One, Two, Three

I thought "His Girl Friday" was the fastest machine gun-style screenplay I had ever seen done on film. I was wrong. Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond topped them, going to almost ludicrous (but always hilarious) extremes in their 1961 film "One, Two, Three". Bringing new meaning to the term "everything but the kitchen sink" (actually, this screenplay includes even that), Wilder and Diamond's screenplay leaves you breathless after watching it. Set in Berlin, with the Wall playing a very significant role, in the late 1950's, the film concerns C.R. MacNamara (played brilliantly by consummate professional James Cagney) who is trying desperately to scheme his way into a promotion for Coca Cola. When he learns that his boss' daughter will be staying with him in Berlin for a few weeks he sees this as his opportunity to impress, that is until she marries a Communist. On the verge of losing his job and his wife, Mac hatches an elaborate plan to convince the parents their new son in-law is a good match for their partying daughter, that is, after he has had the young man jailed to initially dispose of him. The plot is frenzied, and the entire cast is surprisingly up to the task. Not one actor or actress in this film suffers from the frenetically paced screenplay, and the final 30-40 minutes of the film, where Mac's plan is put into motion is a tour de force for not only Cagney, but everyone else involved. Billy Wilder made many classics throughout his career, and this is one of, if not the, most underrated of them all.

As the film begins, Mac is a bored executive angling for the top spot. He has a cushy job which he does well, lives a cushy life, and has a gorgeous secretary (literally, damn!). But he still resents the fact that he was passed over for promotion over ten years before and has been working his way back up since. When his boss tells him his daughter is coming, a real southern belle named appropriately Scarlett, and that he must host her and not let her run off with any men, Mac only sees opportunity. However he soon realizes that keeping the flirty Scarlett under control is going to be harder than he anticipated. When she blissfully informs Mac that she married a card carrying member of the Communist party, he sees his dreams of a promotion go up in smoke. He shrewdly arranges to have the Commie (an angry young man named Otto Piffl) arrested for distributing Capitalist propaganda, until Scarlett again blissfully informs everyone she is having his baby! Now Mac must really start thinking, but not before bemoaning "Mother of Mercy, is this the end of Rico?" (in one of the film's three amazing references to Cagney's gangster movie past). He sneaks into East Berlin with his top assistant and gorgeous secretary, and after a night of partying, is able to make a mad dash back to West Berlin with Otto. The young lovers are reunited, but Scarlett's parents are coming to town, leaving Mac with only a few hours to turn Otto into a dignified Western gentleman, which Otto steadfastly opposes.

As the final hours count down (with reminders and tightening of the pacing brought about by the chime of an obnoxious American cuckoo clock) Mac seemingly involves everyone in West Berlin in his plot to transform Otto. He purchases him clothing, a wedding ring, hats, shoes, a car, a fake royal father, a family crest, everything. He does all this while dodging the MPs who begin sniffing around after getting wind of Mac's stealing Otto back across the East/West border. One of the MPs, after getting brushed off by Mac, responds with a flawless Cagney impression, complete with sneer and brush-off-of-the-lapels-motion Cagney made famous in his gangster films such as "The Public Enemy" and "Angels With Dirty Faces" nearly 30 years prior. (The last of the three great references comes when Otto dares give up the whole ordeal; Mac threatens him with a grapefruit to the face and that calsm him down) At first Otto fights Mac over every little point, cherishing his Communist upbringing, but finally he is cowed by the relentless Mac and his rat-a-tat-tat barking of orders. Finally the entire group meets Scarlett's parents at the airport, Otto plays the part well enough, and Mac is rewarded with his promotion--not to London, that goes to the new favored son Otto(!); instead Mac is given a job in America, which is what his wife wanted all along. Billy Wilder was the king of cynical comedy and this film is no different, as he mercilessly pokes fun at Communism, East Berlin, Russia, etc (a fact given greater significance considering Wilder had fled Nazi Germany 30 years earlier), but also skewers American/Western capitalism as well. Leaving no subject unscathed it is no surprise that this film is absolutely hilarious, and is a true showcase for James Cagney, the great actor who, though he always played the parts well, was too often pigeon holed into the tough guy-gangster role, and rarely got to display his immense comedic ability. "One, Two, Three" though is an absolute triumph, for all involved.