One, Two, Three (1961)

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.

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

Billy Wilder (screenplay), I.A.L. Diamond (screenplay),

Stars:

James Cagney, Horst Buchholz, Pamela Tiffin

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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
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

Storyline

Berlin is the epitome of political and economic polarization. A microcosm of that polarization is the life of American C.R. MacNamara, known as Mac to his friends. He is Coca-Cola's head of West Berlin operations, although he feels he deserves to be Coca-Cola's head of European operations based in London. Mac's wife, Phyllis, wants him instead to get a steady and stable job back in head office in Atlanta. His West Berlin staff are all still used to treating him like their old master, the Fuhrer. The one exception is his secretary, Ingeborg, who is the latest in the long line of his secretary mistresses. And he's working on a trade agreement of getting Coca-Cola into the Russian market. His life goes into a tailspin when he hosts Scarlett Hazeltine in his home for two weeks. She is the seventeen year old spoiled and party-loving daughter of his Atlanta based boss, Wendell Hazeltine. Unlike most of the stops she's made on her European trip, Scarlett seems to like West Berlin and stays ...

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Plot Keywords:

coca cola | communist | russian | cold war | ideology | 

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Taglines:

Billy Wilder's Explosive New Comedy

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English German Russian

Release Date:

15 December 1961 (USA)

Also Known As:

Eins, zwei, drei

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bavaria Film, Mirisch Corporation, The, Pyramid Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min 108 min (1962) (banned) 108 min (Ontario)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

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.

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

C.R. MacNamara: I think your mother's absolutely right, it's silly to pack them. What are you gonna do with roller skates in Venice? All the streets are under water.
Tommy MacNamara: So what? I'm taking my aqualung and my snorkel.

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Connections

References Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

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Soundtracks

"Ride of the Valkyries"
(uncredited)
from Act III of "Die Walküre"
Music by Richard Wagner

User Reviews

Another Delightful and Witty Comedy of Billy Wilder

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")