This is a non-Japan post. Now that I got a TV I can watch some of my region one DVDs (I’ve been watching DVDs on my Macs which I set to region two). One of my all time favorite films is Billy Wilder’s relatively unknown screwball comedy called One, Two, Three. James Cagney plays the branch manager of the Coca-Cola company in post war West Germany. The president of the company’s floosy daughter is visiting Germany and Cagney has to take care of her. One night she runs off to East Germany and marries a bolshevik played by Horst Buchholz and Cagney has to convert him into a capitalist before his boss arrives. Cagney is hilarious with his machine guns one-liners. There are great shots of the Brandenburg Gate before they built the Berlin wall. The cold war humor still holds up but if you are sensitive about political correctness better skip this one. He pokes fun at Germans (Wilder is German) and Russians and Americans and like most of Wilder’s films it has A LOT of sexual innuendo. I still don’t know how he got away with all those dirty jokes back then. If you do decide to rent this movie (or any Billy Wilder films) make sure to get the wide screen versions. Most of his movies were cinemascope and loses a lot when formated in 4:3.
Sounds like an interesting movie. Will see if I can get a used copy at Amazon.
Something over a year ago I visited Billy Wilder’s grave at a tiny cemetery in Westwood near UCLA. His epitaph: “I’m a writer but then nobody’s perfect.” Notice the present tense.
The place is full of famous remains: Marilyn Monroe, whose crypt is much less lipstick smeared than Oscar Wilde’s monument in Paris’ Pere Lachaise (Hugh Hefner is said to have recently purchased the crypt next to Marilyn); Dean Martin; Truman Capote; Armand Hammer; Natalie Wood; Mel Torme; Heather O’Rourke (Poltergeist); oh heck:
http://www.seeing-stars.com/Buried2/PierceBros.shtml
I really love Billy Wilder’s “Sunset Boulevard” which first saw the light of day in the same year as I.
I’m looking forward to checking out “One, Two, Three.” Thanks for the tip.
Another good one is “Kiss Me Stupid”. Dean Martin’s car breaks down in a desert town where two songwriters work in a gas station. They hire a prostitute to pretend he is one of the guys wife and throws her at Dean so he’ll listen to their song. It has an ironic ending which is controversial even by today’s standards.
And also don’t forget my all time favorite “Love in the Afternoon” Audrey Hepburn pretends she’s a slut so playboy Gary Cooper will chase her. Incredible.
Here’s a list of my recommended Wilder films
The Apartment
Irma la Douce
The Fortune Cookie
Sunset Boulevard
One, Two, Three
Love in the Afternoon
Sabrina
Stalag 17
Double Indemnity
Some like it hot
Seven Year Itch