James Cagney tries to sell Coke-a-Cola to the Soviets in “One, Two, Three”

One, Two, Three (1961) is an American political comedy film directed by Billy Wilder and starring James Cagney, Horst Buchholz, Lilo Pulver, Pamela Tiffin, and Arlene Francis. The screenplay was written by Wilder and frequent partner I.A.L. Diamond. The music is by Andre Previn and the cinematography is by Daniel L. Fapp who won an Academy Award for West Side Story (1961).

C.R. “Mac” MacNamara (Cagney) is an executive with the Coca-a-Cola Company, based in West Berlin during the early days of the Cold War. He was sent there after a business failure in the Middle East. Still bitter over the demotion, Mac is determined to become head of the Western European operations in London. While attempting to introduce Coke to the Soviet Union, Mac’s boss asks him to look after his seventeen-year-old daughter Scarlett (Tiffin) when she arrives in Berlin.

Looking for a “marvy” time in Berlin her trip to Europe wasn’t any fun for her. Scarlett goes out every night, unbeknownst Mac and his wife Phyllis (Francis). Every night, Scarlett would sneak over to East Berlin where she met a Russian Communist named Otto (Buchholz). She falls in love with him and they get married. Then, she declares she’s pregnant!

What will Mac do when Scarlett’s parents come to Berlin to take her home to Georgia?

Billy Wilder (1906 - 2002) was an Austrian-born American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He won six Academy Awards for his writing and direction and was nominated twenty-one times over a career that spanned five decades. Wilder started his career as a writer, penning the screenplays for Ninotchka (1939), Ball of Fire (1942), Double Indemnity (1945), The Lost Weekend (1946), Sunset Boulevard (1951)  Boulevard (1951), Sabrina (1955), Some Like it Hot (1960), and The Apartment (1961). As a director, he won Academy Awards for directing The Lost Weekend (1946) and The Apartment (1961). Wilder directed fourteen different actors in Oscar-nominated roles. He is considered one of the most versatile directors from Hollywood’s Classical period.

Billy Wilder (far left), Pamela Tiffin, James Cagney, and Horst Buchholz

James Cagney (1899 – 1986) was an American actor of stage and film. During the early 1930s, Cagney emerged as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood in films like The Public Enemy (1931), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), and White Heat (1949). Cagney was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, winning for Yankee Doodle Dandy. His other Best Actor nominations was for Angels with Dirty Angels, and Love Me or Leave Me with Doris Day. Cagney retired from acting in 1961 but came out of retirement 20 years later for a role in the movie Ragtime (1981).

Horst Buchholz (1933 - 2003) was a German actor who was once called “the German James Dean” was an international movie star and voice artist. In America, he starred in The Magnificent Seven (1960), One, Two Three (1961). He starred opposite Leslie Caron in Fanny (1961) and Nine Hours to Rama (1963). He’s almost as famous for the roles that got away. He was offered the roles of Tony in West Side Story (1961) and Sherif Ali in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) but scheduling conflicts prevented him from starring in those films.

Pamela Tiffin (1942 – 2020) was an American film, stage, and television actress. She was discovered by producer Hal Wallace while she was on a tour of Paramount Studios. She was given a screen test and was cast in the film version of Summer and Smoke (1961). Her next film was Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three (1961). Wilder caller her “the biggest find since Audrey Hepburn.” She was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her first two roles. Other roles followed in State Fair (1962), Come Fly with Me (1963), The Pleasure Seekers (1963). She made two films with James Darren geared for the teen audience: For Those Who Think Young (1964) and The Lively Set (1964). In 1965 she co-starred with Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, and Jim Hutton in The Hallelujah Trail. She also co-starred with Paul Newman in Harper (1966). In 1967, she won a Theatre World Award for her performance in Dinner at Eight on Broadway.

Arlene Francis (1907 – 2001) was an American stage, television, and film actress. Her career spanned more than five decades. Francis also gained fame as a radio personality in New York City. She made her film debut in 1932 in Murders in the Rue Morgue. Sixteen years later, she appeared with Edward G. Robinson and Burt Lancaster in the film version of All My Sons (1948). Perhaps her greatest claim to fame was as a weekly panelist on the popular game show What My Line (1950 – 1967). Francis’s last film role was in Fedora (1978) directed by Billy Wilder. She earlier worked for the director in One, Two, Three playing James Cagney’s wife.

 

One, Two, Three trivia

• The film lost money due to folks thinking the Cold War wasn’t a good subject for comedy at that time.
• Joan Crawford (then on the board of Pepsi) didn’t like the Coke-Cola connection. At the end of the film, Cagney buys four Cokes but the last one out of the machine was a Pepsi.
• The building of the Berlin Wall impacted filming with the crew moving to Munich, building the lower half of the Brandenburg Gate.
• James Cagney hated working with Horst Buchholz. Cagney complained that he was uncooperative and was always trying to steal scenes. It was so unpleasant for Cagney that he retired from movies until he accepted a supporting role in Ragtime.
• In 1985, the film was rereleased in France and Germany and was a big hit.
• There are many homages to other Wilder and Cagney films. Can you name some?

 

Click HERE to join the discussion on Zoom, April 1, 2024, 6:30 p.m. Once you RSVP, you will receive and invitation with a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Click HERE to watch the film on YouTube.

 

Discussion questions

1. Can you understand why the film wasn’t well received when first released? Why do you think the film is now considered a classic by many?
2. This was Cagney’s last film before appearing Ragtime (1985). What did you think of his performance?
3. Horst Buchholz was reportedly a thorn in Cagney and Wilder’s side. What did you think of his performance?
4. Wilder was really high on Pamela Tiffin as Scarlett, comparing her to Audrey Hepburn. Some people might declare “blasphemy” with this comparison. What do you think?
5. Is there anything that is still relevant between the Capitalist and Communist systems?
6. The film is loaded with great dialogue; did you have a favorite line or scene?

John Mills, Horst Buchholz, and Hayley Mills struggle in “Tiger Bay”

Tiger Bay (1959) is a British crime drama directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring John Mills, Horst Buchholz, and Hayley Mills in her first major film role.

The plot centers around a young Polish sailor named Bronislav (“Bronek”) Korchinsky (Buchholz) who returns from a voyage to visit his girlfriend, Anya (Yvonne Mitchell). He discovers that she is no longer living in the apartment he was paying for, he tracks her down at her new flat. There she tells him that she no longer wants him and is involved with a married man (Anthony Dawson). They argue and in a fit of jealously, he hits her. She defends herself with a gun, but Bronek takes the gun from her and shoots her dead. 

Unbeknownst to Bronek at the time, a young tomboy named Gillie (Mills) watches the whole scene through the letterbox. Gillie at first fears for her life when Bronek confronts her, but instead the two develop a bond that will change both their lives.

Hayley Mills and Horst Buchholz

J. Lee Thompson (1914 - 2002) was a British film director. He made pictures in England and Hollywood and is best remembered for Cape Fear (1962) and The Guns of Navarone (1961). Thompson began his career as a screenwriter and dialogue coach. After a stint in the RAF during World War II, he went back to screenwriting. In 1950 he directed his first feature Murder Without Crime (1950) in England. Other Hollywood films directed by Thompson include What a Way to Go! (1964), John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965), and Mackenna’s Gold (1969).

John Mills (1908 - 2005) was an English actor who made over 100 films in the United States and in Great Britain. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Ryan’s Daughter (1970). Mills worked on the stage in London in the Noel Coward revue Words and Music (1932). He made his film debut in the U.K. in 1932 and appeared with Ida Lupino in The Ghost Camera (1933). He had a supporting role in Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939) starring Robert Donat. Mills starred as Pip in Great Expectations (1946) to great acclaim and popular box office. Mills continued acting into the 2000s.

Horst Buchholz (1933 - 2003) was a German actor who was once called “the German James Dean” was an international movie star and voice artist. In America, he starred in The Magnificent Seven (1960), On, Two Three (1961). He starred opposite Leslie Caron in Fanny (1961) and Nine Hours to Rama (1963). He’s almost as famous for the roles that got away. He was offered the roles of Tony in West Side Story (1961) and Sherif Ali in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) but scheduling conflicts prevented him from starring in those films.

Hayley Mills (1946 - ) is an English actress and at one time was one of the biggest child stars in the world. The daughter of actor John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell and younger sister of Juliet Mills, she got her start in films playing Gillie in Tiger Bay (1959). It was her performance in that film that brought her to the attention of Walt Disney and international stardom. Mills made her American movie debut in Pollyanna (1960), winning the Academy Juvenile Award in the process. Other films she made at Disney include The Parent Trap (1961), In Search of the Castaways (1962), Summer Magic (1963), and That Darn Cat! (1965).

Tiger Bay trivia:

• The role of Gillie was meant to be a boy, but when the director met John Mill’s daughter Hayley, he thought making Gillie a girl would improve the movie.
• This was the English-speaking movie debut of Horst Buchholz.
• John Mills said that Hayley received no film offers in the U.K. after her acclaimed performance.
• John and Hayley Mills worked together again in The Chalk Garden (1964).

To watch the film on YouTube, click on the link below.

To join the discussion on Zoom on Tiger Bay on February 16, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time click on the link here. Once you RSVP, you will get an email with a Zoom link.

Questions for discussion:

1. Do you think the film would have been different if the role of Gillie had been played by a boy?
2. Why do you think Gillie bonded with Bronek?
3. Did anything about the film surprise you?
4. What do you think happened to Bronek after his arrest at the end?