One, Two, Three

Genre: comedy (in black and white)

With: James Cagney (C.R. McNamara), Pamela Tiffin (Scarlett Hazeltine), Horst Buchholz (Otto Ludwig Piffl), Arlene Francis (Phyllis, C.R.’s wife), Lilo Pulver (Ingeborg!) and Hanns Lothar (Schlemmer).
Director: Billy Wilder

Release: 1961

Studio: United Artists

Rating: PG

MBiS score: 8.4/10

Drink a Cold One for the Cold War

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Story-line: C.R. McNamara, the Coca-Cola manager in West Berlin, is asked a favour by his boss at the very moment he’s dealing with Russian officials to market Coke behind the Iron Curtain.

Pluses: a whirlwind performance by James Cagney as the unstoppable McNamara, a strong cast and colourful characters, a breathless story by Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond and playwright Ferenc Molnár.

Minuses: clearly none, unless you’re not in a laughing mood.

Comments: an uproarious comedy, no doubt, and also a piece of cinematic history. It took a lot of chutzpah to mock capitalists and communists alike at the height of the Cold War… and ONE, TWO, THREE pulled it off spectacularly by mixing post-World War II anxieties, old Nazi reflexes and East-West rivalries (Frank Sinatra!). One can only surrender to such wit and humour.

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