"It's that damned German efficiency."
So the other day I managed to watch three Billy Wilder movies in a 24 hour period. The first was The Apartment (1960) which Natalie and I watched at midnight that morning. It was bonafide. Then as part of my Screwball Comedy class over Summer Intersession, we watched Some Like It Hot (1959), which I shamefully admit to never having seen before. Then just before midnight tonight I finished watching One, Two, Three (1961), which despite the obvious assumption that I'd have to be sick of Wilder by that point, may have been my favorite out of the three. As much fun as Jack Lemmon is on screen, I was quite blown away by James Cagney's character, considering not only his film past as a (stereo?)typically street-tough gangster, but also the fact that he retired from film for 20 years after working on this film. Can't imagine why. He stole the show.
The scene which really stood out for me (and Martin Scorcese apparently, as indicated in his Personal Journey Through American Cinema doc) was the one in which Cagney's character bargains with a trio of Soviets while his secretary woos them with a flame-wielding striptease on top of their bar table. I love the patriotic red-white-and-blue color shading of the German club, despite the fact that it was a actually black-and-white film. Did I mention that Wilder was himself a German who emigrated to Hollywood? Makes ya think. The humor certainly reminds of Dr. Strangelove (made a short 3 years later), and I wouldn't be suprised if Kubrick was heavily influenced by the political satire therein. But that's only fair because Cagney himself even makes a reference to a Kubrick film released one year hence when he tells the young Communist bachelor who's marrying the boss' daughter: "Put your pants on, Spartacus!"
The scene which really stood out for me (and Martin Scorcese apparently, as indicated in his Personal Journey Through American Cinema doc) was the one in which Cagney's character bargains with a trio of Soviets while his secretary woos them with a flame-wielding striptease on top of their bar table. I love the patriotic red-white-and-blue color shading of the German club, despite the fact that it was a actually black-and-white film. Did I mention that Wilder was himself a German who emigrated to Hollywood? Makes ya think. The humor certainly reminds of Dr. Strangelove (made a short 3 years later), and I wouldn't be suprised if Kubrick was heavily influenced by the political satire therein. But that's only fair because Cagney himself even makes a reference to a Kubrick film released one year hence when he tells the young Communist bachelor who's marrying the boss' daughter: "Put your pants on, Spartacus!"