ONE, TWO, THREE [1961 / 2019] [EUREKA! Entertainment] [Blu-ray] [UK Release]
Billy Wilder’s Explosive New Cold War Comedy!
One of director Billy Wilder's most frenetic comedies, the madcap Cold War and corporate politics satire ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ has to be one of the only films almost capable of making its Billy Wilder’s predecessor film ‘Some Like It Hot’ and ‘The Apartment’ seem sedately paced in comparison. Featuring a hilarious lead performance by James Cagney (apparently so exhausted by the rapid-fire pace that he then retired for twenty years!). ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ hasn't always been as famous as Billy Wilder's other comedies, but it's among his best.
James Cagney is C.R. “Mac” McNamara, a top soft drinks company executive shipped off to the then West Berlin and told to keep an eye on his boss’s 17-year-old Atlanta socialite daughter Scarlett Hazeltine [Pamela Tiffin] while she visits Germany. Scarlett Hazeltine's tour seems endless, C.R. “Mac” McNamara discovers she's fallen for a then East Berlin communist agitator and the young couple are bound for Moscow! C.R. “Mac” McNamara has to bust up the burgeoning romance before his boss learns the truth, all the while dealing with his wife Phyllis McNamara [Arlene Francis] and her own impatience with German living.
With ‘ONE, TWO, THREE,’ Billy Wilder sets out to make “the fastest picture in the world.” Mission accomplished, so hang on and try not to miss too many gags if this is your first viewing of this knockabout comedy penned by Wilder's long-time screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present yet another Billy Wilder masterpiece on Blu-ray for the first time ever in the UK.
PRESS:
“The screenplay, based on a one-act play by Ferenc Molnar, is outstanding.” Variety
“Marvellous one-liners, of course, and Cagney, spitting out his lines with machine-gun rapidity" Time Out
“One, Two, Three celebrates as it satirizes American cultural imperialism....” Village Voice
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1961 National Board of Review, USA: Win: NBR Award for Top Ten Films. 1961 New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Nominated: Best Actor for James Cagney. Nominated: Best Screenplay for Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond. 1962 Academy Awards®: Nominated: Best Cinematography in Black-and-White for Daniel L. Fapp. 1962 Golden Globes: Nominated: Best Motion Picture in a Comedy. Nominated: Best Supporting Actress for Pamela Tiffin. 1962 Laurel Awards: Nominated: Golden Laurel Award for Top Comedy [4th place]. Nominated: Golden Laurel Award for Top Male Comedy Performance for James Cagney [4th place]. 1962 Writers Guild of America: Nominated: WGA Award (Screen) for Best Written American Comedy for Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond.
FILM FACT No.2: James Cagney decided to take the role primarily because it was to be shot in Germany: while growing up in Manhattan's Yorkville neighbourhood, he had had fond memories of the area, which was "teeming with German immigrants." Horst Buchholz was a young European actor who had recently finished ‘The Magnificent Seven’ with Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach and Steve McQueen; during the production, Horst Buchholz became the only actor that James Cagney ever openly disliked. Billy Wilder was filming in Berlin the morning the Berlin Wall went up, forcing the crew to move to Munich. During principal photography, Billy Wilder received a call from Joan Crawford, recently appointed to the board of directors of Pepsi-Cola following her husband Alfred Steele's death. In response to Joan Crawford's protests over the use of the Coca-Cola brand in the film, Billy Wilder scattered some references to Pepsi-Cola, including the final scene. Some scenes were shot at Bavaria Film Studios. The theatrical release poster for the film ‘ONE, TWO, THREE,’ with a woman holding three balloons, was designed by Saul Bass. The Saul Bass designed poster that Billy 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.
Cast: James Cagney, Horst Buchholz, Pamela Tiffin, Arlene Francis, Howard St. John, Hanns Lothar, Leon Askin, Ralf Wolter, Karl Lieffen, Hubert von Meyerinck, Loïs Bolton, Peter Capell, Til Kiwe, Henning Schlüter, Karl Ludwig Lindt, Liselotte Pulver, John Banner [Krause / Haberdrasher voice], Christine Allen (uncredited), John Allen (uncredited), Ivan Arnold (uncredited), Klaus Becker (uncredited), Max Buchsbaum (uncredited), Werner Buttler (uncredited), Red Buttons (uncredited), Paul Bös (uncredited), Jacques Chevalier (uncredited), Josef Coesfeld (uncredited), Ingrid DeToro (uncredited), Siegfried Dornbusch (uncredited), Gernot Duda (uncredited), Otto Friebel (uncredited), Werner Hessenland (uncredited), Friedrich Hollaender (uncredited), Rose Renée Roth (uncredited), Sig Ruman [Count von Droste Schattenburg voice] (uncredited), Helmut Schmid (uncredited), Helmut Schmid (uncredited) and Jaspar von Oertzen (uncredited)
Director: Billy Wilder
Producers: Billy Wilder, Doane Harrison and I.A.L. Diamond
Screenplay: Billy Wilder (screenplay), I.A.L. Diamond (screenplay) and Ferenc Molnár (play)
Composer: André Previn
Cinematography: Daniel L. Fapp, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 108 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / EUREKA! Entertainment
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ [1961] Here we find James Cagney plays C.R. “Mac” McNamara, a top Coca-Cola executive based in Berlin and James Cagney portrays the brutish West Berlin operation who finds himself coping simultaneously with a failing marriage. When his bosses’ 17-year-old socialite daughter Scarlett Hazeltine [Pamela Tiffin] visits and to C.R. “Mac” McNamara’s horror Scarlett Hazeltine falls for a communist agitator and attempts to end the romance before his boss learns the truth, all the while dealing with corrupt businessmen and his wife Phyllis McNamara [Arlene Francis] struggle with the German living style.
Set during the Cold War and is noted for its lightning-fast pace, these results in a lot of contemporary jokes that only work if you know a bit of history. Also, by its very nature as a farce it can sometimes feel a bit stagey, but having said that, the jokes that do work are very funny. The car chase where the Russian car slowly falls to pieces is a great visual gag, and the scenes with C.R. “Mac” McNamara employing increasingly outlandish negotiating tactics to keep his customers onside are as sharp as anything produced by Billy Wilder. The dialogue comes thick and fast like a machine gun and the ensemble largely delivers it perfectly.
It helps that he’s supported by an impressive ensemble, though Arlene Francis stands out as C.R. “Mac” McNamara’s long suffering wife Phyllis McNamara, delivering withering put-downs and wry asides perfectly. Meanwhile Horst Buchholz as Otto Ludwig Piffl hams it up outrageously as a radical Communist and unfortunately his characterisation as a humourless, one dimensional stereotype which is unfortunately something here that just doesn’t work, due to both the character and the performance.
A month passes and Phyllis McNamara telephones C.R. “Mac” McNamara to say that Scarlett Hazeltine has disappeared. It turns out that Scarlett Hazeltine has gone across to East Berlin and has met a young idealist communist student, Otto Ludwig Piffl. C.R. “Mac” McNamara tries to intercede and before long discovers that Scarlett Hazeltine has not only been slipping across to communist East Berlin, but Scarlett Hazeltine has married Otto Ludwig Piffl and gotten pregnant. Otto Ludwig Piffl has promised Scarlett Hazeltine that they can move to Moscow and if they’re lucky and get an apartment with a bathroom right across the hall. Naturally C.R. “Mac” McNamara tries to stop everything and finds the situation getting out of control when Otto Ludwig Piffl learns that Scarlett Hazeltine’s father is on his way over.
The supporting cast are all excellent – notably Liselotte Pulver, as the tight-skirted, hip-rolling secretary Fräulein Ingeborg, who drives the trio of communist soft drinks executives into a crazy frenzy. The leader of this gang of cartoon-commies is played by the great and larger-than-life Leon Askin as Peripetchikoff.
Other key ingredients in the film’s success is André Previn racy composed film score, which emphasises the unflagging pace and energy set by James Cagney performance as C.R. “Mac” McNamara and Billy Wilder’s direction – particularly through its appropriation of the Sabre Dance from "Gayaneh" Aram Khachaturyan ballet. Daniel L. Fapp’s stylish black-and-white cinematography is of very high calibre for a main stream comedy of this calibre.
One thing I must comment on about Billy Wilder’s frantic high speed film ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ is the fact that I am so pleased the director wanted the actor James Cagney to play the character C.R. “Mac” McNamara who is the equally wildly fast-talking head of Coca-Cola on West Germany despite problems and the fact that James Cagney was 61 years of age and a lot of unforeseen pressure on James Cagney and the director Billy Wilder, despite this, no other actor could of pulled off what James Cagney was able to do with his character C.R. “Mac” McNamara throughout the film ‘ONE, TWO, THREE,’ because it was the ultimate professional performance throughout the 108 minutes.
‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ sadly is not one of Billy Wilder’s masterpieces but it has his fingerprints all over it, and is a great example of this type of tongue in cheek sarcastic genre. There are a few jokes that sadly fell flat, but the pace is so quick even for the dud ones, but at least there’s a genuine laugh just around the corner. The script, cinematography and performances are fresh and sharp, and it keeps its energy up right until the final shot in the film. It’s a fun, if exhausting film, and deserves much more recognition.
ONE, TWO, THREE MUSIC TRACK LIST
Sabre Dance (uncredited) from “Gayaneh” (Music by Aram Khachaturyan)
THE INTERNATIONAL [“L'Internationale”] (uncredited) (Music by Pierre De Geyter) (Lyrics by Eugène Pottier)
Ride of the Valkyries (uncredited) from Act III of "Die Walküre" (Music by Richard Wagner)
YANKEE DOODLE DANDY [1904] (uncredited) (Traditional) (Written by George M. Cohan)
ITSY BITSY TEENIE WEENIE YELLOW POLKA DOT BIKINI (uncredited) (Written by Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance) [Recorded by Brian Hyland]
YES! WE HAVE NO BANANAS (Ausgerechnet Bananen) (uncredited) (Written by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn) [Sung by Friedrich Hollaender in German]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and EUREKA! Entertainment presents us the film ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 (Panavision) is wonderfully delivered with a 1080p image and incorporating the deep shadows and expressive lighting techniques that director Billy Wilder is famous for and with be thrilled to add this gem to their collection with a generally satisfactory transfer that brings the evocative black-and-white cinematography by the brilliant Daniel L. Fapp and the film is brought to life and the photography is effectively realised. Contrast has been consistently applied for a good visual experience, especially with the location of Berlin and overall the picture quality definitely gets a five star rating from me and well done EUREKA! Entertainment. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and EUREKA! Entertainment brings us the film ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ with one standard 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio experience. André Previn’s musical adaptation uses not only “Sabre Dance” but also the novelty tunes like “Yes, We Have No Bananas” and “Itsy Bitsy, Teeny Weeny, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” at critical moments in the film with sound effects also appropriate in certain moments in the movie. There are no instances of age-related artefacts like hiss or crackle. Overall the audio quality definitely gets a five star rating from me and very well done EUREKA! Entertainment.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Audio Commentary by Michael Schlesinger [Audio only] [2019] [1080p] [2.35:1] [108:22] With this featurette, we get to hear this special audio commentary by Film Historian Michael Schlesinger and as the film starts Michael Schlesinger welcomes us to this Billy Wilder masterpiece ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ film and is here to give an in-depth background information about this madcap comedy film of 108 minutes and talks about the actor James Cagney that appears first at the start of the film and mentions several of the other main actors names that appears in the film and Michael Schlesinger says that was common practice for Warner Bros. especially in the early 1930’s because that is when James Cagney became a big Hollywood star. Michael Schlesinger says the music you get to hear at the start of the film is called the “Sabre Dance” from “Gayaneh” and the music was composed by Aram Ilyich Khachaturian who was a Soviet Armenian composer and conductor and he is considered one of the leading Soviet composers and was and raised in Tbilisi, the multicultural capital of Georgia, Khachaturian moved to Moscow in 1921 following the Sovietization of the Caucasus and the music is a movement in the final act of Aram Khachaturian's ballet “Gayane” in 1942 and Michael Schlesinger says it is of course Classical music you get to hear it throughout the movie when we get scenes in the film that are madcap and frantic and it also happens with the dialogue throughout the film. Michael Schlesinger says this it finally the most topical of all the movies directed by Billy Wilder and it was born from tomorrows headlines and they were making a comedy at the time where we were about to enter a very dangerous World War Three scenario. Which proved to be not a good idea, and Billy Wilder felt at the time he was a forward thinking person and he knew this picture would hopefully be playing in years to come and that some of the facts might get slightly dated and went back and did this narration, which sort of sets up the situation from a sort of historical stand point, telling people what is going on. Michael Schlesinger is pointing out in the film the authentic Russian parade, which is actual footage shot in East Berlin and Michael Schlesinger is also pointing out the German song we are hearing was the “The International” [“L'Internationale”] and was originally composed as a French Socialist Anthem by Pierre De Geyter and Eugène Pottier but was later on had been adopted as the anthem of various anarchist, communist, socialist, democratic socialist, and social democratic movements. Michael Schlesinger points out the billboard advertising the Coco-Cola product placement, which to some people might think is odd, but back in the old days they very seldom used actual products in films or they would instead make up a product name or they would take for example a box of Kellogg’s Cornflakes and pint out the word Kellogg’s, but Billy Wilder would not do that, because instead he wanted to for the real product placement of real Coco-Cola product placement because it becomes the major part of the plot of the film and was not unusual for Billy Wilder, and wanted his films to reflect the real world. Michael Schlesinger mentions about Pepsi Cola being shipped to Russia and did break into the Iron Curtain by first beating Coco-Cola to a one man gunmanship, meaning the art or practice of successively outdoing your competitor. Michael Schlesinger now talks about the actress Arlene Francis who was born Arline Francis Kazanjian [20th October, 1907 – 31st May, 2001] , and feels this actress was very underrated because she was a terrific actress, but did not appear in many films and Arlene Francis felt she was not a very good actress and whenever the actress appeared on the film set felt very nervous and they use to say to her “relax” and personally felt she was a very funny woman actress whatever movie Arlene Francis appeared in. Arlene Francis was especially famous for radio and television talk show host, and game show panellist. Arlene Francis is known for her long-running role as a panellist on the television game show What's My Line?, on which Arlene Francis regularly appeared for 25 years, from 1950 to 1975, on both the network and syndicated versions of the show. Sadly Arlene Francis died at the age of 93 on the 31st May, 2001, in San Francisco, California, from Alzheimer's disease and cancer. Arlene Francis is interred in Roosevelt Memorial Park in Trevose, Pennsylvania. Michael Schlesinger again talks about the actor James Cagney and his hat trick career, and on the clock on the wall in his office you get to hear on the hour it playing “Yankee Doodle Dandy” which was written by George M. Cohan in 1904 and of course ironic James Cagney won an Academy Award for his portrayal of George M. Cohan in the film ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy.’ Michael Schlesinger also mentions that throughout the movie that there is a lot of references to Frank Sinatra and especially his song titles references throughout the movie. Michael Schlesinger now mentions that when Billy Wilder first contacted James Cagney, because he figured that he was the one actor who could pull of his character in the film, but Billy Wilder first contacted the actor Cary Grant to play the character C.R. “Mac” McNamara in the film ‘ONE, TWO, THREE,’ but Cary Grant turned down Billy Wilder, but at the same time James Cagney gave some misgivings in doing the movie, but of course it all paid off in the end, especially when James Caney agreed to appear in the movie as C.R. “Mac” McNamara. Michael Schlesinger says that someone got hold of the continuity schedule and says that there were fifteen hundred and seven subtitles in this movie and feels that is a lot, and shows you dialogue is an intense feature in the movie. When James Cagney and Arlene Francis arrive at the German Airport to greet the actress Pamela Tiffin who was an American film and television actress where she achieved success as a teen model. While vacationing in Hollywood at the age of 19, Pamela Tiffin visited the Paramount Pictures lot and was spotted by producer Hal B. Wallis, who arranged for her to take a screen test. As a result, she was cast in the film version of ‘Summer and Smoke’ [1961] and Pamela Tiffin did appear in several films and stage performances, but Pamela Tiffin married twice. Her first marriage was to Clay Felker, an American magazine editor, whom she married in 1962 and divorced in 1969. Her second marriage was to Edmondo Danon, a philosopher, and the son of Italian film producer Marcello Danon. They married in 1974 and had two daughters, Echo and Aurora. In 1962 won two Golden Globes, also in 1962 won a Laurel Award, and in 1967 won a Theatre World Award. Sadly Pamela Tiffin died on the 2nd December, 2020 in a Manhattan hospital at the age of 78 from natural causes. Then Michael Schlesinger says the German Airport was actual set that was built at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio and the scene was shot near the end of the filming schedule, because they had to leave Germany in a great hurry and it cost Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer a great deal of money which was not budgeted for and Michael Schlesinger now reveals the reason they had to leave Germany in a hurry, because in one afternoon they erected the Berlin wall and so of course everyone had to leave Germany, and they had to furiously do a re-write with the screenplay. Michael Schlesinger now talks about cinematographer Daniel L. Fapp (21st April, 1904 – 19th July, 1986) was an American cinematographer who spent the bulk of his career at Paramount [1923 – 1959] where Billy Wilder worked there also and it was the first time Daniel L. Fapp and Billy Wilder worked together for the first time was for the film ‘ONE, TWO, THREE.’ After two years apprenticed in the studio laboratory, Daniel L. Fapp first worked the movie camera as an assistant in 1925 for black-and-white silent movies. Daniel L. Fapp loved shooting black-and-white aspect ratio scope films feels his cinematographer for the film ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ as totally outstanding and was best known as the director of photography for ‘West Side Story’ [1961], for which he won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, and for ‘The Great Escape’ [1963]. Daniel L. Fapp also was nominated for Academy Awards for his cinematography for ‘Desire Under the Elms’ [1958], ‘The Five Pennies’ [1959], ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ ([961], ‘The Unsinkable Molly Brown’ [1964], ‘Ice Station Zebra’ [1968] and ‘Marooned’ [1969]. Michael Schlesinger says that there is one thing you notice the people keep saying “Hell” and “Damn” in this picture and is for that period not particularly weird, but back in the old days of the Production Code it was not fairly hears with those particular words and even in 1961 in adult oriented pictures like this one, but in this movie you hear these particular words a lot. Another surprising fact we get to hear, is that James Cagney was 61 years of age when he made his movie and for some unknown reason it was not very easy for the actor to appear in this film and it was a miracle that he was able to sum up all the energy to play his character in this movie, because he gives a high speed energetic performance throughout the film. We also find out that James Cagney and Billy Wilder did not get on very well in this picture, because Billy Wilder was a very independent person, whereas James Cagney was a ultra conservative, but they certainly both respected each other and their working relationship was just fine. Michael Schlesinger now says that Billy Wilder while in production the script was going around and was accused of being Un-American for getting the cooperation from the Communist in East Berlin to be able to shoot scenes in parts of East Berlin and Billy Wilder said, “I am a devout American and I can do more with a hearty belly laugh, than I can by waving an American flag.” Michael Schlesinger says that the picture did about $4 to £500,000 at the box office, which isn’t bad for 1961, unless you consider that it is a giant leap down for Billy Wilder when you consider the films like ‘Some Like it Hot’ did $14,000,000 at the box office and ‘The Apartment’ did $25,000,000 at the box office and building the German Airport on the backlot of M-G-M added another $3,000,000 to the budget, but despite this M-G-M decided to sell the film ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ as a Billy Wilder film and they did not give any kind of publicity what the film was all about and ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ is a generic title and they decided in the end to come up with the title of the film, and of course people at the time of the release of the film were not really ready to laugh at a situation where the whole world was ready to be blown up with a nuclear Armageddon and Billy Wilder’s next picture was ‘Kiss Me Stupid’ which is a story in itself. Michael Schlesinger now says if any other actor was playing James Cagney’s character we would find him detestable, because he really is a son of a bitch, but because it is James Cagney we say, “Okay, he must have a reason for stitching up the character actor Horst Buchholz who is playing the character Otto Ludwig Piffl who is driving his sidecar motorcycle towards the Brandenburg Gate with the balloon attached to the exhaust pipe with “Russki Go Home” on it and of course it is slowly getting bigger and bigger and when Otto Ludwig Piffl drives through the Brandenburg Gate into East Berlin he is arrested by the East German police and is also carrying the cuckoo clock that on the hour will play “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and a little man pops out waving a Stars and Strip American flag, but with the filming of Otto Ludwig Piffl driving through the Brandenburg Gate into East Berlin there was a serious problem, and they had to do a couple of takes of that scene and the East German police saw the enlarged balloon saying “Russki Go Home” and they immediately withdrew their cooperation and so there was a lot of frantic negotiations going on, and they said that they can film up the Brandenburg Gate but on the West German side, but you cannot pass through it, so Billy Wilder did get one up on the East German police finally, by filming up to the Brandenburg Gate on the West German side, and said there were all these East German police in the shot and we did not want to give the American public the idea that it was a police state and so shooting was delayed by lots of rain and Billy Wilder called it “Hitler’s Last Revenge” and so then what they had to do after the Wall went up, so that had to re-build the Brandenburg Gate at the cost of $200,000 which was great deal of money in the 1960’s, so that is why the budget on the picture went higher than for the first budget for the picture, but the re-building for the Brandenburg Gate was done so professional, that you can watch this movie a million times and it will be difficult to tell which is the authentic Brandenburg Gate compared to the re-built Brandenburg Gate, and of course now Otto Ludwig Piffl now gets his first taste of getting arrested in a Soviet Satellite state and is bundled into the East German police car and Otto Ludwig Piffl finds out it is not all unicorn and rainbows, and of course you actually see the East German policeman leans out of the car and shoots the balloon “Russki Go Home” which tells you these East German police really mean business, and of course Otto Ludwig Piffl will not get a very hard Communist third degree with the East German police. Michael Schlesinger says that James Cagney did not like children and especially in movies, especially with the two children in this movie, he considered them as props at best and luckily the two children only appeared in a couple of scenes in the film, as James Cagney thinks they are very annoying. We also hear Arlene Francis call her husband James Cagney “Mein Führer” which you could not do in1961, but today not so much, because Phyllis McNamara has no respect for C.R. “Mac” McNamara for what he has done to Otto Ludwig Piffl the husband of Scarlett Hazeltine who faints onto the floor on hearing that Otto Ludwig Piffl has been arrested by the East German police. Michael Schlesinger says that the film ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ re-released it was received enthusiastically in Germany upon its 1985 re-release in cinemas. ‘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 who went wild and mobbed the cinema and would scream and shout at the screen enthusiastically and the manager of the cinema asked a German politician to come down to witness the riotous reaction of the West Berlin citizens and they were reacting like people did when ‘The Rocky Horror Show’ film was shown. Michael Schlesinger says that sadly the film ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ was not a success they hoped for, especially like the other Billy Wilder box office smash hits like ‘Some Like It Hot’ and ‘The Apartment,’ despite this Michael Schlesinger says that it is still a very enjoyable film and well worth viewing. As we get to the end of this Michael Schlesinger audio commentary and especially the end of the film ‘ONE, TWO, THREE,’ we see how C.R. “Mac” McNamara gets well and truly set up to be shipped off back to America with his family to work for Pepsi-Cola with contributions to the movie from actress Joan Crawford, and if you want to know what that is all about, then it is best you check out this very humorous tongue in cheek information via GOOGLE, and just like that, the movie finally comes to the end and so does this audio commentary with Michael Schlesinger and he says, “I hope you enjoyed this, and finally says Dankeschön and Eivederschun!” Post Script: So all in all, this audio commentary with Michael Schlesinger was quite interesting and also with lots of in-depth background information about the Billy Wilder film ‘ONE, TWO, THREE,’ but what was slightly annoying is the way Michael Schlesinger rattled of this audio commentary like a machine gun, which was very much like how James Cagney character C.R. “Mac” McNamara spoke throughout the film ‘ONE, TWO, THREE.’
Special Feature: Neil Sinyard Interview [2019] [1080p] [1.78:1 / 2.35:1] [28:20] With this featurette, we get a brand new and exclusive interview with Film Scholar Neil Sinyard and explains how the Billy Wilder film ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ came to exist and discusses some of its more interesting satirical overtones throughout the film. Neil Sinyard says that when Billy Wilder was collecting his three Oscars for the film ‘The Apartment,’ which is in fact Hollywood history, and presenting the three Oscars was the American playwright, librettist, and theater director Moss Hart and whispered into Billy Wilder’s ear, “time to stop Billy,” but of course it was a very tongue in cheek comment, but of course Billy Wilder carried on making films for the next 20 years and there were some very find films in that period, and that comment came back to haunt Billy Wider, especially over the scandal relating to the film ‘Kiss Me Stupid.’ In being accused of being morally depraved, and that Walter Matthau had a very serious heart attack making the film ‘The Fortune Cookie,’ then Billy Wilder had a terrible experience when directing the film ‘The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes,’ then Billy Wilder had distribution problems with the film ‘Fedora,’ and of course had a lot problem experiences with the film ‘ONE, TWO THREE,’ and thought he could take a lot of risks because it was at the height of the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union in trying to make a satirical comedy film and mocking both America’s Capitalism and the Soviet Union’s Communism, and Billy Wilder felt he had done a very good job in directing ‘ONE, TWO THREE,’ but unfortunately it was not a box office success, and screenplay writer I.A.L. Diamond felt the film was a victim of very unfortunate timing, especially with the fact that the Berlin Wall was erected in the middle of filming, and Billy Wilder also had his own personal comment on the failure of the film and said, “Coco-Cola was funny and thought other people thought Coco-Cola was funny,” but still insisted that Coco-Cola was funny, and when he tasted it when he was younger said, “Coco-Cola tasted like burnt tyres with fizz,” but unfortunately that comment fell flat, like Coco-Cola does when you leave it too long before you drink it, but Billy Wilder also felt the film was a riot what went on throughout the movie, but the film went slightly flat, unfortunately. But with the critics they were quite supportive of the film ‘ONE, TWO THREE,’ but one particular crass silly bitch American film critic Pauline Kael for The New Yorker said, “Reviewing Billy Wilder's rat-a-tat-tat satire of the cold war, ‘ONE, TWO THREE’ [1961], and harshly concludes that he is a clever, lively director whose work lacks feeling or passion or grace or beauty. And for years this is the running rap on Billy Wilder: that he is detached, at times clinically so; that the ease with which he moves between genres makes his oeuvre less personal than that of auteurs like Alfred Hitchcock and Howard Hawks; that he is a crowd pleaser first and an artist second.” Film critic Pauline Kael also said about director Billy Wilder, “Billy Wilder didn't always pour his heart into the human story in his films. But poured out his heart he clearly did: there is beauty in his caressing of details and integrity in his decision to be a quiet, unfussy director, not a show-off like Orson Welles or Alfred Hitchcock. Billy Wilder picked up an important lesson early on, he says, from a paragon sophisticate, the German director Ernst Lubitsch: if you say two and two, the audience does not have to be told it's four.” But some other critics compared the film ‘ONE, TWO THREE’ to Ernst Lubitsch film ‘Ninotchka’ of a similar situation, and totally ironic was the fact that Billy Wilder was one of the screenwriters for that film and that is why some critics clubbed Billy Wilder because of being involved with Ernst Lubitsch film, which Neil Sinyard feels this is a very unfair analogy. Some critics also compared ‘ONE, TWO THREE’ to other Billy Wilder films like ‘A Foreign Affair’ and ‘Stalag 17’ which Neil Sinyard also feels this is very unfair as the scenario is quite different, but o the other hand it has the same structure as ‘ONE, TWO THREE,’ but on top of all that, Neil Sinyard thinks Billy Wilder had only one actor in mind the play the lead character in ‘ONE, TWO THREE,’ and of course that was the actor James Cagney and Billy Wilder said, “James Cagney is the picture, and sets the tempo and driving force throughout the movie.” But as to James Cagney in the film had to reel off his spoken words like a machine gun, which he did really amazing and so professional, but in reality James Cagney hated the film and when filming finally finished, James Cagney retired from the acting profession, on top of all that, the other reason for not enjoy filming ‘ONE, TWO THREE,’ is that at one time they had to do 28 takes for one scene in the film that involved the actor Horst Buchholz. Neil Sinyard feels there are some wonderful comedy songs throughout the film and especially with composer André Previn, who originally was going work on four Billy Wilder films, but somehow did not happen, which we never find out why. Neil Sinyard also talks about Austrian Jew Billy Wilder who had to leave Berlin in a hurry at the height of Adolf Hitler’s power, and sadly Billy Wilder’s family were killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp in occupied Poland during World War II and when Billy Wilder eventually arrived in America and started directing films, Billy Wilder felt that he had the ultimate right to ridicule the Americans and the Communist in the film ‘ONE, TWO THREE,’ which sort of added the edge to the film, but there was a serious undertone to this film, and Neil Sinyard feels the film was ahead of its time, especially with the upsurge of the modern German Cinema and especially the modern German Directors like Margarethe von Trotta, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Werner Schroeter, Wim Wenders and Volker Schlöndorff. But Neil Sinyard feels the ending of the film ‘ONE, TWO THREE,’ was very interesting and the hero of the Billy Wilder film om one sense, that there is no sense of conversion or redemption and there is a triple whammy conclusion with the Pepsi-Cola held in C.R. “Mac” McNamara hand at the very end of the film, on top of all that, C.R. “Mac” McNamara’s plan goes seriously wrong, because his boss Wendell P. Hazeltine has a plan for his future son in law in running the German Coco-Cola plant, and of course C.R. “Mac” McNamara was hoping to get the prime position job in London, but of course C.R. “Mac” McNamara finds out he is going to be shipped back to America to work in the Pepsi-Cola organisation, and of course on top of all that, his long suffering wife Phyllis McNamara is preparing to leave C.R. “Mac” McNamara and Germany with their two children and going back to America, and of course Phyllis McNamara and come to a joint decision with C.R. “Mac” McNamara that they will all go back to America as a family at the German airport. At that point the Neil Sinyard featurette comes to an end. Please note: Now and again we get to view clips from the film ‘ONE, TWO THREE.’
Special Feature: Theatrical Trailer [1961] [480i] [2.36:1] [2:11] With this featurette, we get to vie the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘ONE, TWO THREE.’
BONUS: Reversible printed Blu-ray cover featuring an original scene from the film.
PLUS: FIRST PRESSING ONLY: A wonderful Collector’s 40 page booklet featuring new essays by film scholar Henry K. Miller, entitled THE ART OF THE PRESENT. Critic Adam Batty new essay entitled THE CHILDREN OF MARX AND COCA-COLA and some wonderful Colour and Black-and-White archival material.
Finally, it’s easy to see why ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ is a film about division, it also divided critics. Its particular brand of farce, however well delivered, is difficult to make as thoroughly elegant as the deft comedy-drama split that characterises Billy Wilder’s best work. But Billy Wilder completely commits to his mission statement here, making ‘ONE, TWO, THREE’ one of the fastest-paced comedies ever put on screen without sacrificing the eloquent, witty dialogue that Billy Wilder had come to be known for. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a masterpiece but it is certainly a great comedy that shows how Billy Wilder’s intelligent approach can enliven what could have been an excruciating mess. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
