One, Two, Three (1961) User Reviews (152)

Billy Wilder Gets Hot Over the Cold War

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 21 September 2005]

One, Two, Three is from the fertile mind of Billy Wilder where Cold War politics gets reduced to the absurd. This film is so fast and so funny it's only a few steps from Monty Python.

For what was and what should have remained his swan song to the world of film James Cagney heads the cast in this. He's the man in charge of Coca-Cola's operations in Germany which is headquartered in West Berlin and he's had a lovely little present dumped in his lap. The daughter of the CEO of Coca-Cola is in Europe and now she's in Germany and he's expected to watch out for her. The daughter is played by Pamela Tiffin and she is one of the biggest airheads ever portrayed on the screen. She's fallen big time for a German kid played by Horst Bucholtz. They've gotten married.

Bucholtz is a kid who's real good at spouting all kinds of left wing slogans without delving to deeply into their meanings. He's a Communist and that drives Cagney nuts and if it drives Cagney nuts, Tiffin's father is sure to go over the top. Cagney takes it upon himself to get Bucholtz arrested on the East Berlin side as an American spy.

Of course a small memento of their married life has developed inside Tiffin so now Cagney has a real problem. He's got to get Bucholtz back and turn him into a money grubbing capitalist in his image. The frantic pace at which this is attempted, racing against the clock when Tiffin's father played by Howard St. John arrives in Berlin is what the rest of the film is about.

Wilder has a ball reducing the Cold War to its basic absurdities. The USA is symbolized by James Cagney who thinks the whole world will become America if only enough Coca-Cola is peddled. Cagney comes real close to proving it so.

The Communists come out far worse. Karl Marx's world always looked nice on paper, but always has had a real problem being converted into a functioning state. The Russians are also good at spouting the party line, but in One, Two, Three, Wilder shows how very easily they can be influenced by some of life's most elemental things and I don't mean Coca-Cola.

Cagney did not always get along with Wilder, but both men were professional enough to bury certain creative differences. Cagney was kind and patient with Tiffin who was getting her first real break in film. However he grew to positively loath Horst Bucholtz. In his memoirs which came out in the 1970s, Bucholtz was the only colleague who Cagney had anything really critical to say about.

During the middle of the film being shot, the Russians stopped the flow of traffic from West and East Berlin. Some shots had to be redone around the Brandenburg Gate, a whole set had to be constructed. I suppose a well trained cinema professional could spot the shots where the real and the fake Brandeburg were used. I sure can't. The following year, the Berlin Wall was built, so Wilder got his film done just in time.

Arlene Francis plays Cagney's exasperated wife and she of What's My Line does just fine. Cagney made an appearance on that show just before shooting started and gave the picture a big old plug.

The laughs come pretty fast and furious as James Cagney struggles mightily to prevent the arrival of "another bouncing, baby, Bolshevik."

Cagney in one of his best roles.

[alfiefamily · 8/10 · 26 January 2004]

"One, Two, Three" is a marvelously, funny film. It has an energy that you can't help but get caught up in.

From the time you hear the first few bars of "The Sabre Dance" thru the final shot of James Cagney, you are on a constant roller coaster, and you don't want to get off. It is a manic, wild movie that never disappoints or lets down.

The engine that drives this lunacy is James Cagney. In one of his best, funniest and energetic performances, he is nothing short of amazing. He is a whirling dervish, at the heart of a storm that he has no control over. I don't want to give any of the story away, suffice to say that he is nothing short of spectacular. In Cameron Crowe's book on Billy Wilder, Wilder laments that Cagney was so loud and energetic at the start of the film, that his character really has nowhere to go, in terms of building, and reacting to the chaos. I would agree with that assessment, but Cagney's performance does not let the audience stop and catch it's breath long enough for this to really be a factor.

Wilder and Diamond have brought us another gem. Is there another writing team that within a span of three years, have created three better pictures than the ones they have given us (Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, One,Two,Three)? I doubt it.

Kudos all around to the supporting cast as well. Especially, Arlene Francis, as Cagney's wife, and Lilo Pulver as his secretary. Also watch for some "inside" jokes. Like when Cagney threatens Horst Buchholz with a grapefruit, and Red Buttons, in a cameo, doing a Cagney imitation.

Great fun from start to finish. 10/10

One of Cagney's last great roles

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 1 December 2009]

James Cagney was pretty much retired when Billy Wilder lured him away from his farm to do "One, Two, Three," a witty, fast-moving comedy from 1961. And what a credit to Cagney - rapid dialogue and plenty of it, taxing to memorize probably for a man half his age.

The story concerns an American Coca-Cola executive, C.R. McNamara, heading up an office in Berlin who is asked by his boss to host his daughter (Pamela Tiffin). Hoping for a plum assignment in London, C.R. and his wife (Arlene Francis) welcome the young woman with open arms. She's southern, beautiful, flirtatious, and before they know it, she's got a Communist boyfriend (Horst Bucholz) Then he becomes her Communist husband, and that London promotion is looking less and less likely unless C.R. can pull off a miracle.

Wilder's direction for this was to have the dialogue shouted rather than spoken and to keep the film moving at a very fast pace. Admittedly this can get a little exhausting. Cagney gives a high-voltage performance and is extremely funny as the harried executive. And there are some hysterical bits as well as the madcap feeling of a '30s film. The rest of the cast is wonderful: Arlene Francis as C.R.'s long-suffering wife, Lilo Pulver as C.R.'s sexy secretary, and Hanns Lothar as Schlemmer, C.R.'s assistant who was "underground" during the war. ("The resistance?" "No, the subway. Nobody told me anything down there.") Though this was not a happy set - Wilder and Cagney had their differences, and Horst Buccholz was a major pain - the result is very good. Late in their careers, Wilder and Cagney still had it. Big time.

Outstanding Comedy

[rmax304823 · 5 December 2003]

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.

Perfect, Hysterical Madcap Comedy

[Gazzer-2 · 10/10 · 17 July 2003]

C.R. MacNamara (James Cagney), a soft drink executive stationed in West Berlin with his wife (Arlene Francis) and two kids, is given the task of looking after his boss' wild daughter, Scarlett (Pamela Tiffin), who flies in for a visit. But when Scarlett runs off and marries a young Communist named Otto (Horst Buchholz)---and with MacNamara's boss flying in to West Berlin in a matter of hours---MacNamara has to race against the clock to turn Scarlett's rebellious new husband into the perfect son-in-law, or risk losing his job....

Billy Wilder's "One Two Three" is one of the greatest comedy films ever made. This wonderfully zany 1961 gem is a lightning-paced, hysterical farce (and with it's classic instrumental theme of "The Sabre Dance," you know you're in for a rollicking, rapid-fire comedy). Based on a French play, much of the movie plays out like a stage comedy, as Wilder simply turns his camera on the actors and lets them do their thing. The entire cast is simply superb, their comic timing perfect. James Cagney gives one of his all-time greatest performances as C.R. MacNamara. In almost every scene, with the bulk of the script on his shoulders, Cagney is sharp, quick on the draw, and just plain hilarious as the bewildered executive. Arlene Francis lends fine comic support as Cagney's sarcastic wife, Horst Buchholz is very funny & perfectly cast as the rebellious Otto, and the gorgeous Pamela Tiffin is simply a riot as the hot-blodded, dim-witted Scarlett. But ALL the actors in this movie are funny & terrific. Billy Wilder's direction is marvelous, and his script co-written with I.A.L. Diamond is clever and hilarious.

Some may find the quick pace of "One Two Three" a little exhausting, as the movie's energy level remains high from beginning to end, rarely stopping for air, but it works for me. This movie is pure farce, plain and simple. It makes no apologies for what it is, and it's goal is to make you laugh loudly. "One Two Three" is one of the most hysterical movies I've ever seen in my life, and it never fails to give me bellylaughs. Thank you Billy, Jimmy, and all the rest for this magnificent comedy gem.

Exceptional Cold War Spoof

[Mitch-38 · 10/10 · 24 September 2000]

Billy Wilder's hilarious Cold War comedy that only gets better with each viewing. It does help some, of course, to know the politics of the region and of that time period. Irregardless, one need not be a Hoover Institute Fellow to pick these up quickly. James Cagney, proving his acting range was virtually borderless, turns in a superb performance as the soft drink exec seeking an upper echelon corporate job.

With a terrific supporting cast, Cagney's corporate dreams are about to explode, when the boss' wild daughter flies into Berlin. Creating havoc, and not to mention more stress on his wounded marriage, the daughter runs off cavorting about in the Eastern Sector.

Corporate ambitions, romance and strong politics collide in this volatile, hilarious, extremely fast paced comedy. This is how a real comedic farce is put together, and it goes off without a hitch, all the way to the last gag. There's also some great homages/inside jokes to boot. A comedy classic, and another gem from Mr. Wilder.

A Delightful Comedy

[harry-76 · 10/10 · 14 March 1999]

"One, Two, Three," is a fast paced, cleverly scripted comedy, with an absolutely stellar performance from James Cagney. Billy Wilder's direction is vigorous and tight-knit, with a tempo that doesn't let up, yet doesn't tire either. One good line after the next, in an original comedy with loads of laughs. But it's Cagney's show, and does he give it his all! This is a wonderful tribute to one of the screen's all-time great actors.

One of The Ten Best Comedy Films Ever Made

[bbedge · 10/10 · 15 November 2006]

If you're planning on screening "One, Two,Three" for the first time and you weren't alive in 1961, take a moment to acquaint yourself with the political climate of the time....then get ready to laugh A LOT ! I was 17 when "One, Two, Three" came out and all these years later I am still amazed at the majesty of this film. As most of you know, this was to be James Cagney's last picture, and it took a lot of convincing by Billy Wilder to get him to do it. Cagney did come back one more time for "Ragtime", but that doesn't lessen the greatness of this, his final starring role. I saw a comment posted about the film having the perfect cast and I agree, but it's not surprising when you consider this: name me a Billy Wilder film that didn't have the perfect cast ! William Holden and Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Blvd", Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in "The Apartment", Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like It Hot", Jack Lemmon and..well, you get the picture: Billy Wilder knew precisely who he wanted for every part and usually got them, and if he had to go with choice # 2, then choice # 2 was one lucky actor. And each supporting role, no matter how small, got the same Wilder treatment. I know because my dad was the TV Movie Host in "The Apartment". Actors knew that being in a Billy Wilder film meant the script would be first rate and the director would get a first rate performance out of them, even if it took all night. Pamela Tiffin was just terrific in this film, but sadly she never got another role worthy of her ability. The same goes for Horst Buchholz, "The Magnificent Seven" not withstanding. At least they got to do "One, Two, Three" and that might have just been enough. Right up there in the same league with "The Philadelphia Story", "Annie Hall" and the original version of "To Be Or Not To Be" starring Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, Billy Wilder's "One, Two, Three" is a forever film classic for all the reasons I and others have mentioned, and for one more which it shares with every great film: "One, Two, Three" assumes you have a brain and treats you accordingly. " SCHLEMMER !!!!!"

fast talking Billy Wilder comedy

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 23 December 2016]

C.R. 'Mac' MacNamara (James Cagney) is a Coca-Cola exec in charge of the West Berlin operations. Tension is rising across the Iron Curtain. It's a little over a year before the start of the Berlin Wall. He's trying to introduce Coke to the East. The communists want the secret formula. There is his sexy secretary Fräulein Ingeborg. His wife wants a quiet life in Atlanta. His boss dismisses expanding into Russia and asks Mac to care for his clueless party-girl daughter Scarlett Hazeltine.

The talk is fast-paced. The humor is broad and full of Wilder wordplay. Cagney is an unrelenting engine. He is buzzing with energy and I half-expected him to explode in song and dance. The machine gun dialog is non-stop and can get tiring at some point. This is a feat of performance from the great Cagney.

Quick, well acted, and funny as hell

[MartynGryphon · 10/10 · 29 March 2005]

Mention James Cagney's name, and most people will mention one of his gangster films like G-Men or The Public Enemy or at a push will mention one of his just as memorable Song & Dance roles like Footlight Parade or Yankee Doodle Dandy. While it is true he could be both Tough and Elegant, largely forgotten was Cagney's wonderful ability to play comedic Characters. (Who can forget his film stealing role as the tyrannical Captain in Mister Roberts).

One such film that highlights his comedy talent, was Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three. Made in 1961, it shows us a 62 year old Cagney still at the top of his game 30 years after he became a star.

Set in a post war yet pre détente Germany, the film is a fast, frantic, romantic, hilarious farce set against the non too funny backdrop of the Cold War which to be honest was far from 'cold' when the movie was made with the Cuban Missile Crisis just months away and American tolerance of the 'red menace' at an all time low.

Cagney plays MacNamara, a tough-talking Middle Management executive for Coca-Cola trying to secure the Coca-Cola rights on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain. He Hates Communists, Hates Fascists, and loves his work. He is short tempered, sharp tongued and quick witted. He has two women in his life his wife Phyiliss, played fantastically by the always fantastic Arlene Francis, and his yummy blonde and easily corruptible secretary Ingeborg (Lilo Pulver). His organised yet double life is thrown into turmoil when his bosses 17 year old yet wild insatiable daughter Scarlett (Pamela Tiffin) arrives with the bosses strict instructions to 'look after her'. Instead of staying for the intended two weeks she stays for two months and appears to have successfully curtailed her wayward lifestyle, until one night she fails to return to the MacNamara home, frantic with worry for her safety (and the safety of his Job), MacNamara is calling everybody and his dog in West Berlin that may have a clue to her whereabouts. His Driver finally admits that since her arrival in Germany she's been crossing the Brandenburg Gate into East Germany every night has been courting and now married to a fully fledged card carrying communist called Otto (Horst Buchholz). Knowing that this will be the final nail in his coca-cola coffin if his boss ever finds out, MacNamara proceeds to concoct a plan to erase the marriage from the books and have Otto incarcerated in the East by having him arrested for being an American Spy. MacNamara pleased with his handy work returns home to find out that Scarlett is in a 'family way' with Otto's baby, now he must get Otto Back from the clutches of the East German forces, and pass him of as a blue-blooded, non commie capitalist entrepreneur.

The friction between Cagney and Buchholz on camera is brilliant yet the two actors constantly fought off set with Cagney labelling Buchholz as the most un-cooperative active he had ever worked with with Cagney even threatening to 'put him, (Buchholz) on his ass' which made the interplay between their respective characters all the more realistic as two people that detest the sight of each other.

Red Buttons makes an early movie appearance as an American MP and steals his scene by doing an impersonation of Cagney circa 1931 right in the face of Cagney circa 1961, which even though his back is to camera you can tell Cagney is cracking up though forever the professional, he gathers his composure well enough to complete the scene. There is also a blink-and-you'll-miss it in-joke where Cagney threatens to hurl a half grapefruit in Buchholz face in homage to the memorable scene he did 30 years before with Mae Clarke in The Public Enemy Another classic line is when Cagney utters rival screen gangster Edward G Robinson's immortal final line from Little Ceaser 'Mother of Mercy is this the end of Rico'.

From the opening titles the pace of this movie is set with the fast paced sabre-dance theme. Cagney refuses to let the film slow down either from the moment he first appears on screen he shows more vitality and energy than the rest of the cast combined and still moves with the agility of someone half his age.

I love this movie and is a perfect example of a sixties screwball sex-farce. typical Wilder, but a role a little different than Cagney was used to playing, but he rose to the challenge perfectly. It was to be another 20 years before Cagney made another Movie, but hell, he needed a long rest after giving it his all in this one.

Jack Lemmon once said that the film would have been much better had a more comedic actor been cast as Otto, I personally would have loved Lemmon himself in the role, but in 1960's Hollywood, any actor willing to play an anti-American communist was committing occupational suicide such was the paranoia surrounding Communism.

This movie can never be remade as it is too racially and politically intolerant for today's politically correct audiences to digest with comfort, which doesn't really upset me as the performances is this movie could never be bettered

"It's that damned German efficiency."

[ackstasis · 7/10 · 4 March 2008]

Throughout his long and distinguished career, director Billy Wilder has always excelled at drawing impressive comedic performances from actors that we wouldn't typically associate with comedy. His most exemplary accomplishment would undoubtedly be the case of Walter Matthau, who, prior to 'The Fortune Cookie (1966),' was known prominently for his dramatic work, but went on, with Jack Lemmon by his side, to create one of cinema's most enduring and beloved comedic partnerships. No less remarkable is Wilder's transformation of archetypal gangster James Cagney. Defying all expectations, the director managed to wring a frenetic comedy performance out of his leading man, the experience leaving Cagney so utterly exhausted that he subsequently retired from the acting business {and wasn't seen again at all until Milos Forman's 'Ragtime (1981)'}. Though not one of Wilder's greatest efforts, and certainly paling in comparison with 'The Apartment (1960)' of the previous year, 'One, Two, Three (1961)' is a massively enjoyable comedy romp, and few directors other than Wilder were ever bold enough to poke such fun at the aggressively-escalating Cold War.

James Cagney plays C.R. "Mac" MacNamara, a proud veteran of the Coca-Cola Company, who has dragged his family around Europe for the past fifteen years in futile pursuit of the European managerial position. Now located in West Berlin, his goal is seemingly within reach, despite the elevating friction between the Americans and the Communists of the East. Just on the verge of a groundbreaking deal to distribute Coca-Cola across the Iron Curtain, Mac is unexpectedly asked by his boss (Howard St. John) to babysit his hot-blooded seventeen-year-old daughter, Scarlett (Pamela Tiffin), during her stay in Berlin. When Scarlett suddenly announces her marriage to a fierce Communist radical, Otto Ludwig Piffl (Horst Buchholz), Mac realises that he has just hours to transform this unapologetic Yankee-hater into the perfect son-in-law, otherwise his career is as good as doomed. Racing frantically around his office, barking orders with incredible ferocity, Cagney is absolute dynamite in the leading role, the film's hectic conversational pace often reminiscent of a Howard Hawks film, particularly 'His Girl Friday (1940)' {which Wilder notably remade in 'The Front Page (1974)'}.

Though some of the jokes occasionally miss their mark, the screenplay by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond {adapted from the one-act play by Ferenc Molnar} is brisk, intelligent and regularly very funny. The supporting characters each bring a streak of vibrancy to the darkly-themed satire, and, though Cagney always dominates his scenes, each performer complements him well. Schlemmer (Hanns Lothar), an ex-SS member who denies everything, habitually clinks his heels together at every order, despite being asked on multiple occasions to cut it out; Phyllis MacNamara (Arlene Francis) resents her husband's neglect of his family, and verbally articulates her frustration by referring to him as "Mein Fuhrer"; Fräulein Ingeborg (Liselotte Pulver) is Mac's sexy, ambitious secretary, and Wilder certainly knows how to make good use of her. Filled with amusing characters and situations, and more film references than I was able to count, Billy Wilder's 'One, Two, Three' is surefire Cold War entertainment, and fans of James Cagney will relish the opportunity to witness Rocky Sullivan playing the comedian.

Dated but still vibrant...

[dexter-3 · 10/10 · 19 August 1999]

Although "One, Two, Three" was made at a tense and crucial point in the Cold War standoff, it is bitingly funny and has aged well. As previous reviewers have noted, the performances are top notch, particularly those delivered by Cagney, Bucholz and Arlene Francis. The satire is thick in every scene, with particularly sharp barbs aimed at the behavior and attitudes of post-war Germans. The parodies of and references to Cagney's earlier films are also very funny. Cagney's makeover of the committed young Communist is outrageous.

A definite "10"...Wilder during his career peak, and Cagney delivering a fitting career finale.

"Better a dead hero than a live Communist!"

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 30 September 2019]

Quite a few years ago when I began my hobby of writing these reviews on IMDb, I began to notice how often Coca Cola showed up in movies as a result of their ubiquitous marketing and product placement. It got to the point that I made a game out of it with my family, as to who could shout out the first appearance of a Coke mention while watching a film. As it turns out, the movie "One, Two, Three" takes that whole idea and turns it on it's head, as the trick here is to catch a scene where you don't have any sign of Coke at all!

Well, the movie itself is a farcical take on East/West relations, made just before the Berlin Wall went up in the same year this picture was released. One of my all time favorites, Jimmy Cagney, is on hand in a frenetic, fast paced and fast talking gig that was a hallmark of some of his very earliest pictures, like 1933's "Hard to Handle" and 1934's "Jimmy the Gent". In those flicks he was pretty much a con man, while here he's heading up the entire Coca-Cola operation in Germany, with an eye to extending the soft drink's reach into Russia! That idea is squashed by the home office, while at the same time, C.R. MacNamara (Cagney) is assigned the task of babysitting the seventeen year old teenage daughter of the company president in Atlanta. The story gets a lot of mileage out of the clashing ideologies of capitalism versus communism, as young Scarlet Hazeltine (Pamela Tiffin) falls for German commie Otto Ludwig Piffl (Horst Buchholz), who's most thoughtful criticism of capitalism is that it's "like a dead herring in the moonlight. It shines, but it stinks!" Not that I agree, but it was quite the colorful description coming from the mind of screenwriter and director Billy Wilder.

For this viewer, the biggest kick I got out of the picture were the under the radar tributes to some of Cagney's earlier pictures. There was that moment when MacNamara threatened Otto with a grapefruit to the kisser, which the actor actually did do to Mae Clark in 1931's "The Public Enemy", and if you noticed, that cuckoo clock in Mac's office rang out each time with 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' from Cagney's 1942 movie. And though it didn't relate to any of Cagney's prior pictures, I couldn't contain myself when the band at the Grand Hotel Potemkin launched into the German version of 'Yes, We Have No Bananas'!

So when I plug this title into my list of James Cagney movies I've watched and reviewed here on IMDb, it comes out in a very respectable third place out of the fifty one titles I've seen (as I write this) when sorted in IMDb ranking order. Personally, I wouldn't rate it that high against my own Cagney favorites like "White Heat", "Angels With Dirty Faces" and "The Public Enemy", but if you're a Cagney fan like I am, you'll enjoy it just the same. Easy enough to catch now too, as it's been released on DVD, which wasn't the case when I first sought it out a few years ago.

Feels Dated

[princebansal1982 · 3/10 · 17 May 2011]

I am a big fan of screwball comedies from 30's and 40's and somehow they always seem fresh. However movies like One, Two, Three seem to be really dated. All the jokes fall flat.

I did like the movie in the start but it just went downhill. Nearly everybody in the movie is a stereotype. There is a blond dumb secretary, unscrupulous capitalist manager who sleeps with every secretary, wife who tolerates cheating, idealistic communist young guy and unscrupulous communist guys who will risk anything for a beautiful blond. I understand that this is a recipe for a good farce, but everything feels artificial and I didn't laugh once during the whole movie. And I laugh a lot during funny movies.

I can see that it may have been funny when it was released but that is not the case now. By the way I have loved older comedies by Lubitsch, Hawks and Sturges which are still very funny.

This movie falls in middle, not good enough to recommend to anybody but not so bad that I fret over time wasted in watching the film.

Wilder At His Considerable Best

[bigpurplebear · 2 February 2002]

I first saw this film in a theater when it came out. Laughed so hard I fell out of my seat (and was spared considerable embarrassment only by the fact that everyone around me was doing the same thing). I can't count the number of times I've seen it over the years, but I know one thing for sure: I've yet to spot all the gags. (They come so fast upon each other's heels that you're likely to miss two for every one you're still laughing over.)

Wilder plays no favorites -- and he takes no prisoners -- here. Everything within his considerable reach (the Cold War, the postwar era, spy-exchanges, Communism, capitalism, European aristocrats, idealism and cynicism, JUST for starters) is lampooned equally. (Even at least one of Cagney's early performances, in "Public Enemy," takes a shot.)

Frankly, I'm surprised this film today has so many staunch fans who weren't around back when so much of its humor was "topical." Its ongoing appeal has to be attributed both to Wilder's pacing and to James Cagney's hallmark performance as McNamara (a poster child for high blood-pressure if ever there was one). Neither he nor Wilder ever let up, ably aided by a solid cast (Horst Bucholtz in particular, strangely enough!) who manage somehow always to catch up.

"One, Two, Three:" that's how fast the gags fly. See if you can keep up.

Fastest and funniest comedy in the West (Berlin)

[djderka · 10/10 · 21 July 2015]

I thought Airplane 1 & 2 were very funny. I liked all the Scary Movies (the comedies). I really liked It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, World with all of the greatest comedians of the time. And Bridesmaids was really funny too.

But compared to One Two Three they all are in slow motion.

One Two Three is the fastest most witty comedy I have ever seen. I just saw it on cable. And it is one of Billy Wilder's finest films. You cannot afford to laugh as you will miss the next zinger.

The comedic innuendos come a flying at ya' and you better have a cup of Dark Roast coffee to stay alert.

Fun is made of East/West, North/South, Communism/Capitalism and a ton of everything including society itself. A real tour d'force of life in the 60s and the cold war.

Cagney has the fastest and longest lines you have every seen and he is backed up by a great supporting cast. The story is simple: Executive has to confront his capitalistic boss with the fact that his egocentric daughter falls in love with a commie. The quick witted dialogue between the Russian embassy guy and Cagney are great!

I have to buy the video and show it too my friends, ASAP. And had to get my 2 cents in for a legacy post.

And no CGI special effects, explosions, gun fire, car chases, impending disasters, foot chases, and the big mean bad guy.

All dialogue and funny sight gags. Why can't we make this kind of comedy today.

Wilder and Cagney at their peak.

[coop-16 · 10/10 · 17 April 1999]

This, and not Doctor Strangelove, is the supreme satire of the Cold War. From Cagney's hilarious opening narration, to its wonderful punch line, this masterpiece sustains a comic pace and energy that would almost no active film maker could hope to equal. The interrogation of Piffle is unforgettable, as is the meeting between Cagney and the commissars in the beer hall. In a word-MAGNIFICENT.

You want the papers in triplicate, or the blond in triplicate?

[lastliberal · 9/10 · 5 July 2007]

In his last main-career film, James Cagney is an electric dynamo and so pushy his wife keeps referring to him as mein fuhrer. He is racing a mile a minute, playing tricks on the East Germans and trying to set up a date with his secretary. The best made plans get sidetracked when the boss send his 17-year-old daughter over for a couple of weeks and she ends up married to a Communist and pregnant.

You can't take your eyes off the screen for a second as Capitalist and Communist jokes are flying so fast you can hardly keep up with the. This is Wilder at his best - Cagney, too.

They are assisted by the Golden Globe nominated Pamela Tiffin as the ditzy Southern belle who falls in love with everyone, Horst Buchholz as her East German husband, Golden Globe nominated German actress Liselotte Pulver as the hot secretary that has the Russian trade delegation panting, and many more fine actors and actresses.

This is a classic Wilder comedy and it will keep you in stitches.

Best comedy ever!

[bviktor98 · 9/10 · 24 July 2015]

I love this movie for a couple of reasons.

The story is originally from a play by Ferenc Molnár, who was Hungarian, like I am, so his other works are well known in my country. I love the play, and I'd give it a 9, but (I don't say this very often) the movie is much better.

It all takes place in the separated Berlin in 1961. Its about a rich man(working for a big soft drink company) of "wealth and taste", who has to look after his boss's daughter, which turns out to be a real struggle as the girl secretly marries a communist party member of the east side.

The director is our beloved Billy Wilder, who surely knew how to make a good comedy. The film doesn't have any moment without a great joke, I laughed so hard, I fell down from the sofa(not joking). The biggest difference between the play and the movie is the amount of political references and elements. Its a fight between capitalism and communism on every level, mostly by humorous conversations between the characters.

The dialogues are fantastic, and haven't lost their topicality over the years(its recommended to know about the political situation though). James Cagney steals the show as the main character, its jesting to see an actor who used to play mostly bad guys as a funny character.

I'd recommend this film to anyone. The writing, the characters, the acting are all excellent, and the humour still challenges the diaphragm.

10/10

Ich bin ein Billy Wilder...

[ElMaruecan82 · 7/10 · 16 October 2019]

In 1959, Billy Wilder painted the Mona Lisa of screwball comedy with "Some Like it Hot". He outdid himself again in 1960 with "The Apartment", a witty romantic comedy and sharp satire against office mentalities and lust-driven careerism, the film took home the Best Picture Oscar. If all good things went in three, the appropriately titled "One, Two, Three", third comedy in a consecutive year, from the Wilder-Diamond partnership should have been a masterpiece. In fact, it has the more modestly-designed set of a little dessert, after two copious meals.

But for a dessert, it's still 'rich' enough to be enjoyed with its machine-gun dialogues worthy of Hawks and Cukor' classics that makes you wonder if you didn't accidentally fast-forward the film at 1.5 speed. And there is such vaudevillian streak of incongruous events and improbable coincidence that it provides the right canvas for safe hilarity, in other words so many things happen in the film that even the lousiest gag doesn't have time to fall flat, another comes at the rescue. And as Coca-Cola executive McNamara, James Cagney delivers a painstakingly energetic performance that exhausted him so much he retired from acting for 20 years until his cameo in "Ragtime", that's how demanding his role was... and you can feel it in the screen.

Cagney didn't get along with Horst Bucholz who plays Otto the young idealist communist who marries the Coca Cola's top man's daughter (Pamela Tiffin) and wished he could kick his ass to calm down his scene-stealing impulses. These incidences reminded me of Fonda not getting along with Ford during the shooting of "Mister Roberts", starring Cagney as well, but that didn't affect the film since it's all meant to be a big joke and in the scenery-chewing contest, Cagney and Bucholz are equally hammy and funny if you look at the film with indulgent eyes. Maybe Cagney was too old and Jack Lemmon would have been a more fitting choice as a middle-aged executive in one of the most emblematic American brands. We'll never know.

The real problem in "One, Two, Three" is that it starts brilliantly, the whole first act where we see "Mac" handling Germans' manners and double-edged efficiency draws a pattern of cultural clashes' gags that found an echo in both the Cold War context and the difference of mentalities between America and the European world, as if there was a second curtain behind the infamous iron one (though much lighter). But even if if the non-existence of the Berlin wall (only mentioned at the beginning) dates the film, made ironically the exact year of its building, the film also managed to be ahead of its time prophesizing the missiles crisis with a Russian executive saying about Cuban, "they give us cigars, we give them missiles".

The dialogues with the Soviet representatives are nothing short of brilliant writing, reminding us of the wit that Wilder displayed when he wrote "Ninothcka", a film whose comedic efficiency also depend on a funny Soviet trio. The comment about the Swiss cheese being rejected because it had holes had me in tears, to name that one. The plot thickens to the point of convolution when it adds the romantic subplot but it makes up for the blandness of the two lovers (no matter how colorful they're made to be) when it adds another dimension of cultural shift between Southerners and Yankees, the flimsy Southern belle didn't realize the political meaning of "Yankee, go home" slogan nor what a house "with a short walk to the bathroom" implied.

But the best asset the film has to offer is its slice of life from both sides of the Iron curtain or the soon-to-be Berlin wall. For all the antagonism directed against US capitalism, there might be one thing no one can resist which is a bottle of Coca-Cola, the brand that perhaps sold the American dream more than any political operation. So watching Cagney playing diplomacy with the Russian provided the film's best moments culminating with that unforgettable Sabre Dance and barefeet Fraulein Ingebörg frenetically shaking her voluptuous body on a restaurant table in front of executives getting an exciting taste of the Western dream. That musical sequence might be one of my favorite from any Wilder films and it's crucially set at mid-point just when the plot started to drag.

As I said, Horst Bucholz was hammy only to the degree that it was the only possible way to go the distance with Cagney and I enjoyed watching the lovable Arlene Francis playing his resigned but not discouraged wife. Yet the film is so busy providing one liners right after another that it takes the safe side and injects lousy wedding-and-divorce segments where so much could have been done in the area of politics. But maybe Wilder was getting too old-fashioned leaving sharper tones to a certain Cold-War comedy directed by Stanley Kubrick, interestingly a movie that also pays a tribute to Coca Cola through one of its most memorable scenes. That level of wit is missing in the film already dated by its own context. One thing to its defense though, it offers the perfect response to Joan Crawford's complain of product placement and the perfect punchline with Pepsi Cola having the last word.

And to give a last word, if the film isn't in the same league that "Some Like it Hot" and "The Apartment" and marks the decline of Wilder's prestige and awards pretensions, it still works and maybe it does so because somewhere I could feel it didn't pretend to be anything but a farce and comedy of manners with the Cold War as the backdrop. A "Dr. Strangelove" it isn't but either you don't find it funny or you do. I did find it funny many times and brilliant in a few scenes.

Another Delightful and Witty Comedy of Billy Wilder

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 30 May 2009]

In West Berlin, the ambitious executive of Coca-Cola C.R. MacNamara (James Cagney) is negotiating with the Russian representatives the opening of several factories in the Iron Curtain, expecting to be promoted to a high position in Europe. However, his boss Wendell P. Hazeltine (Howard St. John) calls him from Atlanta and tells him to call off the negotiation since it is against the policy of the company. Further, he asks MacNamara to take care of his seventeen year-old daughter Scarlett (Pamela Tiffin) that is traveling through Europe during her two weeks vacation in Berlin. When MacNamara and his wife Phyllis (Arlene Francis) meet Scarlett in the airport, they feel that she would be a troublemaker with her "hot blood". However, Scarlett gets sick and stays for two months in MacNamara's house. When Wendell calls MacNamara telling that he would come to Berlin with his wife to bring Scarlett back to USA, Phyllis calls her husband and tells that Scarlett has vanished. However, Scarlett appears in MacNamara's office and tells that she got married with the communist Otto Ludwig Piffl (Horst Buchholz). The smart MacNamara plots a scheme to get rid of the youngster; but when he finds that Scarlett is pregnant, he reverts the situation and decides to transform Otto in the ideal son-in-law.

"One, Two, Three" is another delightful and witty comedy of Billy Wilder in times of Cold War. The hilarious story is developed in a fast pace, with wonderful and ironic lines and situations making fun of the socialist and the capitalist regimes. James Cagney has one of his best roles (if not the best) performing the ambitious and smart executive. One of my favorite lines is the one that Otto says "I have been a capitalist for only three hours and I already owe more than ten thousand dollars". This is the first time that I watch this movie, and I imagine how funny it would be before the fall of the Berlin Wall. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Cupido Não Tem Bandeira" ("Cupid does not Have Flag")

Wilder's satire strikes again!

[ilpohirvonen · 7/10 · 9 December 2009]

Billy Wilder is well-known of his comedies and his satire, which usually strikes to Soviet Union's communism, western capitalism, materialism.. And the only right ideology to Wilder is humanism, which he seems to be telling to us through many of his movies.

First this movie became a flop, because it was banned until the Berlin Wall collapsed. And after that people didn't find the subject very amusing anymore. What I know is that this movie was banned in many countries for years. Reasons in the eastern Europe were mostly that it was too anti-soviet.

And the reason what makes this movie so great, and most pictures by Wilder. Is that the movie has a great message, Wilder's satire is brilliant, good casting, good writing and the film's basis is strong.

This movie is like a non-stop laughter. It just keeps going on and on. As someone already said here, there's just a great line after another. I also think this is James Cagney's best performance.

I just can't tell how great this is by words; Delightful, funny, political, serious, crazy! Actually that's what this movie is, crazy, everything seems incredibly absurd in this picture and I think that's the way for Wilder to deal with this issue.

Highly recommended to everyone!

You need a history lesson to get all the gags

[mls4182 · 10/10 · 9 January 2023]

It is worth it. This film was made quite a while before I was born but I still got most of the gags. Whether you are interested in the history of the cold war or not, this is a fun film.

Wilder really topped himself with the topical political jokes. You have barely enough time to laugh from one line to the next.

James Cagney gives a great, frenzied performance. Arlene Francis is delightfully snarky - it is a shame she didn't make more films. Buscholtz is pretty good and lovely Pamela Tiffin gives the best performance of her career.

My advice is to get a hold of the DVD with commentary. The narrator explains a lot of the jokes in their historical and political context. You can then watch the film again and get the other half of the jokes.

Rapid-Fire Dialogue, James Cagney, and Cold War Characters

[silverscreen888 · 7/10 · 3 November 2005]

One critic nominated "The President's Analyst", and "Dr. Strangelove" as the funniest 'cold war" comedies (1950--1991). I would add "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming" and the present film, "One, Two Three". The piece was adapted from a Ferrenc Molnar comedy "Egy, Ketto, Harom", the same title in Magyar. With his partner I.A.L. Diamond, Billy Wilder adapted the play to film, to feature a harried and high-powered U.S. Coca Cola executive, Macnamara, played powerfully by James Cagney, in search of a marketing coup. He wants to open up the Soviet Union to Coke, knowing it will easily outsell its putrid rival, Kremlin Cola. To accomplish the opening up of the Soviet Empire to corporate pseudo-capitalism and the big rubles, he has been wooing three commissars (lifted from Wilder's "Ninotchka"). He also has a sexy secretary played by lovely Liselotte Pulver, about whom his U.S.-based wife, Arlene Francis, knows nothing, whom he is anxious to please. But on the verge of success with his coup--gained by giving up the secretary to work under the commissars in return for them giving him the business--his magnum opus is torpedoed by the arrival of his Boss's daughter. He is to chaperone her, keep her from harm or worse. The "or worse" turns out to be Otto Ludwig Piffl, a noisy and anti-USer radical with long hair (Horst Bucholz), who secretly marries the Southern-belle hippie daughter (Pamela Tiffin) after she escapes scrutiny long enough to become a disaster in the making. This leaves Macnamara only one way to save the situation: he must turn Piffl into something presentable. The ironic ending will leave you laughing as hard as I did when I first saw this very original comedy, notable for its satirical rapid-fire dialogue, its effervescent characters and its jaundiced look at the ethically-challenged best of both sides in the Cold War.

Cagney miscast, Wilder off form and why is everyone shouting?

[wlkrrch · 3/10 · 27 March 2008]

I'm a massive Billy Wilder fan but count this as a rare mis-fire from one of Hollywood's greatest directors. It has the odd good one-liner, but the political satire is crude, the portrait of the Germans is so stereotypical it would get prosecuted under race hate laws these days and the pace is overly furious, so that you're left gasping for breath at the sheer pace of it all halfway through the film. Worse, it has little charm - Liselotte Pulver as the secretary is great, as are one or two of the German supporting cast, but Cagney is a long way off his best here and the film would have been redeemed if instead of Cagney Jack Lemmon had taken the lead - because Lemmon always had charm, even when he was barking his lines - see him in Avanti! if you don't believe me. This movie had the singular misfortune to be overtaken by historical events, as the slightly uncomfortable spoken prologue reveals: its comedy of east-west tension looked a little tasteless when the Soviets built the Berlin Wall between the start of shooting and its release in the cinemas. My least favourite Wilder movie, by a considerable margin.