One, Two, Three

Billy Wilder's Cold War comedy about Coca-Cola's man in West Berlin was run over by actual history while it was being made. The crew was working in Berlin when the Wall went up and production had to move to Munich. Interiors were shot at Bavaria Film Studios, and restrictions from East German and Soviet authorities meant a full-size replica Brandenburg Gate was built on the back lot. Wilder was open about the goal: he wanted the fastest picture in the world. Individual jokes do not land as jokes; the speed itself is the comedy. James Cagney quit acting afterwards, worn out by an enormous dialogue load and Wilder's exacting standards. There was also Horst Buchholz. Cagney said later that he had never had the slightest difficulty with a fellow actor until this film, and that faced with Buchholz's scene-stealing he would have been very happy to settle it physically if Wilder had not stepped in. Cagney did not appear on screen again until Ragtime in 1981. It flopped on release, because the Wall actually going up made the premise stop being funny. A 1985 reissue succeeded, particularly in West Berlin. Who it is for: viewers who love fast classic comedy. Who it is not for: anyone uncomfortable seeing the Cold War played for laughs.