History Film / OneTwoThree

* HistoryMarchesOn: When production commenced in Berlin, there was no wall. Halfway through production, the Deutsche Demokratische Republik decided, [[{{Understatement}} quite inconveniently]], to erect the first layers of what would eventually become Die Mauer. This threw a monkey wrench in the plans of the filmmakers, especially when they had obtained permits to shoot near the Brandenburg Gate. It also meant that as mentioned above, that the movie entered theaters already dated with a side of TooSoon.
** In-movie there is the Grand Hotel [[Film/BattleshipPotemkin Potemkin]], formerly Grand Hotel [[ThoseWackyNazis Goering]], and before that Grand Hotel [[UsefulNotes/OttoVonBismarck Bismarck]]. And the scene where Ingeborg's energetic dance causes the portrait of Khrushchev to fall out of its frame, revealing a portrait of Stalin.

[[quoteright:342:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/i7n8xithhv1lgwss9mb4mx0d9c5.jpg]]

[[quoteright:338:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0178.JPG]]

'''''One, Two, Three''''' is a comedy movie by Creator/BillyWilder from 1961. Set in UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}} shortly before the wall was built, it's about the boss of Coca-Cola West Berlin, who has to care for the daughter of his boss spending her holiday there. And tries to do business with some Communists, to expand Coca-Cola beyond the Iron Curtain. And finds his marriage is about to fall apart. HilarityEnsues (lots of!).

Thing seem to be going fine for C. R. [=MacNamara=] (JamesCagney), Coca-Cola (the company he works for) is doing well, and he's about to seal a deal with the Soviet trade commission to get Coca-Cola past the Iron Curtain. Hoping this will earn him the prized position in London, sadly Mac has to jump through one more hoop. The daughter of his boss is on a tour of Europe and said boss ''insists'' that Mac look after her. So for over a month Scarlett Hazeltine (Pamela Tiffin) is a guest of the [=MacNamara's=]. Thankfully her parents have made plans to come and take her home. Unfortunately, Scarlet's new ''husband'' Otto Ludwig Piffl (Horst Buchholz) has other plans. It seems that Scarlett had been sneaking out of the house the whole time she was with the [=MacNamara's=] and slipped behind the Iron Curtain to have fun on the town. Which is where she ran into the young Communist, and naturally, they fell in love...[[SarcasmMode naturally]]. At first Mac tries to get the marriage annulled by hook and by crook, but then it turns out that Scarlett is pregnant! So now Mac must make Otto acceptable to Scarlett's conservative high society parents or he'll be thrown out into the streets.

'''One, Two, Three''' is a comedy movie by Creator/BillyWilder from 1961. Set in UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}} shortly before the wall was built, it's about the boss of Coca-Cola West Berlin, who has to care for the daughter of his boss spending her holiday there. And tries to do business with some Communists, to expand Coca-Cola beyond the Iron Curtain. And finds his marriage is about to fall apart. HilarityEnsues (lots of!).

* TheCameo: The hotel orchestra playing the German version of "Yes, We Have No Bananas" is conducted by composer Friedrich Hollaender ("[[Film/TheBlueAngel Falling in Love Again]]").

* ImpoverishedPatrician: Count von Droste-Schattenburg, currently working as a restroom attendant. He [[spoiler:is paid to adopt Otto]].

'''One, Two, Three''' is a comedy movie by Creator/BillyWilder from 1961. Set in UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}} shortly before the wall was built, it's about JamesCagney as the boss of Coca-Cola West Berlin who has to care for the daughter of his boss spending her holiday there. And tries to do business with some Communists, to expand Coca-Cola beyond the Iron Curtain. And finds his marriage is about to fall apart. HilarityEnsues (lots of!).

** In-movie there is the Grand Hotel [[Film/BattleshipPotemkin Potemkin]], formerly Grand Hotel [[ThoseWackyNazis Goering]], and before that Grand Hotel [[UsefulNotes/OttoVonBismarck Bismarck]].

* ShoutOut: To ''Film/LittleCaesar'', ''GoneWithTheWind'', ''Film/YankeeDoodleDandy'', ''Film/ThePublicEnemy'', ''Film/{{Ninotchka}}''.

* HyperCompetentSidekick: Schlemmer (Hanns Lothar) is this to [=MacNamara=] most of the time.

* MoscowCentre: [[spoiler: Borodenko]], one of the members of the Soviet trade delegation, is actually a KGB agent with the job to watch the other two.

Thing seem to be going fine for [=MacNamara=] (JamesCagney), Coca-Cola (the company he works for) is doing well, and he's about to seal a deal with the Soviet trade commission to get Coca-Cola past the Iron Curtain. Hoping this will earn him the prized position in London, sadly Mac has to jump through one more hoop. The daughter of his boss is on a tour of Europe and said boss ''insists'' that Mac look after her. So for over a month Scarlett Hazeltine (Pamela Tiffin) is a guest of the [=MacNamara's=]. Thankfully her parents have made plans to come and take her home. Unfortunately, Scarlet's new ''husband'' Otto Piffl (Horst Buchholz) has other plans. It seems that Scarlett had been sneaking out of the house the whole time she was with the [=MacNamara's=] and slipped behind the Iron Curtain to have fun on the town. Which is where she ran into the young Communist, and naturally, they fell in love...[[SarcasmMode naturally]]. At first Mac tries to get the marriage annulled by hook and by crook, but then it turns out that Scarlett is pregnant! So now Mac must make Otto acceptable to Scarlett's conservative high society parents or he'll be thrown out into the streets.

* BribingYourWayToVictory: A large part of [=MacNamara=]'s modus operandi throughout the movie, which e. g. enables him to [[spoiler: have Otto's and Scarlett's wedding papers removed from the East Berlin registry office and later returned and to get Count von Droste-Schattenburg to adopt Otto.]] Luckily for him, the Communists don't ask for that much and he can force Otto to vouch for part of the expenses.

* BribingYourWayToVictory: A large part of [=MacNamara=] modus operandi throughout the movie, which e. g. enables him to [[spoiler: have Otto's and Scarlett's wedding papers removed from the East Berlin registry office and later returned and to get Count von Droste-Schattenburg to adopt Otto.]] Luckily for him, the Communists don't ask for that much and he can force Otto to vouch for part of the expenses.

* GuileHero: [=MacNamara=].

* MisplacedNationalism: Parodied when Jimmy Cagney is upset with Coca-Cola heiress Scarlet for taking part in a "Yankee, Go Home" rally: "But back home, ''everybody'' hates the Yankees!" ("Ami, Go Home" would have been a completely different thing, of course...)

* TheAllegedCar: The Soviet agents' Moskvitch 407.

* ClumsyCopyrightCensorship: Completely and utterly averted. Creator/JoanCrawford, at the time a major stockholder of Pepsi, was enraged by what she saw as blatant product placement. [[TakeThat In response]], the very last gag in the film involves Pepsi -- [=MacNamara=] puts a nickel in a Coke machine at Templehof and is rather annoyed that he receives... a bottle of Pepsi.

* CoolAndUnusualPunishment[=/=]LoudOfWar: The communist who married the daughter of Coca Cola's CEO is being tortured in East Berlin ... by being forced to listen to "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polkadot Bikini" on repeat for hours on end. With the record spindle off-center. He writhes in pain.

Thing seem to be going fine for [=MacNamara=] (James Cagney), Coca-Cola (the company he works for) is doing well, and he's about to seal a deal with the Soviet trade commission to get Coca-Cola past the Iron Curtain. Hoping this will earn him the prized position in London, sadly Mac has to jump through one more hoop. The daughter of his boss is on a tour of Europe and said boss ''insists'' that Mac look after her. So for over a month Scarlett Hazeltine (Pamela Tiffin) is a guest of the [=MacNamara's=]. Thankfully her parents have made plans to come and take her home. Unfortunately, Scarlet's new ''husband'' Otto Piffl (Horst Buchholz) has other plans. It seems that Scarlett had been sneaking out of the house the whole time she was with the [=MacNamara's=] and slipped behind the Iron Curtain to have fun on the town. Which is where she ran into the young Communist, and naturally, they fell in love...[[SarcasmMode naturally]]. At first Mac tries to get the marriage annulled by hook and by crook, but then it turns out that Scarlett is pregnant! So now Mac must make Otto acceptable to Scarlett's conservative high society parents or he'll be thrown out into the streets.

* BaitAndSwitch: The very movie starts with it. JamesCagney starts talking how the world was looking to UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC on August the 13th of 1961... for a baseball game. Oh, by the way, on the same day the Commies built TheBerlinWall.

* Music/RideOfTheValkyries: The doctor who diagnoses that Scarlett is, what's the English word, ''pregnant'' mentions that he just missed the first act of ''[[Theatre/TheRingOfTheNibelung Die Walküre]]'' and rushes off to catch the rest of the opera, happily humming "''schwanger'' is pregnant" to this tune. Not long after the fully orchstrated version can be heard as [=MacNamara=] and co. dash to East Berlin at night to snatch Otto out of the jaws of the East German police.

'''One, Two, Three''' is a comedy movie by Creator/BillyWilder from 1961. Set in West Berlin shortly before the wall was built, it's about JamesCagney as the boss of Coca-Cola Germany who has to care for the daughter of his boss spending her holiday there. And trying to do business with some Communists, to expand Coca-Cola beyond the Iron Curtain. And to him trying to prevent his marriage from falling apart. HilarityEnsues (lots of!).

Thing seem to be going fine for [=MacNamara=] (Cagney), Coca-Cola (the company he works for) is doing well, and he's about to seal a deal with the Russian trade commission to get Coca-Cola past the Iron Curtain. Hoping this will earn him the prized position in London, sadly Mac has to jump through one more hoop. The daughter of his boss is on a tour of Europe and said boss ''insists'' that Mac look after her. So for over a month Scarlet Heseltine is a guest of the [=MacNamara's=]. Thankfully her parents have made plans to come and take her home. Unfortunately, Scarlet's new ''husband'' Otto has other plans. It seems that Scarlet had been sneaking out of the house the whole time she was with the [=MacNamara's=] and slipped behind the Iron Curtain to have fun on the town. Which is where she ran into the young Communist, and naturally, they fell in love...[[SarcasmMode naturally]]. So now Mac must make Otto acceptable to Scarlet's conservative high society parents or he'll be thrown out into the streets.

* AllGermansAreNazis: Played with. [=MacNamara=] has a former S.S. member as his assistant; one scene shows his employees acting like complete robots when issued orders. This comes in handy when Schlemmer [[spoiler:gives away that the investigative reporter who threatens to expose the whole deal is a former SS officer]].

* BaitAndSwitch: The very movie starts with it. JamesCagney starts talking how the world was looking to UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC on August the 13th of 1961... for a sports game. Oh, by the way, on the same day the Commies built TheBerlinWall.

* ImpoverishedPatrician: Graf von Droste-Schattenburg, currently working as a restroom attendant. He [[spoiler:is paid to adopt Otto]].

* ItsAllAboutMe: [=MacNamara=] is quite happy to feed newlywed Otto to the East German secret police to save his career, flips out when it's discovered that Scarlet is pregnant because of what the boss will do to ''him'', and completely ignores the fact that his wife has completely had it with globetrotting and his behavior.

* CoolAndUnusualPunishment[=/=]LoudOfWar: The communist who married the daughter of Coca Cola's CEO is being tortured in EastGermany... by being forced to listen to "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polkadot Bikini" on repeat for hours on end. With the record spindle off-center. He writhes in pain.

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: And during ColdWar, no one was worse than a Commie.