Fanfares of joy

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Movie
German title Fanfares of joy
Original title The Best Things in Life Are Free
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1956
length 104 minutes
Rod
Director Michael Curtiz
script William Bowers ,
Phoebe Ephron ,
Frank Tashlin (uncredited)
production Henry Ephron
music Lionel Newman
camera Leon Shamroy
cut Dorothy Spencer
occupation

Fanfares of joy is an American musical by 20th Century Fox from the year 1956 , directed by Michael Curtiz . The actors Gordon MacRae , Dan Dailey and Ernest Borgnine play the successful composing team Buddy DeSylva , Lew Brown and Ray Henderson in the late twenties and early thirties . Sheree North plays the fictional singer Kitty Kane (probably based on Broadway star Helen Kane ).

action

Ray Henderson, a composing music teacher, comes to Atlantic City to perform one of his songs on the show that his sister-in-law Kitty Kane works on. During rehearsals he is hired by the two songwriters Buddy DeSylva and Lew Brown as a piano player. You get closer musically and after a while the two expand their partnership to include Henderson.

Success came pretty quickly, with the three composing a series of Broadway hits. But this is not enough for DeSylva, he would like to produce his own shows. Lew Brown gets him a contact with a financier - the Mafia boss Manny Costain. The only problem: Manny wants his completely unmusical lover Perky Nichols in the lead role. Buddy DeSylva and Kitty Kane get closer during rehearsals. When DeSylva fires the gangster's mistress, he tries to beat him up. The new Lew Brown prevents this and refers - in order to keep the gangster from acts of revenge - to his contacts from the area in which he grew up (to "every gang from here to Kansas City"). Kitty Kane takes on the lead role.

The Flying High show is going to be a hit. During the premiere party, Al Jolson calls and demands that the three of them immediately complete a new piece he had long been promised. Annoyed, they withdraw from the celebration and write him what they consider to be a deliberately bad and cheesy song that Jolson uses in his new sound film The Singing Fool : Sonny Boy . Completely surprisingly, this piece is also a great success. DeSylva persuades his two partners to write music for other films in Hollywood.

In the further course, DeSylva becomes increasingly alienated from his partners and also from Kitty Kane through his way of making decisions for all three alone. At the premiere of Sunny Side Up , DeSylva and Brown get into a violent argument, whereupon Brown and Henderson end their partnership with DeSylva and drive back to New York. Kitty also leaves DeSylva.

Brown and Henderson decide to produce their own show Strike Me Pink with Kitty as the star. However, during the trial demonstrations, it turns out that the two are missing DeSylva as an artistic partner, and the show threatens to turn out to be a flop. When DeSylva allegedly calls the three of them over a long distance to ask how the show is going, Kitty admits that not all is well. DeSylva only pretended to call from Hollywood, in fact he quit his job there and is in the same hotel as the others. He reconciles with Kitty and rearranges Strike Me Pink with Henderson and Brown to make the show a success.

Music and dance numbers

Unless otherwise stated, the music for the respective songs is by Ray Henderson , the lyrics by Lew Brown and Buddy G. DeSylva .

  1. The Best Things in Life Are Free - Sheree North , Gordon MacRae , Dan Dailey and Ernest Borgnine during the opening credits.
  2. Just a Memory - Sheree North and choir on stage rehearsing George White's Scandals of 1925 without musical accompaniment.
  3. Here Am I, Broken Hearted - Gordon MacRae and Ernest Borgnine introduce their new song during rehearsals (with Dan Dailey on piano).
  4. Here Am I, Broken Hearted - Sheree North and choir on stage as a rehearsal (with Dan Dailey on piano).
  5. Button Up Your Overcoat - Sheree North , Gordon MacRae , Dan Dailey and Ernest Borgnine test out a last minute song for the show.
  6. This Is the Missus (music by Ray Henderson , Text: Lew Brown ) - In the after-show party sing Sheree North and Ernest Borgnine the new text of Ernest Borgnine to music by Dan Dailey .
  7. Lucky Day - Dan Dailey introduces Gordon MacRae and Ernest Borgnine to his improved version of the piece by Gordon MacRae .
  8. Assembly , consisting of:
    • Lucky in Love - Sung by Gordon MacRae , Dan Dailey and Ernest Borgnine .
    • Good News - Sung by Gordon MacRae , Dan Dailey and Ernest Borgnine .
    • It All Depends on You - sung by Sheree North .
    • Don't Hold Everything - sung by Gordon MacRae , Dan Dailey and Ernest Borgnine .
  9. Black Bottom - As part of the George White's Scandals of 1926 show , Sheree North and Jacques d'Amboise first dance a pre-story, after which Sheree North then dances and sings the Black Bottom with a ballet .
  10. One More Time - sung by Gordon MacRae during an after show party.
  11. You Try Somebody Else (We'll Be Back Together Again) - Roxanne Arlen tries to sing and dance the song.
  12. Birth of the Blues - sung by Gordon MacRae , danced in a dream sequence by Sheree North and Jacques d'Amboise .
  13. You Try Somebody Else (We'll Be Back Together Again) - Sheree North dances and sings in her new lead role along with a ballet.
  14. Together - Dan Dailey and Phyllis Avery sing the song to celebrate their eighth family wedding anniversary.
  15. Sonny Boy - Gordon MacRae , Dan Dailey and Ernest Borgnine watch The Singing Fool with Norman Brooks singing Sonny Boy at the movie theater.
  16. If I Had a Talking Picture of You - Sung by Byron Palmer while recording a movie.
  17. (Keep Your) Sunny Side Up - Sheree North records the theme song of the film of the same name in a recording studio.
  18. Without Love - Sheree North sings the piano accompaniment piece by Dan Dailey as a rehearsal for Strike Me Pink .
  19. The Best Things in Life Are Free - Sheree North sings in Strike Me Pink (as the finale of the film).

The pieces You're the Cream in My Coffee , Follow Thru and Thank Your Father are listed in various sources (including the IMDB ) as part of the film, but actually do not appear as separate singing or dance numbers. Fanfares of Joy is a typical representative of the "presenting" musical. All pieces of music are performed in the context of shows, stage or party performances.

Production and Background

The premiere of The Best Things in Life Are Free took place on September 28, 1956 in New York. In Germany the film was released as Fanfare of Joy on December 21, 1956 in an abridged version (95 minutes instead of 104 minutes).

This is the only film in which Ernest Borgnine sings.

Sheree North gets dubbed by [Eileen Wilson] in her vocal numbers.

As a typical “biopic”, Fanfare of Joy brings the most successful pieces by the composer and songwriter trio from 1925 to 1930 to life. The film describes the historical events only very roughly. In fact, Lew Brown and Ray Henderson's original partnership had existed since 1922, with Buddy DeSylva joining in 1925. In the early 1930s, DeSylva separated from Henderson and Brown to work initially as a producer at Paramount Pictures and later to become CEO of Capitol Records .

reception

With a budget of $ 2,860,000, the film grossed just over $ 4,000,000 in 1956, of which $ 2,250,000 was in North America.

Reviews

“The path of a successful pop composer team (including 'Sonny Boy') from Broadway to Hollywood in the 20s. A little criminal tension and humor liven up the biographical revue film. "

- Lexicon of international film

“It's a glittering array of hits presented with all the nostalgic attention it deserves. The representations are of the highest format, from Gordon MacRaes and Dan Dailey's pleasing sentimental singing to the clowning of Ernest Borgnine and Sheree North's agile dance numbers. "

- Variety

Awards

Academy Awards 1957

Nominations

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The various external sources that describe the music and dance numbers used are inconsistent in comparison with one another and sometimes do not match the numbers actually present in the film. The list is therefore based on the order in which the pieces appear in the film itself.
  2. ↑ In contrast, there is the “integrating” musical, in which the numbers result from the plot itself without stopping it.
  3. ↑ Fanfares of Joy. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 13, 2020 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ↑ http://variety.com/1955/film/reviews/the-best-things-in-life-are-free-1200418023/