alexlimberg

7/10

Available for free: https://archive.org/details/one.-two.-three.-1961.720p.-billy-wilder-film-james-cagney-howard-st.-john-pamel#reviews (hope that's a legitimate source). Billy Wilder can't really produce bad comedies, can he? It may not be his greatest work but as a German (who is too young to have experienced this period or the Cold War in general) I found this (fictional) American view on post war Berlin particularly interesting. It's Germany alright, but it seems like a foreign country to me. Fun fact: there used to be a Coke factory in my town as well. It closed when I was very young. I can hardly remember it. But they had the same kind of Coca Cola sign on their roof like the building in this movie. No wonder: the location in the movie used to be a Coke factory for real. It's also great to see German (speaking) actors like Pulver or Buchholz in their prime. How beautiful and promiscuous she was. Tiffin is also great. Plus, I enjoyed b/w imagery, 60's design and the glimpse into the society of that time (I have difficulties to tell what's fiction and what's reality though.) The plot is kind of entertaining. Comedy elements are solid if you like the typical cartoon-ish style of comedies of that era. In hindsight it's kind of weird that they shot a lighthearted comedy against the backdrop of the 1961 events in Berlin.

John Chard

0/10

Amazing Cagney performance in a film that has no resonance now. C.R. MacNamara is the head of Coca-Cola's bottling interests in Germany, he is a forceful man who wants to be all that he can be. He hopes to be the head of European operations for the company and is well on his way until the teenage daughter of Coca-Cola big wig Wendell P. Hazeltine shows up and he is asked to baby-sit her for a two week trip thru the continent. I wish I could have been around to watch this on its release in 1961, for I'm sure I would of laughed my head off at the relevant jokes of the time. Full of communist bluster dialogue and jokes in keeping with the times, One, Two, Three has all the trademarks of a classic Billy Wilder/I.A.L. Diamond picture. Yet viewing it now, one finds that the jokes are tired and weary, and although the frenetic pace of the film is incredible {it really is like a scattergun exploding upon the viewers senses}, the film is something of an archaic oddity. Boasting a quite brilliant performance from James Cagney, the picture is never less than watchable, but the advent of time means the film is stuck firmly in 1961, regardless of the fine work from lead man and director alike. 6/10