ONE, TWO, THREE (Masters of Cinema)

When you say Billy Wilder you automatically think, SUNSET BLVD, SOME LIKE IT HOT, and THE APARTMENT. Which is understandable because Wilder is a master storyteller and those are just some of the best movies ever made.I love them as well but if I had to pick a drama from Wilder that was my favorite it would be ACE IN THE HOLE starring Kirk Douglas in his best role ever.The comedy that I would pick though, and I love SOME LIKE IT HOT don't get me wrong, is ONE TWO THREE a Cold War comedy about Capitalism, Communism, sex, and Coca-Cola. If you loved Kubrick's DR. STRANGELOVE then you'll love this. James Cagney here is the operational manager of the Berlin office of Coca-Cola who is trying to broker a deal with East Berlin and the Communist satellites of the USSR. What goes down is just a quick pace comedy that just does not let up and James Cagney, in my personal view , in one of his best roles ever. Better then WHITE HEAT? OK let's not go crazy here. Cagnet in WHITE HEAT is just plain unbeatable. ONE TWO THREE is a great comedy if you get the comedy. It is bold, brash, unforgiving, and face paced for it's time which you do ask questions along the way of "How in the hell did Wilder get away with that?" So much fun. So much laughter. I just love this film. Oh check out ACE IN THE HOLE too.

I saw this when it came out and the audience I saw it with, which was jam-packed at a neighborhood theater, laughed just as hard if not harder than the audience I saw Some Like it Hot with. Of course, every gag in the film got roaring laughter, but it was so up to the minute with what was happening in the world - and the pace was breathtaking - it never slowed down for a second and barely left you time to catch your breath before the next laugh hit. Cagney was brilliant in what would be his swan song until Ragtime coerced him back before the camera, Horst Bucholz proved to be a comic actor supreme, Pamela Tiffin was perky and fun, Arlene Francis droll, General Bullmoose - sorry, Howard St. John was his usual expert comic self. And all the character actors were perfection, especially Schlemmer. But it's the screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond that glitters and Wider's direction couldn't be better.The transfer is one of the better transfers from MGM/UA - given that they are the worst of the worst, that's saying something, I suppose. It could be better, but it looks pretty good and the film is the thing, of course. So, you should make a purchase of One, Two, Three in three, two, one...

First Off, there is nothing I did NOT like about this film. Yes, the dialog is fast-paced and you do need to know about the long-Time-Ago Cold War. Also, this is a Billy Wilder film. He directed such classics as: "Some Like It Hot", "The Apartment", "Irma La Douce" "Stalag 17" and "Sunset Blvd". There are a lot more. He is in the top 5 of my favorite directors.The plot on this one is quite simple: Cagney, As McNamara, is the head of the Berlin branch of Coca Cola. His boss, Mr. Hazeltine, sends his daughter, Scarlett, played wonderfully by Pamela Tiffen, to Europe because she has become a bit too rowdy. When she arrives in Berlin she rather shortly elopes with An East German Communist, Otto Pifl, played by Horst Bucholtz. I will not give anymore of the plot away. Capitalism and Communism both take hits. My favorite is the use of the Umlaut. You gotta see the film to know what I'm talking about. Viel Spass! That's German for "Have fun".

Funniest Movie of 1960's. Possibly the '70's and '80's. Cagney's 'last picture', is his funniest. You'll hate Horst Buchholz as much as the rest of the cast did by the time you finish watching 1, 2, 3!1- Funniest Billy Wilder you've never seen2- Leon Askin's greatest role before Burchhalter3- Turn it on SCHLEMMER!

This is a great movie. It would help the viewer to be aware of the following.In the time of the movie, there was West Germany (allied with the west) and East Germany (allied with the Soviet Union). Also, Chet Huntley and David Brinkley are briefly mentioned. They were co-anchors of the NBC Nightly News.Also, in this time period, it would be a really big deal if a very young woman of 17 should become pregnant out-of-wedlock. Also, there was really no such thing as equal opportunity employment searches.James Cagney, who often played the bad guy parts, really shines in this comedic role.Note: The director, Billy Wilder, wanted to convey a sense of increasing urgency in the viewers so the cookoo clock keeps chiming the hour more often, and the tempo of the cookoo also speeds up as the end of the picture draws near.

Wow! One of the funniest comedies coming out of Hollywood. Jimmy Cagney a Coca Cola bottler in a divided Germany after the war, wants to sell Coke to the Russians. All the while, he is confronted with East German communists, his bosses unruly daughter, heel-clicking employees, and Horst Bucholtz as an unrivaled lefty. You think I'm kidding about comedy. Wait until you hear a snippet of an all German band singing " Yes, We Have No Bananas" in their home language. The laughs come furious and fast so hang on!

I have been a fan of this movie for years. It is fast paced comedy done with wit and intelligence. James Cagney, of course is the central figure and force in this movie. Delivering his lines with bullet like precision. The supporting cast, featuring Arlene Francis, Pamela Tiffin and Horst Buchholz do very well keeping up with Cagney. Not enough space here to describe all that the movie entails, so I will simply say, if you enjoy comedy done well, get it. You will not be disappointed. Linea

This DVD is of excellent quality and does justice to the original film, plus the movie itself is beautifully made with the comedic action building and building to a frenetic pace. A true master's work.I may be partial as the period of this movie, Berlin in 1960 and '61, as I was just down the road in the U.S. Army in France at the time and when the Wall went up we went into alert mode. No laughing back then.

First and foremost, it is impossible to talk about co-writer/director Billy Wilder’s superb 1961 take on Cold War (and post-WW2) Berlin without focusing on James Cagney’s bravura central turn. As Berlin-based, career-obsessed, unscrupulous Coca-Cola executive, C R 'Mac’ MacNamara, who finds his career progression at risk courtesy of Horst Bucholz’s 'Bolshevik’, Otto Ludwig Piffl’s intentions towards Mac’s boss’ daughter, Pamela Tiffin’s 'party girl’ Scarlett Hazeltine, the sexagenarian Cagney delivers a performance of such motormouth energy that would be a challenge for an actor half his age. The fact that the actor is delivering one of Wilder and noted co-writer, Izzy Diamond’s, sharpest scripts, makes the absence for Cagney of much in the way of awards, particularly confounding. In addition to the trademark Wilder/Diamond undercurrents of the cynicism of sexual politics and corporate capitalism, the film’s particular focus on the parody of Communism and post-WW2 Germany is a little hit-or-miss and, perhaps, dated (particularly nearly 3 decades on from the fall of the Berlin Wall – itself under construction as Wilder’s film was being made), but, make no mistake, this is a very funny film, with a pace even faster than Wilder’s comedic masterpiece, Some Like It Hot, and (in this respect) a piece of exquisite cinema to compare with Howard Hawks’ gem, His Girl Friday (a personal favourite).Rather like the aforementioned films, the quality of the script and the endless stream of hilarious gags, almost makes superfluous any more detailed critical analysis. Where I would say the film (inevitably) doesn’t quite match Some Like It Hot is it does not have a central trio of the (sympathetic) quality of Lemmon, Curtis and Monroe – indeed, I suspect the aggressive, (largely) unredeemed nature of Mac’s persona here is one reason why Cagney’s turn didn’t hit it off with the critics. On the other hand, Bucholz does a good job as the irate ‘commie’ asked to take on the 'privileged capitalist’ mantle, Arlene Francis is impressive in her role as the ‘deadpan foil’, wife Phyllis, opposite Cagney and Tiffin eventually endears as the ‘dumb’ romantic. Some of the film’s highlight moments involve Mac’s underhand negotiations with (supposedly) avowed ‘commies’ in the form of three Russian trade commissars – these include scenes where Liselotte Pulver’s glamorous blonde secretary, Fräulein Ingeborg, dances (Monroe-like) on a table as 'intellectuals’ play chess and Mac attempts to negotiate Otto’s return from East Berlin and that in Mac’s office as the executive plots Coca-Cola’s expansion behind the Iron Curtain, with a background map (and Russian characterisations) calling to mind Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove. Indeed, Wilder’s film is also notable for deliberate references/homages to other films, namedropping La Dolce Vita and Gone With The Wind and giving us a Yankee Doodle Dandy cuckoo clock and a visiting Military Policeman 'doing a Cagney gangster’.In the end, though, a return to Cagney’s performance is inevitable. Despite the fact that the actor had a (personally) relatively standoffish relationship with Wilder during the making of the film and a more fractious one with Bucholz, there is no discernible dimunition in the resulting enthusiasm and energy on-screen. One, Two, Three thus provided a fitting penultimate film for one of Hollywood’s biggest ever films stars, as well as another worthy entry on Wilder’s CV.

I was kind of disappointed with the end result of this film. Let me be clear: as a movie the acting & the script & the direction should have made this film a classic. But it broke the stick. It did not have the organic unity that Some Like it Hot had. Had it been by a lesser director and cast, it might have worked well as a TV movie. Too many comics in the room and PAF! It is not a movie that I don't recommend... Any fan of Billy Wilder should watch it. His script is sublime. I am sad that I can't say that it was good. James Cagney still probably stands as the best actor of all time. His performance is great! He is funny. Maybe he was just too old for the role. He was in his sixties when it demanded someone in his early 40s. But I am lost because I adore both these legends of the art. I am not saying that it was over for everyone... Wilder still had just done The Apartment and was about to embark on Irma La Douce whereas Cagney had Ragtime. Maybe on a second screening I will like it better... To be continued...

A fascinating look at a different James Cagney showing off his comedic talents. None of the other actors really match up to him, but the pace of the movie is frenetic, set in the Berlin of the 60's and built around the division between East and West. To a large degree a sustained advertisement for Coca-Cola, but generally it works as a comedy and as a satire.It's well-directed by Billy Wilder who also co-wrote the screenplay, but the three East Berlin characters trying to get hold of the formula for Coca-Cola, but not sure if they want to stick with Communism is a direct lift from "Ninotchka" the Greta Garbo film of 1939. .

Even tho he hated Horst Buchholz with a vengence, he was so professional and got an extremely difficult part to a T.. A cold war classic comedy and not to be missed.The bluray has a super picture as well...Well worth the price, and ive been waiting for this for a while

One of Wilder's best and least known films. A perfect match of his witty and brilliant style and most provoking topics. He plays jokes with everything including cold war, making fun of west and east and givinh bob Hope his best role ever. A perfect plot where characters are not just puppets but funny and in a way real characters with all their idiosincracies which also embody a cultural clash where none is really right or wrong. Of course Soviets look like the losing side (film was shot in early 60s) but there are some provoking lines that show West hypocrisy and make it look ridiculous too