One, Two, Three
One, Two, Three | |
---|---|
Directed by | Billy Wilder |
Screenplay by | I. A. L. Diamond Billy Wilder |
Based on | Egy, kettő, három by Ferenc Molnár |
Produced by | Billy Wilder |
Starring | James Cagney Horst Buchholz Pamela Tiffin Arlene Francis |
Cinematography | Daniel L. Fapp |
Edited by | Daniel Mandell |
Music by | André Previn |
Production companies | The Mirisch Company Pyramid Productions, A. G. |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
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Running time | 104 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Languages |
|
Budget | $3 million[2] or $2 million[3] |
Box office | $4 million[2] |
One, Two, Three is a 1961 American
The film is primarily set in West Berlin during the Cold War, but before the construction of the Berlin Wall, and politics is predominant in the premise.[9] The film is known for its quick pace.[10]
Plot
C.R. "Mac" MacNamara is a high-ranking executive in
An expected two-week stay evolves into two months, and Mac discovers just why Scarlett is so enamored of West Berlin: she surprises him by announcing that she's married to Otto Piffl, a young East German Communist with ardent anti-capitalistic views. When the Southern belle is confronted about her foolishness in the matter of helping him blow up anti-American "Yankee Go Home" balloons (how the couple met) she simply replies with, "Why, that ain't anti-American, it's anti-Yankee... And where I come from, everybody's against the Yankees ..."
Mac tries to come to terms with the fact that he let his boss's daughter marry a Communist and learns the horrible truth: the couple are bound for
Under pressure from his stern and disapproving wife Phyllis (who wants to take her family back to live in the US), and with the revelation that Scarlett is pregnant, Mac sets out to bring Otto back with the help of his new Soviet business associates. With the boss on the way, he finds that his only chance is to turn Otto into a son-in-law in good standing — which means, among other things, making him a capitalist with an aristocratic pedigree (albeit contrived by adoption).
Mac arranges to have Otto adopted by an impoverished count, who now works as a washroom attendant and includes a photo of the family castle with the price of adoption (destroyed in the 17th century by the Ottoman Turks). Scarlett is dubious that her father will be fooled by the ruse, but is reassured that her baby will now be part of a long line of bleeders, which will please her snobbish mother. In a frenetic race against time and the arrival of the Hazeltines' plane, Mac outfits Otto in complete paraphernalia befitting his new aristocratic status, while Otto rails against being forced to join the detested bourgeoisie (his Communist Party membership is paid up through the year). Meanwhile, Scarlett and Mac coach Otto on how to speak to her conservative Southern father ("The Civil War was a draw...").
In the end, the Hazeltines approve of their new son-in-law, upon which Mac learns from Hazeltine that Otto will be named the new head of Western European Operations, with Mac getting a promotion to VP of Procurement back in Atlanta. Mac reconciles with his family at the airport, and to celebrate his promotion, buys them Cokes. After handing out the bottles, he discovers that the last one actually is a
Cast
- James Cagney as C.R. "Mac" MacNamara
- Horst Buchholz as Otto Ludwig Piffl
- Pamela Tiffin as Scarlett Hazeltine
- Arlene Francis as Phyllis MacNamara
- Liselotte Pulver as Fräulein Ingeborg (Mac's secretary)
- Hanns Lothar as Schlemmer (Mac's assistant and henchman)
- Howard St. John as Wendell P. Hazeltine
- Leon Askin as Peripetchikoff
- Ralf Wolter as Borodenko
- Peter Capell as Mishkin
- Karl Lieffen as Fritz (Mac's chauffeur)
- Hubert von Meyerinck as Count Waldemar von Droste-Schattenburg
- Sig Ruman as the English voice of Count von Droste-Schattenburg
- Loïs Bolton as Melanie Hazeltine
- Til Kiwe as Reporter
- Henning Schlüter as Dr. Bauer
- Karl Ludwig Lindt as Zeidlitz, Mac's lawyer
- Friedrich Hollaender as conductor of the hotel orchestra
Production
We knew that we were going to have a comedy, we [were] not going to be waiting for the laughs. But we had to go with Cagney, because Cagney was the whole picture. He really had the rhythm, and that was very good. It was not funny. But just the speed was funny ... The general idea was, let's make the fastest picture in the world ... And yeah, we did not wait, for once, for the big laughs.
—From Conversations with Wilder (1999,
Cagney decided to take the role primarily because it was to be shot in Germany: while growing up in Manhattan's
Wilder was filming in Berlin the morning the
The theatrical release poster for the film, with a woman holding three balloons, was designed by Saul Bass. The Bass designed poster that Wilder originally intended for the film's release featured a United States style flag sticking out of a Coca-Cola-style bottle. The poster had to be replaced, however, when Coca-Cola threatened legal action against United Artists for copyright infringement.[14]
Soundtrack
Aram Khachaturian's lively "Sabre Dance" marks the moments when Mac moves into energetic action (Ingeborg's table dance at Grand Hotel Potemkin and car chase) and is also played during the opening credits.[citation needed] The ride of the Valkyries is played on the way to the Grand Hotel Potemkin. The conductor of the orchestra sings a German language version of Yes! We Have No Bananas on the arrival of Mac at the Grand Hotel Potemkin.
Release
When the movie opened, it came with a spoken preface by Cagney, added by Wilder:
On Sunday, August 13th, 1961, the eyes of America were on the nation's capital, where
Senators. On that same day, without any warning, the East German Communists sealed off the border between East and West Berlin. I only mention this to show the kind of people we're dealing with—real shifty.[5]
Reception
Critical response
Critic Bosley Crowther applauded the work of Cagney and wrote,
With all due respect for all the others, all of whom are very good—Pamela Tiffin, a new young beauty, as Scarlett; Horst Buchholz as the East Berlin boy, Lilo Pulver as a German secretary, Leon Askin as a Communist stooge and several more—the burden is carried by Mr. Cagney, who is a good 50 per cent of the show. He has seldom worked so hard in any picture or had such a browbeating ball. His fellow is a free-wheeling rascal. His wife (Arlene Francis) hates his guts. He knows all the ways of beating the rackets and has no compunctions about their use. He is brutishly bold and brassy, wildly ingenious and glib. Mr. Cagney makes you mistrust him—but he sure makes you laugh with him. And that's about the nature of the picture. It is one with which you can laugh—with its own impudence toward foreign crises—while laughing at its rowdy spinning jokes.[1]
Time magazine called it a "yell-mell, hard-sell,
According to
Box office
One, Two, Three did not do well at either the U.S. or German box office. The lighthearted East-West Berlin story felt much more sinister at the release, since the Berlin Wall had been built after principal photography began.[16] It earned rentals over $2 million in the US and Canada. [17]
The film recorded a loss of $1.6 million.[2] However, it was re-released in 1985 in France and West Germany and became a box office success, especially in West Berlin.[16]
Censorship
One, Two, Three was banned in Finland, which had a policy of Finlandization, from 1962 to 1986 on "political" grounds — it was feared that the film would harm relations between Finland and the Soviet Union.[18][19][20] United Pictures Finland tried to get the film released theatrically in 1962, 1966 and 1969 but it was only in 1986 that the Finnish Board of Film Classification allowed the film to be distributed.
Awards
Nominations
- Academy Awards: Oscar, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Daniel L. Fapp; 1962.
- Golden Globes: Golden Globe, Best Motion Picture – Comedy; Best Supporting Actress, Pamela Tiffin; 1962.
- Laurel Awards: Golden Laurel, Top Comedy, 4th place; Top Male Comedy Performance, James Cagney, 4th place; 1962.
- Writers Guild of America Awards: Best Written American Comedy (Screen), Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond; 1962.
Homages and references
- The film makes several references to Cagney's earlier films, including a Cagney impression from Red Buttons, and the grapefruit-to-the-face incident from The Public Enemy. Additionally, the cuckoo clock in MacNamara's office plays "Yankee Doodle Dandy". Cagney also refers to his contemporary Edward G. Robinson by using Robinson's line "Mother of Mercy, is this the end of Rico?" from Little Caesar, which was a competitor of The Public Enemy.
- The Cold War is referenced, with one joke spoken by an apparatchik seeming to foreshadow the Cuban Missile Crisis: "We have trade agreement with Cuba: they send us cigars, we send them rockets."[5] When Cagney's character retorts that they are "pretty crummy cigars," the Russian replies that they send the Cubans "pretty crummy rockets."
- Cagney noted that he quit Hollywood after this film due to fatigue from an inordinate number of lines in a lengthy movie helmed by a demanding Wilder and to a feeling of jealousy when he heard from a friend about to set off on a leisurely yachting trip.[8]
- In the 2015 Steven Spielberg-directed film about an incident in the cold war, Bridge of Spies, there is a scene with a Berlin movie-house showing the film Eins, Zwei, Drei in the background.
Re-releases
One, Two, Three aired on The ABC Sunday Night Movie on 31 January 1965.[21] It was received enthusiastically in Germany upon its 1985 re-release in cinemas.[16] One, Two, Three was given a grand re-première at a large outdoor showing in West Berlin which was broadcast simultaneously on television. The film went on to spend a year in West Berlin cinemas, where it was rediscovered by West Berlin citizens.
See also
References
- ^ a b Crowther, Bosley (December 22, 1961). "Berlin Laughter: One, Two, Three Is at Astor and Fine Arts". The New York Times. NYT Critics' Pick. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-2991-1440-4.
- ^ "Distributors & Exhibitors Rule". Variety. 4 October 1961. p. 5. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
- ^ a b "BeWildered Berlin". Time. December 8, 1961. Archived from the original on February 5, 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
- ^ a b c d e Corliss, Richard (August 11, 2011). "One, Two, Three (1961)". Time. Top 10 Berlin Wall Movies. Retrieved 2011-09-11.[dead link]
- IMDb.
- ^ Lacayo, Richard (April 14, 1986). "It Was All Big—and It Worked—James Cagney: 1899-1986". Time. Archived from the original on September 17, 2012. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
It was Forman who directed Cagney in Ragtime, the 1981 film that brought him back into the public eye after two decades of retirement. After completing Billy Wilder's 1961 comedy One, Two, Three, Cagney vowed to quit filmmaking.
- ^ a b Neal Gabler (commentary), Reel 13, March 29, 2008.
- ^ Daum, Andreas W. (2000). "America's Berlin, 1945‒2000: Between Myths and Visions". In Trommler, Frank (ed.). Berlin: The New Capital in the East (PDF). Retrieved March 2, 2021.
- ^ "One, Two, Three". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on June 8, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
- ^ a b c d Tatara, Paul. "Articles". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
- ^ Thomas, Bob (1978). Joan Crawford, A Biography. Simon & Schuster. p. 212.
- ^ remake of the Brandenburger Tor at Bavaria Filmstudios 1961 filmed 21.07.1961 by BR, 4 min. b/w
- ^ Kirkham, Pat & Jennifer Bass (2011) Saul Bass: A Life in Film & Design(p. 158). London: Laurence King
- ^ Variety. Film review, 1961. Last accessed: January 31, 2008.
- ^ Spiegel Online(in German). Germany. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
Eins, zwei, drei widerfuhr historische Gerechtigkeit: Als der Film 1985 erneut in die Kinos kam, wurde er zum Publikumshit, vor allem in West-Berlin.
- ^ "Big Rental Pictures of 1962". Variety. 9 Jan 1963. p. 13. Please note these are rentals and not gross figures
- ^ "ELONET — Tarkastustiedot: One, Two, Three (1961)". Archived from the original on 2013-09-23. Retrieved 2013-09-21.
- ^ "One, Two, Three". Elonet. Archived from the original on 2013-09-23. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
- ISBN 9780810878990. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
- ^ "Television: Jan. 29, 1965". Time. January 29, 1965. Archived from the original on July 15, 2010. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
External links
- One, Two, Three at IMDb
- One, Two, Three at the TCM Movie Database
- One, Two, Three scenes on YouTube