ONE TWO THREE (DVD/16X9/WS/2.35:1/STAN/B&W/1961/ENG-FR-SP-SUB/ORIG THEATRIC DVD

One, Two, Three
In his last starring film (it was supposed to be his last film, but Ragtime came along in 1981), 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 (Howard St. John). Thus, MacNamara agrees to look after Hazeltine's dizzy, impulsive daughter, Scarlett (Pamela Tiffin), 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 (Horst Buchholz). 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 (Arlene Francis), who has learned of his affair with busty secretary Ingeborg (Lilo Pulver). Seldom pausing for breath, Billy Wilder's film is a crackling, mile-a-minute farce, taking satiric scattershots 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 in the best of taste, and most of the one-liners have dated rather badly, but Cagney's mesmerizing performance holds the whole affair together. Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond adapted their screenplay from an obscure play by Ferenc Molnár. Watch for Red Buttons in an unbilled cameo as a military policeman, and listen for the voice of Sig Rumann, emanating from the mouth of actor Hubert Von Meyerinck (the Count von Droste-Schattenburg). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast James Cagney as C.R. MacNamara Horst Buchholz as Otto Ludwig Piffl Pamela Tiffin as Scarlett Hazeltine Arlene Francis as Phyllis MacNamara Liselotte Pulver as Ingeborg Howard St. John as Hazeltine Hanns Lothar as Schlemmer Lois Bolton as Mrs. Hazeltine Leon Askin as Peripetchikoff Peter Capell as Mishkin Ralf Wolter as Borodenko Karl Lieffen as Fritz Henning Schluter as Dr. Bauer Til Kiwe as Reporter Karl Ludwig Lindt as Zeidlitz John Allen as Tommy MacNamara Chris Allen as Cindy MacNamara Rose Renee Roth as Bertha Helmut Schmidt as East German Police Corporal Otto Friebel as East German Interrogator Klaus Becker as Policeman Max Buchsbaum as Tailor Red Buttons as Military Police Sergeant

Crew Alexandre Trauner - Art Director I.A.L. Diamond - Associate Producer Doane Harrison - Associate Producer Tom Pevsner - First Assistant Director Billy Wilder - Director Dan Mandell - Editor Andre Previn - Composer (Music Score) Andre Previn - Musical Direction/Supervision Josef Coesfeld - Makeup Daniel L. Fapp - Cinematographer William Calihan, Jr. - Production Manager Billy Wilder - Producer Milt Rice - Special Effects Basil Fenton-Smith - Sound/Sound Designer Billy Wilder - Screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond - Screenwriter Ferenc Molnar - Play Author

One, Two, Three
Adapted by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond from a Ferenc Molnar play, Wilder's rapid-fire comedy ferociously satirizes the Cold War divide between East and West. Featuring a peerless James Cagney in his last starring role and set in West Berlin, the breathless farce sends up everything from soft-drink capitalism to Communist hypocrisy, Soviet disorganization, male lechery, female giddiness, postwar Germany, and American pop culture. With a relentless stream of one-liners and numerous comic set pieces, such as a prisoner tortured with endless plays of "Itsy-Bitsy Teeny-Weeny Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini" and a mad tabletop striptease that shakes a portrait of Stalin off its perch, Wilder and Cagney never let up the pace for a moment, down to the final Pepsi Cola punch line. Earning critical accolades for its wit and its star, One, Two, Three received one Oscar nomination, for Daniel L. Fapp's crisp widescreen black-and-white photography. (Fapp won the color cinematography Oscar that same year, for West Side Story.) One, Two, Three became a popular hit in Germany after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
 

Daniel L. Fapp: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie, Best Black and White Cinematography (nominated) Pamela Tiffin: Golden Globe, Best Supporting Actress (nominated)

Golden Globe, Best Picture - Comedy (nominated) National Board of Review, Best Picture (nominated)

General Specifications: Language Options: English, French, Spanish Subtitle Options: English, French, Spanish Sound Processing: DD1: Dolby Digital Mono Additional Features: Original theatrical trailer English, french & spanish: Mono English, french & spanish language subtitles DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1: Pre-1954 Standard 2.35:1: Cinemascope MPAA Rating: NR DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 2 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 109 min   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- One, Two, Three [FS] 1. Main Title/Very Shifty [:09] 2. Trouble With Democracy [3:31] 3. Brushing Up on the Umlaut [3:02] 4. Bilateral Negotiations [2:44] 5. A Snag on the Way Up [5:04] 6. That Hazeltine Girl [3:45] 7. Underexploited Secretary [3:43] 8. The Scarlett Headache [2:55] 9. Happy Socialist Marriage [7:36] 10. How to Con a Communist [7:02] 11. Unwed & Slightly Pregnant [5:39] 12. He's Got It, We Want It [7:46] 13. An Itsy-Bitsy Confession [:46] 14. No Red Cent for a Gigolo [5:55] 15. Refurbished Revolutionary [7:16] 16. Hawaiian for Get Lost [8:21] 17. Suddenly Count-ed [6:27] 18. Evil Enemy Bosoms [4:13] 19. Speeding Crash Course [4:48] 20. The Son-in-Law Wonder [8:53] Side #2 -- One, Two, Three [WS] 1. Main Title/Very Shifty [:09] 2. Trouble With Democracy [3:31] 3. Brushing Up on the Umlaut [3:02] 4. Bilateral Negotiations [2:44] 5. A Snag on the Way Up [5:04] 6. That Hazeltine Girl [3:45] 7. Underexploited Secretary [3:43] 8. The Scarlett Headache [2:55] 9. Happy Socialist Marriage [7:36] 10. How to Con a Communist [7:02] 11. Unwed & Slightly Pregnant [5:39] 12. He's Got It, We Want It [7:46] 13. An Itsy-Bitsy Confession [:46] 14. No Red Cent for a Gigolo [5:55] 15. Refurbished Revolutionary [7:16] 16. Hawaiian for Get Lost [8:21] 17. Suddenly Count-ed [6:27] 18. Evil Enemy Bosoms [4:13] 19. Speeding Crash Course [4:48] 20. The Son-in-Law Wonder [8:53]