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United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), German ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Italian ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Spanish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Dutch ( Subtitles ), English ( Subtitles ), Finnish ( Subtitles ), French ( Subtitles ), Greek ( Subtitles ), Swedish ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (2.35:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: In his last starring film, James Cagney plays Coca-Cola executive C.R. MacNamara. Assigned to manage Coke's West Berlin office, MacNamara dreams of being transferred to London, and to do this he must curry favor with his Atlanta-based boss, Hazeltine Thus, MacNamara agrees to look after Hazeltine's dizzy, impulsive daughter, Scarlett, during her visit to Germany. Weeks pass, and on the eve of Hazeltine's visit to West Berlin, Scarlett announces that she's gotten married. Even worse, her husband is a hygienically challenged East Berlin Communist named Otto Piffl. The crafty MacNamara arranges for Piffl to be arrested by the East Berlin police and to have the marriage annulled, only to discover that Scarlett is pregnant. In rapid-fire 'one, two, three' fashion, MacNamara must arrange for Piffl to be released by the Communists and successfully pass off the scrungy, doggedly anti-capitalist Piffl as an acceptable husband for Scarlett. MacNamara must accomplish this in less than 12 hours, all the while trying to mollify his wife, who has learned of his affair with busty secretary Ingeborg. Seldom pausing for breath, Billy Wilders film is a crackling, mile-a-minute farce, taking satiric scatter shots at Coca-Cola, the Cold War (the film is set in the months just before the erection of the Berlin Wall), Russian red tape, Communist and capitalist hypocrisy, Southern bigotry, the German 'war guilt,' rock music, and even Cagney 's own movie image. Not all the gags are ...One, Two, Three ( 1, 2, 3 )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Set your time machine for 1961 and go back to the days of Khrushchev, Kennedy, and the height of the Cold War. Billy Wilder's screwball farce is set in West Berlin, where Macnamara (James Cagney), the head of the local Coca Cola office, wants " the pause that refreshes" to be the first American product sold behind the Iron Curtain. He also has to baby-sit his boss's wild teenage daughter (played by Pamela Tiffin), who quickly marries a raging communist from East Berlin and finds herself in the family way. And now her father is coming over to see how well Macnamara is taking care of his little girl.
This frenetic comedy is not for everyone, but if you can remember pill box hats and Berlin before the Wall, you will probably love it. The one-liners come fast and furious as all the actors shout their lines, and the "Sabre Dance" is the background music for the non-stop physical humor. Cagney hams it up as the harried Coca Cola boss who barks orders to his ex-nazi assistant and keeps wife Arlene Francis from leaving him. Tiffin, a teen icon at the time, floats through the movie in a Southern-belle haze, mostly ogling handsome Horst Buchholz, who plays her commie beatnik husband, Otto. The supporting cast is full of German and Russian stereotypes of the period who race around at breakneck speed trying to make Otto into a respectable husband.
If you liked the wacky political humor that was popular at the time, you'll enjoy this very funny comedy, filmed in glorious black and white.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is probably one of the funniest films I have ever watched. Acid, witty, frenetic, brilliant, master Wilder succeeds again in taking very serious subjects and human miseries and distort them in a millimetrical farse that first makes you laugh and then makes you think. American merciless capitalism, Soviet communism and its cruelty, Cold War and Berlin tragic division, love, deceit, decadence and ambition coincide in a breathtaking race against time. To name a few spectacular moments, the Soviet negotiation embassy (possibly a tribute to Ninotchka), the meeting at the Hotel Potemkin (formerly Hotel Goering and Hotel Bismarck before that), the escape from East Berlin, the parody of Soviet police or MacNamara's assistant, who pretends not knowing anything about the SS and World War II because he was just a driver in Berlin underground. A timeless masterpiece that will leave you exhausted, will renew faith in cinema and will teach you to laugh at yourself.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Set just before the Berlin Wall went up and giving James Cagney's Coca Cola executive the impossible task of turning his boss's daughter's new East German communist husband into a model capitalist before daddy's plane lands and his chances of promotion - or even keeping his job - go out the window, One, Two, Three is mostly one of Billy Wilder's best comedies. Unfortunately it gets very loud and frantic in the last couple of reels as Horst Buccholz's performance starts to career out of control - quite ironic since the acting tips he constantly gave James Cagney throughout the shoot, combined with Wilder's dictatorial inflexibility, persuaded the star it was time to retire rather than carry on in a job he no longer enjoyed. As usual, Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond's script is sharp enough to cut yourself on at times, and even drafts `Itsy-Bitsy Teeny-Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini' into service in one of cinema's most terrifying torture scenes. Cagney's on good form despite his misgivings over the dialogue's lightening pace, but he's actually outmatched by Arlene Francis, delivering a neat line in world-weary disdain that's well-camouflaged by mock enthusiasm.
No extras but a decent 2.35:1 widescreen transfer.
No extras but a decent 2.35:1 widescreen transfer.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An overlooked classic
This film is one of the directors works which is overlooked these days because of the politics. Aside from that it is very funny and the great old star made it work well. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Eternal Moments
great cold war comedy finally on DVD
This is a great Jimmy Cagney/Billy Wilder 1950s non-stop farce set in West Berlin. He is a Coca-Cola executive trying to break into the "Commie" market and the Cold War... Read more
Published 12 months ago by sci-fi fan
James Cagney Fires Scatter Gun Comic Bullets
'One. Two, Three' is a great satirical comedy. Billy Wilder uses Cagney's compelling presence brilliantly. Although based in cold war Berlin the themes resonate. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Joseph Brack
One Two Three
Good quality copy of this old movie I have seen it in the 60's in the cinema it still a great joke in te cold war thime. Read more
Published 19 months ago by A.J.Verstraten
one two three.
A good film
Watched it on Tv about 20 years ago.
Did not understand it, But now its a quite classic.
A simple farce a great deal of word play. Read more
Watched it on Tv about 20 years ago.
Did not understand it, But now its a quite classic.
A simple farce a great deal of word play. Read more
Published on 31 Aug 2009 by Tony....
hilariously funny
Billy Wilder's "One, Two, Three" was at the time of release in 1961 not extremely sucessful. The cold war was in full swing. Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2004 by Amelrode
a late success
Billy Wilder's "One, Two, Three" was at the time of release in 1961 not extremely sucessful. The cold war was in full swing. Read more
Published on 21 Sep 2004 by Amelrode
Hilariously funny
Billy Wilder's "One, Two, Three" was at the time of release in 1961 not extremely sucessful. The cold war was in full swing. Read more
Published on 15 Sep 2004 by Amelrode
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