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First and foremost, it is impossible to talk about co-writer/director Billy Wilder’s superb 1961 take on Cold War (and post-WW2) Berlin without focusing on James Cagney’s bravura central turn. As Berlin-based, career-obsessed, unscrupulous Coca-Cola executive, C R 'Mac’ MacNamara, who finds his career progression at risk courtesy of Horst Bucholz’s 'Bolshevik’, Otto Ludwig Piffl’s intentions towards Mac’s boss’ daughter, Pamela Tiffin’s 'party girl’ Scarlett Hazeltine, the sexagenarian Cagney delivers a performance of such motormouth energy that would be a challenge for an actor half his age. The fact that the actor is delivering one of Wilder and noted co-writer, Izzy Diamond’s, sharpest scripts, makes the absence for Cagney of much in the way of awards, particularly confounding. In addition to the trademark Wilder/Diamond undercurrents of the cynicism of sexual politics and corporate capitalism, the film’s particular focus on the parody of Communism and post-WW2 Germany is a little hit-or-miss and, perhaps, dated (particularly nearly 3 decades on from the fall of the Berlin Wall – itself under construction as Wilder’s film was being made), but, make no mistake, this is a very funny film, with a pace even faster than Wilder’s comedic masterpiece, Some Like It Hot, and (in this respect) a piece of exquisite cinema to compare with Howard Hawks’ gem, His Girl Friday (a personal favourite).
Rather like the aforementioned films, the quality of the script and the endless stream of hilarious gags, almost makes superfluous any more detailed critical analysis. Where I would say the film (inevitably) doesn’t quite match Some Like It Hot is it does not have a central trio of the (sympathetic) quality of Lemmon, Curtis and Monroe – indeed, I suspect the aggressive, (largely) unredeemed nature of Mac’s persona here is one reason why Cagney’s turn didn’t hit it off with the critics. On the other hand, Bucholz does a good job as the irate ‘commie’ asked to take on the 'privileged capitalist’ mantle, Arlene Francis is impressive in her role as the ‘deadpan foil’, wife Phyllis, opposite Cagney and Tiffin eventually endears as the ‘dumb’ romantic. Some of the film’s highlight moments involve Mac’s underhand negotiations with (supposedly) avowed ‘commies’ in the form of three Russian trade commissars – these include scenes where Liselotte Pulver’s glamorous blonde secretary, Fräulein Ingeborg, dances (Monroe-like) on a table as 'intellectuals’ play chess and Mac attempts to negotiate Otto’s return from East Berlin and that in Mac’s office as the executive plots Coca-Cola’s expansion behind the Iron Curtain, with a background map (and Russian characterisations) calling to mind Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove. Indeed, Wilder’s film is also notable for deliberate references/homages to other films, namedropping La Dolce Vita and Gone With The Wind and giving us a Yankee Doodle Dandy cuckoo clock and a visiting Military Policeman 'doing a Cagney gangster’.
In the end, though, a return to Cagney’s performance is inevitable. Despite the fact that the actor had a (personally) relatively standoffish relationship with Wilder during the making of the film and a more fractious one with Bucholz, there is no discernible dimunition in the resulting enthusiasm and energy on-screen. One, Two, Three thus provided a fitting penultimate film for one of Hollywood’s biggest ever films stars, as well as another worthy entry on Wilder’s CV.
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Customer reviews
Top reviews from other countries
Keith M
Cagney Motors
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2018Verified Purchase
Amazon Customer
Worth watching for James Cagney's outstanding performance.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 November 2016Verified Purchase
Elleppi
One of Wilder's best films
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 August 2015Verified Purchase
Kyoto
THE Berlin comedy!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 December 2012Verified Purchase
Grant A Healey
Quite amusing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 November 2019Verified Purchase
