A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

C.R. 'Mac' MacNamara (James Cagney) is a Coca-Cola exec in charge of the West Berlin operations. Tension is rising across the Iron Curtain. It's a little over a year before the start of the Berlin Wall. He's trying to introduce Coke to the East. The communists want the secret formula. There is his sexy secretary Fräulein Ingeborg. His wife wants a quiet life in Atlanta. His boss dismisses expanding into Russia and asks Mac to care for his clueless party-girl daughter Scarlett Hazeltine.The talk is fast-paced. The humor is broad and full of Wilder wordplay. Cagney is an unrelenting engine. He is buzzing with energy and I half-expected him to explode in song and dance. The machine gun dialog is non-stop and can get tiring at some point. This is a feat of performance from the great Cagney.

. . . from the 1900s. Not content with merely filling his script with then-contemporary references to the Cuban Missile Crisis, Hollywood starlet-turned-Princess Grace Kelly, Nikita Kruschev's shoe-pounding at the United Nations, the Marshall Plan, the advent of the Berlin Wall, the likelihood of Russians landing the first people on the Moon, Sputnik, shoddy Communist consumer goods, Pan American Airlines, periodic Soviet leadership purges, Nazi war criminals in hiding, "German efficiency," and European nobles serving as men's room attendants, writer\director Billy Wilder has James Cagney quote Edward G. Robinson's final line from LITTLE CAESAR, and he also has Cagney sort of reprise his own infamous grapefruit-to-the-face move from PUBLIC ENEMY (both gangster films from the early 1930s). Therefore, anyone born later than former U.S. Veep Dick Cheney's Loser Generation (that is, the cohort which failed to produce a single American President) will find ONE, TWO, THREE a time capsule of ancient humor, not unlike a classic Greek satire or a Shakespeare comedy. So if YOU were born after 1945, don't watch ONE, TWO, THREE without some sort of Cliff's Notes!

I love this movie for a couple of reasons.The story is originally from a play by Ferenc Molnár, who was Hungarian, like I am, so his other works are well known in my country. I love the play, and I'd give it a 9, but (I don't say this very often) the movie is much better.It all takes place in the separated Berlin in 1961. Its about a rich man(working for a big soft drink company) of "wealth and taste", who has to look after his boss's daughter, which turns out to be a real struggle as the girl secretly marries a communist party member of the east side.The director is our beloved Billy Wilder, who surely knew how to make a good comedy. The film doesn't have any moment without a great joke, I laughed so hard, I fell down from the sofa(not joking). The biggest difference between the play and the movie is the amount of political references and elements. Its a fight between capitalism and communism on every level, mostly by humorous conversations between the characters.The dialogues are fantastic, and haven't lost their topicality over the years(its recommended to know about the political situation though). James Cagney steals the show as the main character, its jesting to see an actor who used to play mostly bad guys as a funny character.I'd recommend this film to anyone. The writing, the characters, the acting are all excellent, and the humour still challenges the diaphragm.10/10

Coca-Cola executive James Cagney (as C.R. "Mac" MacNamara) works in Berlin, Germany; he's trying to sell Coke in the U.S.S.R. As the Russians erect the "Berlin Wall", Mr. Cagney smooches sexy German secretary Lilo Pulver (as Ingeborg); this will, later, upset wife Arlene Francis (as Phyllis). Aiming for a London promotion, Cagney agrees to look after his boss' pretty 17-year-old daughter, Pamela Tiffin (as Scarlett Hazeltine). Ms. Tiffin turns out to be a swinger; out for a hot time, she hooks up with handsome Horst Buchholz (as Otto Ludwig Piffl), and becomes a pregnant bride. To make matters worse, Mr. Buchholz turns out to be a card-carrying Communist. How is Cagney going to explain all this to his Capitalist boss? Doing a "Cagney impersonation," Red Buttons makes a brief appearance. It's one of several scripted references to Cagney's impressive film career.Writer/director Billy Wilder does not accomplish as much without Garbo and Lubitsch; instead, see "Ninotchka" (1939).For some reason, Cagney SHOUTS almost every one of his lines. This adversely affects the other performers, especially Buchholz. Cagney later accused Buchholz of scene-stealing; but, with so much time devoted to the good-looking young man in his boxer shorts, Buchholz didn't have to work very hard. Buchholz' performance is quite good, considering. And, others in the cast were nominated for acting awards: Cagney was the "New York Film Critics" runner-up "Best Actor", Ms. Francis was "Supporting Actress" #3 in the "Film Daily" poll, and Tiffin was a "Golden Globe" nominee. Mostly, this was due to Wilder's reputation; Cagney was not fooled, and decided to semi-retire after "One, Two, Three". Fortunately, Wilder had more classics in his future.***** One, Two, Three (12/15/61) Billy Wilder ~ James Cagney, Horst Buchholz, Pamela Tiffin, Arlene Francis