One, Two, Three

film by Wilder [1961]

Written by Lee Pfeiffer

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One, Two, Three, American screwball comedy film, released in 1961, that was directed by Billy Wilder and was based on a one-act play by Ferenc Molnár. The film is set during the Cold War and is noted for its lightning-fast pace.

James Cagney portrayed the brutish, wildly fast-talking head of Coca Cola’s West Berlin operation who finds himself coping simultaneously with a failing marriage, Soviet industrial spies, and the unenviable task of safeguarding his boss’s teenage daughter, Scarlett (played by Pamela Tiffin). His problems multiply when Scarlett reveals her impulsive marriage to a committed communist (played by Horst Buchholz), giving Cagney’s character just one day to resolve the issue before her father comes to collect her.

Director Wilder encountered many problems while filming in Germany. The Soviets began construction of the Berlin Wall during the shoot, and Cagney detested working with up-and-coming German star Buchholz, whom he regarded as a self-centred scene-stealer. Uninformed viewers may not fully appreciate One, Two, Three’s political jokes and allusions to old gangster movies (including The Public Enemy [1931], Cagney’s breakout film), but One, Two, Three’s status as an inventive and clever comedy outlasted the era that informed its script. After One, Two, Three, Cagney retired, but he returned to the screen in the 1981 film drama Ragtime.