" and a few other decent films ahead of him.

So..., the ingredients of an "A-list" picture were decidedly in evidence. I lay the blame at the feet of penny-pinching executives. Having lavished so much money on sets,costumes and Cinemascope, "Best Things..." registers as if executives decided in mid-production to cut back on what was originally intended to be an 'A-picture'. But as opposed to a vehicle with truly great music or Broadway pedigree, the 'substance' IS the 'spectacle' in a movie like "Best Things...", and somebody cut WAY back on the 'spectacle'.

Perfect Example: MGM's "Meet Me in Las Vegas" was released this same year (and ALSO starring Dan Dailey). But "Meet Me..." had the glamorous cameo's (Sinatra, Debbie Reynolds, Vic Damone...) and 'guest artists' (Lena Horne, Frankie Laine, Sammy Davis, Jr) that one expects of a musical of this kind.

In "Best Things...," this kind of 'sparkle' is curiously absent. Instead, the best thing "The Best Thing..." trots out is a bit-player in black-face(!) impersonating Al Jolson(!) Huh...? In 1956, Fox had contracts and/or 'relationships' with a number of great performers who, with just a bit of thought, could have been brought in to do some interesting '20's themed cameos: imagine JOHNNIE RAY as an 'updated' "Jolson;" DOROTHY DANDRIDGE as (the early-career, sexy) "Ethel Waters" or "Florence Mills;" or how about JANE RUSSELL as "Helen Morgan" or "Ruth Etting" (a role she regretted turning down a year earlier in MGM's "Love Me or Leave Me")? What fun that would've been...!?

While DeSylva, Brown & Henderson's work may not be of the caliber of Porter, Gershwin, Ellington and Coward (properly pronounced 'C-AAhhwd' - lol), the boisterous score is certainly evocative of the roaring '20's. Charles LaMare's costumes are dazzling and fun. Appearing in his last film (before choosing to retire to concentrate on supper clubs and a lucrative career as a popular TV host), one remembers what a great voice Gordon McRae had. And its fun to see somebody BESIDES 'Marilyn,' or 'Jayne' in the female lead of a splashy fifties musical, Sheree North being quite an accomplished Broadway dancer, as evidenced by her top-notch performance with Balanchine ballet dancer Jacques D'ambroise in this film's 'Birth of the Blues' number (this scorching-hot fifties movie-musical number is, sadly, largely forgotten as it is buried within this film...).

A classic? Heck no. Still, I think "Best Things..." has 'good bones', and isn't the worst way one could while away a rainy afternoon getting lost in some old fashioned celluloid tinsel.

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."