One, Two, Three (1961)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

Ferenc Molnár (play)
Billy Wilder (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 December 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Billy Wilder's Explosive New Comedy

Plot:

Comedy about Coca-Cola's man in West Berlin, who may be fired if he can't keep his American boss's daughter from marrying a Communist.

Plot Keywords:

Coca Cola | Communist | Germany | Cuckoo Clock | Brandenburg Gate Berlin

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 5 nominations

Cast

James Cagney	...	C.R. MacNamara
Horst Buchholz	...	Otto Ludwig Piffl
Pamela Tiffin	...	Scarlett Hazeltine
Arlene Francis	...	Phyllis MacNamara
Howard St. John	...	Wendell P. Hazeltine
Hanns Lothar	...	Schlemmer
Leon Askin	...	Peripetchikoff
Ralf Wolter	...	Borodenko
Karl Lieffen	...	Fritz (chauffeur)
Hubert von Meyerinck	...	Count von Droste Schattenburg
Loïs Bolton	...	Melanie Hazeltine (as Lois Bolton)
Peter Capell	...	Mishkin
Til Kiwe	...	Reporter
Henning Schlüter	...	Dr. Bauer
Karl Ludwig Lindt	...	Zeidlitz

Runtime:

115 min | Finland:108 min (1962) (banned version) | Canada:108 min (Ontario) | UK:108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Finland:K-12 (1986) | Finland:(Banned) (1962) (1966) (1969) | USA:Approved (PCA #20106) | UK:U | Australia:G | Sweden:11 | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

The building of the Berlin Wall had begun in the night of August 13, 1961, right through the set at the Brandenburger Tor. The team, discovering the change in the morning, had to move to Munich to shoot the missing scenes on the parking lot of the Bavaria Film Studios, where a copy of the lower half of the Brandenburger Tor had to be built.

Goofs:

Continuity: When James Cagney's car is checked by East German security at the Brandenburg Gate, Cagney gives a guard a six-pack of Coca Cola. After the car passes into East Berlin we see the guard open a bottle of Coca Cola by smashing the bottle neck against a sign post. When the car returns later, a guard returns the "empties" and we see that all bottles are intact.

Quotes:

C.R. MacNamara: What were you doing in East Berlin?
Scarlet: You mean last night?
C.R. MacNamara: I mean *all* those nights.
Scarlet: You see, there's this boy over there. Wow!
C.R. MacNamara: What boy? What have you been up to?
Scarlet: Well, I met him about six weeks ago. I went into East Berlin and there was this parade and they wanted to arrest me.
C.R. MacNamara: Arrest you?
Scarlet: Because I was taking pictures. And then this boy, he was in the parade, he said to the police man I shouldn't be arrested, I should be pitied, because I was a typical bourgeois parasite and the rotten fruit of a corrupt civilization. So naturally, I fell in love with him.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Amérique, notre histoire (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Sabre Dance

Outstanding Comedy

Howard Hawks usually gets the palm for the fastest dialogue in comedies but Wilder probably ties him here. This must be one of the funniest comedies to come out of Hollywood, at least during the sound era. The gags come fast -- and thick. If one doesn't work you don't have time to be disappointed because the next one is already underway.

It's one of those movies in which the gags would be spoiled if they were described to a person who hadn't yet seen the film. For the most part they are tied closely to the plot and often build on one another. But I'm compelled to give one example. Cagney is an executive in Berlin and his first-hand man is Schlemmer. Schlemmer has a habit of clicking his heels before and after addressing Cagney. At one point Cagney chews him out and asks him, "just between us," what Schlemmer did in the war. "I was in the underground," says Schlemmer. "Oh, the resistance?" "No, the underground. The subway. I was a conductor." Cagney says supiciously, "And I suppose you never were a supporter of Adolf." Schlemmer: "Adolf who? You see, I was always in the underground. They never told us anything down there."

The dialogue is shouted rather than spoken. Heels are clicked, people leap to attention, fingers are snapped, orders are flung about. The only person who doesn't run around frantically is Lilo Pulver who does not have to run to attract anyone's attention. She can simply stand still and get the job done. She's Cagney's secretary and tells him she's thinking of getting a job elsewhere as a translator. "Don't forget I am bilingual." "Don't I know it," Cagney mutters ruefully.

But I won't go on because I'll just wind up giving away more gags. Check the trivia entries too. This was Cagney's last major role and one of Wilder's best comedies. It's simply hilarious and not to be missed.